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Chapter 6Chapter 6Independence 1770-1783Independence 1770-1783

Chapter 6Chapter 6Independence 1770-1783Independence 1770-1783

BJUBJU

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I. The Eve of War

• John Adams said the Revolution began in the minds & hearts of the American people

• Why did they fight? So they could govern themselves

• Gaspee – an American attack on a British ship that ran aground in RI – British crew was captured & removed & the ship was burned – British set up a court of inquiry which threatened the rights of colonial

courts

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I. The Eve of War

• Governor Hutchinson of MA – announced he would be paid by the British now and the legislature would lose the power of the purse (lose control over governor)

• Committees of Correspondence - provided information to the colonies about the British

threats to their liberty – also was step toward political unity - led by Samuel Adams

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A. The Boston Tea Party

• Tea Act of 1773 - granted East Indian Company a monopoly on sale of tea to America with only a few cents of tax on it – colonists said parliament did not have the right to set up a monopoly in the colonies

• Boston Tea Party – Patriots were determined the tea would not be unloaded and Gov. Hutchinson determined it would be unloaded – On Dec 16, 1773 -150 men dressed up as Indians and went on board the Dartmouth and threw over 342 cases of tea

• The King decides to force the colonists to submit

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B. The Intolerable Acts• Parliament passed a series of 4 acts to

punish Boston – called the Coercive Acts or Intolerable Acts by the colonists

– Boston Port Act – closed Boston Harbor until they paid for the destroyed tea

– MA Government Act – annulled colonial charter

– Impartial Administration of Justice Act – British officials would not be tried in MA but in England or another colony

– New Quartering Act – required the quartering of British soldiers in private homes

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B. The Intolerable Acts• General Gage replaced Governor Hutchinson

– Gage occupied Boston & attacked Concord.

• Quebec Act – set up a rigid political system in French Quebec, made Catholicism the official religion, & extended their boundaries to Ohio River – colonists feared would establish the Anglican church as the official church in the colonies taking away religious freedom

• Effect of the Intolerable Act was to harden opposition and create solidarity

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C. First Continental Congress

• VA’s House of Burgesses called for a Continental Congress

• In 1774 met at Carpenters Hall in Philadelphia – 12 of 13 colonies

• Patrick Henry said “I am not a Virginia but an American” - his speeches supported the war such as his “Give me liberty or give me death” speech

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C. First Continental Congress

• Passed the Declaration of American Rights – said the colonies must be self governing but would remain loyal to the king- major accomplishment

• Agreed to meet again in May of 1775 – never realizing where they would be then

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D. The Shot Heard Round the World

• Colonies prepared by establishing state assemblies & state militias

• General Gage set out to capture a large stock of Patriot munitions w/ 700 men marching to Concord (April 1775)

• Paul Revere & William Dawes warned the patriots

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D. The Shot Heard Round the World

• At Lexington both sides were warned not to shoot but some unknown man fired and everyone followed him

• British continued on to Concord & burned the munitions where the patriots attacked them – harassed them back to Boston

• Lexington & Concord was the beginning of the Revolutionary War

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II. Declaring Independence

A. Divided loyalties• Patriots – fought for the cause of liberty• Loyalists or Tories – supported the crown• Often fought each other and the war

resembled a Civil War instead • Some British were sympathetic to Patriots

so had to hire Hessians (German mercenaries)

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B. Second Continental Congress

• Met in Philadelphia in May 1775 & war had started 3 weeks earlier, British penned down in Boston, Fort Ticonderoga fell to patriot forces commanded by Ethan Allen (commander of Green Mtn boys)

• Original purpose was to debate & deliver cooperative resolutions not make laws & supply armies

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What did the Continental Congress

do?• Appointed George Washington to be

in charge of the Continental army– Because he was a southerner – Because he was a hero– Because he had a commanding

presence who could lead and inspire his men

• Make laws & supply armies

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• Bunker Hill - Thomas Gage ordered an attack on entrenched patriots – 3 assaults until the patriots ran out of ammo – costly win for the British outside Boston (1,000 casualties)

