The American Revolution

1. The American Revolution

2. The Revolution Before The War “Salutary Neglect” Ends! King George III Reigns -act of avoiding strict enforcement of parliamentary laws -Revenue Act – 1764 (Sugar Act) -lowered 1733 Molasses Act tax and focused on smuggling -Stamp Act - 1765 -tax on all papers, official documents, newspapers, licenses, wills, etc -idea of virtual representation – opposed to actual -anger and protest -Sons of Liberty -Quartering Act – 1765 -housing of British troops -in New York, led to the New York Suspending Act -NY assembly acts null and void until obligations met toward army

3. Revenue Act - 1767-Townshend Acts • - Massachusetts Circular Letter (Resistance) • Taxation Without Representation (paper, lead, paint, glass, tea) • No American rep. in Parliament, Search and Seizure violations • Fall 1768 – 3000 troops arrive in Boston • -tensions mount • Boston Massacre – March 5 1770 • -Propaganda campaign • -5 killed – Crispus Attucks • Gaspee burnt – 1772 • -any SUSPECT to be charged with high treason • 1773-Tea Act • -gave favor to East India Company • -sell tea directly to government • -not through public auction to independent merchants • -Boston Tea Party – Dec. 16

4. Intolerable Acts - 1774 • -Boston Port Act • -Massachusetts Government Act • -Impartial Administration of Justice Act • -Quartering Act • -Quebec Act • -Quebec under French civil law • -Catholocism allowed in Quebe • -control of land in Ohio Valley (PA and VA) • First Continental Congress –Sept. 1774 • Committees of Correspondence and Safety • 1775-Lexington and Concord- Second Continental Congress • WAR

5. 1775

6. The British Are Coming!

7. 1775 • April 18, 1775 - General Gage orders 700 British soldiers to Concord to destroy the colonists' weapons depot. • At dawn on April 19 about 70 armed Massachusetts militiamen stand face to face on Lexington Green with the British advance guard. An unordered 'shot heard around the world' begins the American Revolution. A volley of British rifle fire followed by a charge with bayonets leaves eight Americans dead and ten wounded. The British regroup and head for the depot in Concord, destroying the colonists' weapons and supplies. At the North Bridge in Concord, a British platoon is attacked by militiamen, with 14 casualties. • British forces then begin a long retreat from Lexington back to Boston and are harassed and shot at all along the way by farmers and rebels and suffer over 250 casualties. News of the events at Lexington and Concord spreads like wildfire throughout the Colonies. • April 23, 1775 - The Provincial Congress in Massachusetts orders 13,600 American soldiers to be mobilized. Colonial volunteers from all over New England assemble and head for Boston, then establish camps around the city and begin a year-long siege of Boston.

8. Moving from argument- to arms!Lexington and Concord

10. Patrick Henry: Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death, March 1775 There is no longer any room for hope. If we wish to be free- if we mean to preserve inviolate these inestimable privileges for which we have been so long contending –if we mean not basely to abandon the noble struggle in which we have been so long engaged, and which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon until the glorious object of our contest shall be obtained- we must fight! Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace– but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!

11. Thomas PaineCommon Sense “The sun never shone on a cause of greater worth.” “Every quiet method for peace hath been ineffectual.”

12. May 10, 1775 • TheSecond Continental Congress convenes in Philadelphia, with John Hancock elected as its president. • On May 15, the Congress places the colonies in a state of defense. • On June 15, the Congress unanimously votes to appoint George Washington general and commander-in-chief of the new Continental Army.

13. Second Continental Congress • Raise an army • Try to reconcile with England • The King was not receptive

14. June 17, 1775 • The first major fight between British and American troops • A frontal assault of over 2000 British soldiers • Americans run out of ammunition left only with bayonets and stones to defend themselves. • The British succeed in taking the hill, but with 1000 casualties compared to 400 American

17. Don’t fire until you see the whites of their eyes.

19. July 3, 1775 - At Cambridge, Massachusetts, George Washington takes command of the Continental Army which now has about 17,000 men.

20. General George Washington, as painted by Charles Willson Peale in 1787, 12 years after his assumption of command at age 43. A tall (6’2”) and strong man, Washington believed a leader should look the part, as shown here by his meticulously tailored and clean uniform. His personal appearance was described as “truly noble and majestic.” (Peale painted himself and his brother behind GW. Peale served as a 1st Lieutenant in the war.)

21. 1776 1776

22. Cannon taken from Fort Ticonderoga (after Ethan Allen captured it in May 1775) were hauled to Boston by self educated 25 year old bookseller Henry Knox, his 19 year old brother, and his hired men in the winter of 1775-76. Knox selected 58 mortars and Cannon; 3 mortars weighed over a ton, and the “24 pounder” over 5,ooo pounds. Not one gun was lost in the nearly impossible 2 month venture! Knox became one of GW’s most trusted men

25. The guns from Ticonderoga, placed on Dorchester Heights on March 5, 1776, forced the British to leave Boston

26. New York and New Jersey • Washington had 17,000 troops facing a large force of British under General Howe • Brooklyn Heights and Long Island • Evacuated to Manhattan Island, the Americans fought a “retreating effort” through NYC, leaving 3,000 men as the rear guard at Fort Washington.

