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Chapter 6 - The Road to Revolution
Chapter 6.4 – Declaring Independence• After the fighting at Lexington and
Concord, 20,000 militiamen from Massachusetts gathered around Boston
• General Gage moved his men to Boston, which was nearly surrounded by water
• On May 10, 1775, Americans attacked Fort Ticonderoga on the New York side of Lake Champlain – Ethan Allen and his Green Mountain Boys captured the fort and its artillery
• On the same day in Philadelphia, John and Samuel Adams, John Hancock, Ben Franklin, Patrick Henry and George Washington, and the Second Continental Congress met and agreed to form a Continental Army
• George Washington was chosen as its commanding general
• Acting like a government, congress also authorized the printing of paper money to pay the troops
The Continental Army is Formed
Chapter 6 - The Road to Revolution
Chapter 6.4 – Declaring Independence• Boston – June, 1775, tensions were mounting
as Americans seized Bunker Hill and Breed’s Hill behind Charlestown
• Fortifications were built on Breed’s Hill alarming the British who decided to attack the Americans
• General William Howe and 2,200 troops crossed the bay and marched up Breed’s Hill
• On top of the hill, the militia waited – according to legend, Colonel William Prescott ordered his men not to fire until “you see the whites of their eyes”
• When the British were close enough, the militia opened fire on the British, forcing them to retreat – the British regrouped and charged again
• After running out of ammunition, the militia were forced off the hill
• The British won, but at a terrible price – more than 1,000 redcoats were killed or wounded compared to the 400 militia casualties
• An inexperienced militia had just held its own against the most powerful army in the world
The Battle of Bunker Hill
Chapter 6 - The Road to Revolution
Chapter 6.4 – Declaring Independence• Even as the smoke from Bunker Hill
cleared, most colonists still hoped for peace
• Even some Patriot leaders thought themselves as loyal subjects of the king and blamed Parliament for the conflict
• July, 1775 - In an effort to restore peace, moderates in congress sent the Olive Branch Petition to King George III in London
• King George rejected the petition and announced new measures to punish the colonies;– He used the British navy to block American ports– He sent thousands of hired German mercenaries called Hessians
• While the militia felt they were equal to the British troops, Washington knew better
• The British were professionals and well equipped
A Last Attempt at Peace
Chapter 6 - The Road to Revolution
Chapter 6.4 – Declaring Independence• The militia had little training and
had barely enough powder to fight one battle
• During the summer of 1775, Washington arrived in Boston and began gathering supplies for his poorly equipped militia
• In the fall, he approved a daring plan to invade and capture Quebec – hoping to draw the Canadians into the fight against the British
• Benedict Arnold led his men across Maine and into Canada – arriving in November 1775
• Despite harsh winter conditions, the Americans attacked Quebec but failed to capture it
• After several months they returned home defeated
A Last Attempt at Peace
Chapter 6 - The Road to Revolution
Chapter 6.4 – Declaring Independence• In Massachusetts, the Continental Army
had surrounded the British in Boston• Neither side was willing to back down – but
help for Washington was on the way• Cannon captured from Fort
Ticonderoga were being hauled over the snow-covered mountains – after two long months, the cannon arrived in Boston in January, 1776
• Washington moved his troops and the cannons to Dorchester Heights overlooking Boston
• On March 17, 1776, fearing a bombardment, General Howe loaded his 9,000 troops onto 100 ships and withdrew from Boston
• Fearing for their safety, more than 1,000 loyalists left Boston with the British troops
• Some Patriots were calling for loyalists to be hanged as traitors – many loyalist’s lost their homes and property
The British Retreat from Boston
Chapter 6 - The Road to Revolution
Chapter 6.4 – Declaring Independence• Early in 1776, most Americans were
still reluctant to make a final break with England
• A new immigrant from England named Thomas Paine wrote a pamphlet called Common Sense to help convince Americans that a complete break with Britain was necessary
• Common Sense sold more than 100,000 copies in three months making a strong case for American independence;
• - Paine ridiculed the idea that kings ruled by divine will – he argued all monarchies were corrupt
• - He also disagreed with the idea that the American economy needed Britain arguing that “our corn will fetch its price in any market in Europe”
• Paine’s Common Sense was one of the most influential political documents in history
Common Sense is Published
Chapter 6 - The Road to Revolution
Chapter 6.4 – Declaring Independence• A majority of the delegates still did
not support independence• Even so, in May, 1776 Congress
adopted a resolution - authorized each of the 13 colonies to establish its own government
• On June 7, 1776, Richard Henry Lee of Virginia introduced a key resolution:
• - called the colonies “free and independent states”
• - declared “all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain . . . is totally dissolved”
• Unwilling to vote on the resolution to dissolve political ties, Congress appointed a committee to draft a Declaration of Independence
A Time for Decision
Chapter 6 - The Road to Revolution
Chapter 6.4 – Declaring Independence• The committee included; Ben
Franklin, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Roger Sherman, and Robert Livingston
• Jefferson was chosen to write the Declaration for two reasons;– He was an excellent writer– He was a Virginian, and they
would need Virginia’s support for the independence movement to succeed
• Within two weeks Jefferson had most of the Declaration written
• On July, 2, 1776, despite strong opposition, Lee’s resolution passed and the colonies considered themselves independent
A Time for Decision
Chapter 6 - The Road to Revolution
Chapter 6.4 – Declaring Independence• Two days later on July 4, 1776,
Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence
• As the president of the Congress, John Hancock was the first to sign the Declaration
• The core idea of the Declaration was based on John Locke’s philosophy that people have unalienable rights – rights the government cannot take away
• Jefferson argued that governments that disregard these rights lose their right to govern
• People have the right to abolish these governments by force if necessary and form new governments– “People” meant only whites though
– women and enslaved persons were not included
The Declaration is Adopted
Chapter 6 - The Road to Revolution
Chapter 6.4 – Declaring Independence• The Declaration gave reasons for
breaking with Britain and declared the colonies to be free and independent from Britain
• Realizing they were committing treason, the delegates were urged to stand together in mutual defense
• The Declaration closed with this pledge: “And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred Honor”
• All they had to do now was win their freedom on the battlefield
The Declaration is Adopted