Presentation Transcript

1. American Revolution

2. George Washington was born February 22, 1732, in Virginia. He was very wealthy, and liked to hunt. He was a great horseback rider, and he was also very smart. He be came a surveyor because he was so good at math. By the age of 16 he had become a very good surveyor.
3. Beginning with Paul Revere's own narrative of his legendary ride in April 1775 and ending with a moving account of George Washington's resignation from the command of the Continental Army in December 1783, The American Revolution describes the major events of the conflict—the early battles of Lexington, Concord, and Bunker Hill; the failed American invasion of Canada; the crucial battle of Saratoga; the bitter fighting in the South and along the western frontier; and the decisive triumph at Yorktown.
4. George Washington was born in Westmoreland county, Virginia on February 22, 1732. George was the youngest son of Augustine Washington and his second wife, Mary Bell Washington. George's early education consisted of the study of such subjects as mathematics, surveying, the classics, and rules of civility. His father died in 1743. From then on, he went to live with his half brother Lawrence. George then lived and traveled with his brother for nine years. His brother also died of tuberculosis. After George's brother passed away he ultimately inherited the Mount Vernon estate.
5. George Washington played a major part in the American Revolution. On July 3, 1776, Washington took command of the troops surrounding British occupied Boston. He spent the next few months training the rag-tag team made up mostly of untrained colonists. There were 14,000 men with little supplies. Even though Washington prevailed, he nearly failed due to the lack of men and supplies. Until he surprised the Hessian garrison by crossing the Delaware River on Christmas night 1776. In 1780 the main theater of the war shifted to the south where, in cooperation with Comte de Rochambeau and the com d Esaing, Washington brilliantly planned and executed the Yorktown Campaign. During this action, Washington and his troops defeated Charles Cornwallis and the British forces; securing American victory on October 19, 1781. George Washington had grown enormously in the time during the war. After the war he gradually learned to trust his own judgement after he had taken some advice from officers such as Gates and Charles Lee. Then George developed what was maybe his greatest strength in the society suspicious of the military.
6. Thomas Jefferson was born April 13, 1743 in Shadwell, Virginia. During his life, he had many accomplishments. Among them were a lawyer, a farmer, and a public official. He was the founder of the Democratic-Republican party. He became a member of the Continental Congress in 1775. He wrote the Declaration of Independence, and was the governor of Virginia from 1779 to 1781. As governor of the state, he guided Virginia through the troubled last years of the American Revolution. He was vice-president from 1797 to 1801 and later became 3rd President of the United States from 1801-1809.
7. Jefferson's most famous accomplishment was writing the Declaration of Independence. He was 33 when he wrote it. Jefferson had to write a declaration that would show the spirit of America -- one that would state the basic rights of individuals, justify a revolution, and inspire the people to make it happen. It had to state principles such as freedom, equality, justice, and democracy; but it also had to be written in an accurate, logical manner that would appeal to common sense and be understood by all the people who read it or heard it read. As stated by John W. Selfridge in Thomas Jefferson the Philosher President, "As enthusiastic as Adams was, in 1776 neither he, Jefferson, nor any of their friends could have forseen that the Declaration of Independence would be cherished by generations of Americans to come.
8. Benjamin Franklin was born on January 17, 1706 on Milk Street in Boston, Massachusetts. He was the 15th of 17 children. His father was a candle and soap maker and a mechanic who emigrated from England in 1783. His mother, AbiahFolger, was his father's second wife.
9. Franklin had only 2 years of schooling, as his parents could not afford more. Franklin wanted to be a sailor, but since his older brother, Josiah, had died at sea, his father did not approve. Instead, his father sent him to apprentice his brother, a printer of the "The New England Courant." Because he was an insightful writer, and because he knew his brother would not print his work, Franklin wrote letters to the paper as Silence Dogwood, an elderly woman. When his brother discovered his secret, he became very angry with Benjamin and beat him on several occasions. Franklin Published the "Pennsylvania Gazette." He also wrote "Poor Richards Almanac" which became a best seller in North America. It included sayings such as "Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise."
10. Betsy Ross was born Elizabeth Griscom January 1, 1752 in Philadelphia. She was the eighth of seventeen children and a fourth generation American. Betsy went to school at a Quaker public school where she learned writing, reading, and possibly sewing. Thereafter, she was apprenticed to a local upholsterer. During this time, upholsterers were hired for all sorts of jobs including flag making.