27. November, 1776 - More victories for the British as Fort Washington on Manhattan and its precious stores of over 100 cannon, thousands of muskets and cartridges is captured by Gen. Howe. The Americans also lose Fort Lee in New Jersey to Gen. Cornwallis. Washington's army suffers 3000 casualties in the two defeats. Gen. Washington abandons the New York area and moves his forces further westward toward the Delaware River. Cornwallis now pursues him.

29. THE PROMISE: JULY 4, 1776! -On June 7, Richard Henry Lee, a Virginia delegate presents a formal resolution to declare independence from Britain. -Congress decides to postpone its decision on this until July. -On June 11, Congress appoints a committee to draft a declaration of independence. Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Roger Livingston and Roger Sherman. Jefferson is chosen by the committee to prepare the first draft of the declaration, which he completes in one day. -June 28, Jefferson's Declaration of Independence is ready and is presented to the Congress -July 4, the Congress formally endorses Jefferson's Declaration, with copies to be sent to all of the colonies.

30. Crossing the Cold River • Washington retreated through NJ through December, crossing the Delaware river into PA before Christmas. • “Hurrah for the good guys!” Washington leads a daring attack on Trenton, NJ on Christmas night capturing almost 1,000 German and British soldiers • Several Days later, they repeated this tactic successfully in Princeton, NJ.

31. General Howe: wanted to capture Philadelphia by transporting his army up the Chesapeake Bay and overland to Philadelphia 1777Conflicting Plans General Burgoyne: wanted to proceed down the Hudson River to Albany and East from St. Lawrence to Niagara, cutting apart New England

32. Brandywine Creek • Howe delayed his attack and took 6 weeks to transport his troops by ship to a landing only 40 miles closer to Philly that when he had left NY! • Washington engaged Howe’s forces outside Philadelphia at Brandywine (Sept 11), and Germantown(Oct 4). Between these two major engagements, the British attacked and “massacred” Pennsylvanians at Paoli (Sept 20). Even though the British victories allowed them to occupy the Capital, some historians believe Washington’s good showing against the British helped to bring the French Army into the cause.

33. Paoli Massacre: Sept 20-21, 1777 “No Flint” Grey attacks Wayne’s Pennsylvanians with bayonets.

35. VICTORY AT SARATOGA Things were going better up north. Led by Benedict Arnold, Daniel Morgan, and Horatio Gates, the Americans defeated the British at Saratoga in upstate NY. Burgoyne was forced to surrender his entire 6,000 man army in this “turning point” battle of the revolutionary war.

37. Among Washington's troops was Thomas Paine, author of Common Sense, who wrote "...These are the times that try men's souls: The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country: but he that stands it NOW deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like Hell, is not easily conquered. Yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, themore glorious the triumph."

43. Francis Marion “The Swamp Fox” Insurgents like Marion led militiamen in guerilla style warfare against British and Loyalist forces in the South Carolina low country. Mel Gibson’s character in “The Patriot” is very loosely based on Marion.

44. America’s First Civil WarFighting in the Carolinas • May 12, 1780-Charleston falls to the British • May 29, 1780-Waxhaws Massacre- “No Quarter” or “Bloody Ban” Tarleton massacres militiamen • July 1780-Huck’s Defeat avenges Waxhaws • August 1780-Following their smashing victory at Camden, SC, the British move to finish off the Patriots. • October 1780- Patriot militia crush Loyalist forces at Kings Mountain along the NC/SC border. • Jan. 1781-Morgan (499 in1756)shines at Cowpens!

45. 1,100 Brits & Tories: 100 KIA, 229 WIA, 600 POW; Officers 39/66 KIA, 85% Losses 1,000 Americans:12 KIA, 60WIA, 6% Losses

47. The End is Near:1781 • March 15, 1781 - Forces under Gen. Cornwallis suffer heavy losses in the Battle of Guilford Courthouse, NC. As a result, Cornwallis abandons plans to conquer the Carolinas and retreats to Wilmington, NC, then begins a campaign to conquer Virginia. • August 1, 1781 - After several months of chasing Gen. Greene's army without much success, Gen. Cornwallis and his 10,000 tired soldiers arrive to seek rest at the small town of Yorktown, Virginia, on the Chesapeake Bay. He then establishes a base to communicate by sea with Gen. Clinton's forces in New York. • August 14, 1781 - Gen. Washington abruptly changes plans and abandons the attack on New York in favor of Yorktown after receiving a letter from French Admiral Count de Grasse indicating his entire 29-ship French fleet with 3,000 soldiers is now heading for the Chesapeake Bay near Cornwallis. Gen. Washington then coordinates with Gen. Rochambeau to rush their best troops south to Virginia to destroy the British position in Yorktown.

50. October 19, 1781 - As their band plays the tune, "The world turned upside down," the British army marches out in formation and surrenders at Yorktown.