Committees of Correspondence warned neighboring colonies about incidents with the British. Paul Revere and others warned the militia about the arrival of British troops in Lexington. At the Battle of Concord, thousands of minutemen assembled and fired at the British from behind stone walls and trees, dropping dozens of Redcoats before they were rescued. This began the divide between Loyalists who supported the king and Patriots who supported independence. The Patriots had advantages of defending their homeland and using guerrilla tactics, while the British had experienced soldiers and strong naval support.

3. Committees
of Correspondence
Purpose  warn neighboring colonies
about incidents with British


4. • William Dawes, Samuel Prescott, Paul Revere
– warned militia of the British arrival

5. Lexington
• Americans formed minutemen (soldiers ready in a
moments notice)
• General Gage (British)
– ordered to round up colonial resistance and seize
arsenal
The Shot Heard

6. Concord
•
British
– Marched was a disaster
– road were lined with minutemen some 3-4 thousand militiamen
assembled (fired from behind stone walls and trees
– British fell by the dozens
– rescued by reinforcement from Boston

7. Division
– Loyalist
• Support king (Crown or monarch)
– Patriots
• Support independence
– Radicals
– “I know not what course others may take; but as for me,
give me liberty or give me death” (Patrick Henry)

8. Advantages
Patriots (Ame.)
British
•
•
•
Advantages (Continental
Army)
– defending homeland
– Know the land
– used hit and run tactics
– supply within reach
– aided by France
Disadvantages
– few soldiers have
experiences
– lack of strong navy
•
Advantages (Redcoats)
– generals and soldiers had
wide experiences
– well-supplied with
ammunition, food, money
– Has a strong navies
disadvantages
– Supplies and
reinforcements takes
months to arrive
– faced with new type of
warfare

9. Bunker’s Hill (Breed’s Hill) June 17
• British wontechnical victory
• American
– moral victory
– proved they could
hold own against
better soldiers

10. •
Olive Branch
Letter to King Petition
George III
– Hope for peace
– King rejects the letter
• Prohibitory Act
– Traitors will be hang
– order naval blockade
– Cut all trades, seize American
ships,
– hired German Hessians (10,000)
mercenaries
• (soldiers paid to fight)

11. Thomas Paine:
Common Sense
• Wrote a pamphlet
– Stirred patriotism
– Urged for
independence
– owed no loyalty to king
– “ for all men being
originally equals,

12. •
•
Declaration of
Written by Thomas Jefferson
Independence (1776)
Reasons:
– can obtain aid from Britain’s
enemies
– if captured can demand to be
treated as prisoner not traitors
(death penalty)

13. Parts of the Declaration:
• preamble– explained the principles behind the act of declaring
independence
• list of all grievances against the king
• conclude with severing ties and becoming independent
– “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights”
“among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”
– Influence by John Locke- people are the fundamental
source of power “governments derive their just powers
from the consent of the governed”
– July 4, 1776- colonies seized to exist
– America was born

14. Quiz #4
1. Tax on all legal documents. S A
2. Policy that forbade settlers to settle beyond
Appalachian Mountain P of 17_
3. Punishment policy to the colonist that dumped the tea
into the ocean I A
4. Killing of innocent colonists by the British soldiers B M
5. Term for military rule M L
6. Event where colonist dumped tea into the ocean B T P
7. Tax on all import goods to raise King’s revenue T A
8. Term for housing the troops Q A
9. Term for refuse to buy
10. Secret society of men

16. George Washington
• Head of Continental Army
• commander in chief (43
yrs old)
• had limited military
experience
• brought southerner
support
• commanded the respect of
the officers/soldiers
• take command of 14,000
soldiers to build a national
army

17. Quiz # 5
1. Name the main author of Declaration of Independence
2. Name one reason for writing the Declaration
3. Name the author of Common Sense
4. He said “Give me Liberty or Give me Death.”
5. Name one part of the Declaration of Independence
6. This battle was a moral victory for the Americans
7-8. Name two advantage of the Americans
9-10. Name two advantage of the British

19. Fort Ticonderoga
• Colonists
Take Action
– Ethan Allen
led American
rebels and
captured the
fort
– Took
ammunitions

20. Battle of Long Island, NY
• Washington with untrained soldiers (23,000)
• British had 32,000 plus thousand mercenaries
– British burned city to the ground
• Washington retreat with heavy losses to Delaware
• Thousands began to desert Washington’s army

21. •
•
Washington needed victorylosing men’s confidence
Washington conceived a bold
plan
• Night of Dec 25
they crossed the
ice-choked
Delaware with
2,400 men
– surprised the
drunk Hessian
mercenaries
– within 45 minutesHessians capture
more than 900
Battle of Trenton

22. Battle of Saratoga
• Burgoyne’s plan: to capture NY to
split US in two
– he would head down to Albany to
meet Howe’s and Leger’s troops
• obstacles: forested wilderness,
heavy equipments, large troops
• clashes with Americans
– Gen. Howe decided to seize
Philadelphia
• Abandoned plan
• Americans able to surround
Burgoyne- led to his surrender to
Gen Horatio Gates

23. France Alliance
• Victory in Saratoga
(turning point)
• eliminated British
from north
• brought France on
American side
– Dispatched money,
military experts, large
quantities of supplies

25. Valley Forge (Pennsylvania)
– Soldiers demoralized, hungry, winter- cold
– Washington troops whipped into fighting shape by French
military experts
– Taught the Continental how to drill, maneuver and use bayonets like
professional soldiers

26. British General: Lord Cornwallis
• capable – hot headed- persisted
in using battle tactics that did not
work
– He would mass troops
for a showdown in
open battle only to be
harassed by US milita with
small units
• Greene destroyed more than a
quarter of Cornwallis army at
N. C

27. Battle of Yorktown
– Cornwallis was supposed to go
to NY but retreated to Yorktown
instead
• Rochambeau and
Washington marched forces
overland from NY to join
Marqui de Lafayette in
Virginia
• At the same time, Admiral de
Grasse sailed with 30 ships
and 3,000 French marines to
Chesapeake Bay
• American and French allies
cut off Cornwallis by land
and sea- held out for 3
weeks
• Realized rescue impossiblesurrender on Oct 17,.1781

28. Treaty of Paris
• British agreed to
recognize America
as independent
nation
• Granted American
all the land from the
Atlantic coast to
Mississippi River
• Agreed to evacuate
military post