11. At this apprenticeship, she met her first husband John Ross. They married in November 1773, but because Betsy's Quaker church frowned upon inter-denominational marriage and John was Episcopalian, so they chose to elope to a New Jersey tavern. Soon after their marriage, John and Betsy Ross started an upholstery business. In 1776, her husband was killed in a munitions explosion. After his death, Betsy returned to the Quaker church.
12. Benedict Arnold was born on January 14, 1741 in Norwich. Benedict Arnold had some pretty tough times during his childhood, but since he was an energetic and intelligent kid, he managed. Arnold's family had some poor business deals that caused some finance problems at home. His father later turned to the local taverns for solace. Arnold attended school at Canterbury. There, some of his siblings died from the yellow fever.
13. Arnold was a very energetic kid; he was willing to do just about anything. Because of lax parental control, he was a bit of a troublemaker. Finally his mother found help from their family. Ben's cousins Daniel and Soshua Lathrop took Arnold into their apothecary business. He left his apprenticeship a few times to join the army for periods of time during the French and Indian War. But he remained in his cousin's business for years.
14. BATTLE OF LEXINGTON(By Stephanie Castillo & Vanessa Maldonado) LexingtonIt was 4:30 in the morning before the British appeared. About 70 American men stood dismayed while the 600 British soldiers in gleaming red and white uniforms with shiny brass buttons and buckles, assembled into battle lines. "Stand you ground!" yelled Captain Parker. "If they want war, let it begin here!" And it did. Knowing there was no way to overthrow the British forces with the tiny American group of men, Captain Parker ordered his men to disband, but the British commander Major Atcairn had orders to take the American's weapons. A small skirmish arose between the Americans and British. Parker was killed. As the sun began to rise, the british marched to Concord.
15. BATTLE OF FORT TICONDEROGA(By Ryan Brown & Juan Meza) On May 10, 1775, Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold led 83 Americans called the Green Mountain Boys through the morning fog. They easily took over the 45 man British garrison at Fort Ticonderoga, New York without a shot being fired. It was located at the southern tip of Lake Champlain. The capture of Crown Point, New York on May 11th gave the patriots control of Lake Champlaign and opened up Canada to invasion from the south.
16. BATTLE OF LONG ISLAND(By Lester Cabrera, Jeff Gabriel, & Juan Hernandez) The Battle of Long Island was an engagement of the American Revolution. The battle was waged on August 27, 1776 and ended on August 30, 1776. This was the first large-scaled battle of the war and had two commanding officers, George Washington and William Howe. The whole ideal of the war was a British campaign to seize New York City during the American Revolution. General George Washington had sent out one-third of his troops across the East River to Brooklyn Heights from the American headquarters on Manhattan Island, where they constructed strong enough entrenchments. There was a defect in their plan. You see, by George Washington sending out 4,000 men to guard the Heights of Guana, he left the left flank un-defendable and vulnerable. They failed to protect it, which caused the Americans to lose more than a thousand men. Howe only lost 400 men.
17. BATTLE OF YORKTOWN(By Lester Cabrera, Jeff Gabriel, & Juan Hernandez) Yorktown was the area where the last major battle of the American Revolution War took place. The U.S. forces and the forces from France worked together to give the British froces under Cornwallis a massive defeat. In July 1780, about 5,500 French soldiers led by Lieutenant General Jean Rochambaeu, arrived in America. George Washington still hoped to force the troops from Britain out of New York City in an operation combined with France. Washington learned that an enormous fleet from France headed toward Virginia in August 1781. The fleet was under Admiral Francois Grasse. He planned to prevent Cornwallis from escaping by ocean, by obstructing Chesapeake Bayy. The French forces, led by Rochambeau, and the American forces under Washington hurried southward to capture Cornwallis on land. Admiral Grasse battled a naval force from Britain that sailed from New York to Chesapeake Bay's mouth in the beginning of September. The British then returned to New York to repair after several days of battle. An allied French and American force of approximately 18,000 sailors and soldiers encircled Cornwallis at Yorktown by the end of September 1781. On the night of October 16th, Cornwallis tried to bring his forces over the York River to safety. A storm had driven them back which caused Cornwallis to capitulate the next day. On October 19, 1781, Cornwallis surrendered. Greater than 8,000 soldiers brought down their arms while a band from Britain played the song called "The World Turned Upside Down," over and over again. The men were approximately one-fourth of Britain's force in America.