• Boston - Washington ordered Henry Knox to get the British canon from Fort Ticonderoga to use to take Boston – the British had to evacuate

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C. Common Sense• Delegates of CC drew up the Olive Branch

Petition which pledged loyalty to the king and asked him to help them. (king ignored)

• Passed the Declaration of the Causes for Taking up Arms – said the British had left them with only 2 options - fight or submit – they only wanted to have their rights recognized (King declared them open enemies)

• Common Sense – written by Thomas Paine – popular pamphlet that said it was only common sense to separate from England

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D. Free & Independent States

• Colonies one by one changed their constitutions to a republican form of government

• Richard Henry Lee called for complete independence from Britain in the CC

• A committee was asked to draw up the Declaration of Independence (Franklin, Adams, Jefferson) – primarily written by Thomas Jefferson – passed on July 4, 1776

»Listed grievances against the king»States universal principles »Signed by 56 delegates – an act of treason

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III. Early Campaigns• Washington tried to defend New York but it

was nearly impossible - he felt he needed to try because giving up would damage public support for the war

• William Howe & the Battle for New York – British General who landed his forces on

Stanton Island, Long Island, and Manhattan Island – showed his men’s experience and Washington’s inexperience

• Battle of Long Island – Washington miraculously

retreated across the East River saving his army to fight another day

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• Trenton – Why important? – Continental Army won a small victory

in a winter raid on the Hessians– Dramatic effect on Patriot moral– Men were encouraged to re-enlist

• Princeton – Why important?– Continental army won a small victory– raised the moral of the army

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• John Burgoyne – British general who brings his army down to Saratoga and loses because Howe doesn’t meet him with his army

• Daniel Morgan - American leader who was vital in winning the Battles of Saratoga & Cowpens

• Saratoga – Turning point of the war– 6,000 British (1/3 of army) was captured or killed– France impressed by the victory recognized the US and joined the war with us against the British

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• Valley Forge – darkest period of the war for the Continental army– poorly supplied

• Baron von Steuben was the drill master for the Continental army

• Battle of Monmouth – was a draw between the British & the Patriots but it showed how good Steuben‘s training was

• George Rogers Clark – patriot leader in the Northwest who captured Vincennes & whose actions allowed the US to claim the frontier

at the Treaty of Paris

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IV. War in the South

• After Saratoga, British moved the war South to – awaken loyalist sentiment (they had a lot of

loyal support there), – soften opposition, – sever the South from the rest of the country

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A. British Advance• British went after Charleston & it was the worst

American defeat of the war

• British General Charles Cornwallis fought against General Horatio Gates at Camden & the Patriots (Gates) had a great defeat

• Frances Marion – led a small band of SC & kept the war alive thru guerrilla raids– “swamp fox”

• Cornwallis sent Ferguson to threaten the over the MTN men and they won a great battle against Ferguson at Kings Mountain

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B. Greene Turns the Tide

• Congress sent Nathanael Greene (fighting Quaker) to replace Horatio Gates

• Battle of Cowpens – major Patriot win & a first major step to British defeat – the most nearly perfect victory of the war

• Battle of Guilford Court House – a fierce battle which resulted in an empty British victory

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C. Victory at Yorktown• Cornwallis sets up headquarters in Yorktown

(7200 men)

• Lafayette (French aristocrat & friend of GW) watches & informs Washington & their forces cut Cornwallis off

• French fleet (De Grasse) comes north to blockade Cornwallis from the sea – an unexpected event that turns Cornwallis’ secure position into a hopeless trap

• Cornwallis is surrounded so he surrenders• “The World Turned upside down”

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• Treaty of Paris 1783 – signed two years after Yorktown– Said the colonies were independent– US got all the land east of the Mississippi

River except Florida

• Now began the great task of building a nation