The Collision of Cultures

Pre-Columbian Indian Civilization

Archeological evidence suggests that about 12,000 to 15,000 years ago, small bands of tribal hunters followed herds of game crossed the Bering Strait between Siberia

and Alaska during the Ice Age.

Recent archaeological findings suggest that humans have arrived by seas much earlier, perhaps 18,000 to 40,000

years ago form varies parts of Asia and some of them even crossed the Atlantic Ocean from the southwest Europe.

Bering Strait

Clovis Culture

Civilizations in the AmericasThe Mayans in Mesoamerica

The AztecsMexico

TenochtitlanMexico

The IncasPeru

Pre-Columbian Indian Cultures of North America

• The Adena-Hopewell of the Ohio River Valley. (800B.C-600A.D.)

• The Mississippian of the Southeast (600A.D-1500)

• The Anasazi of the Southwest. (400B.C to present)

The Adena-Hopewell Culture

Indian Cultures of North America:Mississippian Culture

The Anasazi Culture

The Anasazi

Indian Social Structure

• The Indian societies of North America were less complex and coercive than those from the South. They lacked occupational diversity, social hierarchy, and strong state institutions.

• The large-scale culture to emerge north of Rio Grande was the

Mississippi River Valley civilization. The largest Mississippian capital was at Cahokia in what is now St. Louis, Missouri.

• 1. The construction of large, truncated earthwork pyramid

mounds. Structures (domestic houses, temples, burial buildings, or other) were usually constructed atop such mounds.

Indian Economic Structure• 2. Maize-based (corn) agriculture. In most places, the

development of Mississippian culture coincided with the adoption of comparatively large-scale, intensive maize agriculture, which allowed the support of larger populations and craft specialization.

• 3. The adoption and use of riverside shell-tempering agents in their ceramics.

• 4. Widespread trade networks extending as far west as the Rockies, north to the Great Lakes, south to the Gulf of Mexico, and east to the Atlantic Ocean.

• 5. The development of the chiefdom or complex chiefdom level of social complexity.

• 6. The development of institutionalized social inequality.

Indian Political Structure

• 7. Centralized control of combined political and religious power in the hands of few or one.

• 8. The beginnings of a settlement hierarchy. • 9. The Mississippians had no writing system or

stone architecture. They worked with naturally occurring metal deposits but did not smelt iron or make bronze metallurgy.

The European Renaissance and the Age of Discovery

• The discovery of the New World coincides with the spread of European power and culture around the world.

• Historians refer the period from 15th to 17th centuries as “The Age of Discovery”.

• The Portuguese and the Spaniards were the first pioneers of exploration who established links with Africa, America, and Asia in search of alternative trade routes (gold, silver, and spices) to India, South Asia and China (silk). France, England, and the Netherlands soon followed these explorations.

• The Age of Discovery marked the passage from the Middle Ages of the 15th century to the early Modern period. Also, the Renaissance and the rise of Humanism as well as the Scientific Revolution, intellect inquiry, and the rise of European nation-states were important drivers for the start of the Modern Era.

Christopher Columbus1492

La Pinta , La Nina y La Santa Maria

The European Conquest in America

Motives for exploration:• God, Glory, and Gold.• With the conquest of the Ottoman Turks in

1453, the overland routes were closed to Western traders. Europe became interested in reaching Asia by sea.

The Byzantine EmpireThe Search for New Routes to Asia

The Ottoman Empire

God, Glory, and Gold

God• Spread Christianity after the Europeans conquered the land. Glory• Curiosity (they like to see what is out there, due in large part

to Marco Polo’s exploration of Chin; other nations wanted see what other great nations were out there)

Gold• Land (one of most important items a person can own at that

time other than gold)• Resources (many countries in Europe did not have many

resources.

Destruction of Cultures

Consequences of European expansion in America:• The arrival of the Europeans had an enormous impact

on the conquerors ,the conquered ,and the environment.

• Ancient and political structures were wiped out and replaced with European institutions, religion, language, and culture.

• Psychological impact: The relatively easy success in dominating native people reinforced the European’s belief in the superiority of their civilization.

The Biological Exchange• The Scientific Revolution of the seventeenth century, followed by the era

of imperialism a century later, served to strengthen the Eurocentric perspective with the rest of the world.

• In the economic arena, European expansion also affected native people. Wherever the European went in America, they sought gold and silver. But gold and silver weren’t the only two products sent to Europe. They sent potatoes, cacao, corn, tobacco.

• This is now known as “THE COLUMBIAN EXCHANGE” involving the transfer of plants, animals, foods, human populations (including slaves), communicable diseases, and culture between the Eastern and Western hemispheres. It was one of the most significant global events concerning ecology, agriculture, and culture in history.

The Columbian Exchange

Infectious DiseasesForm the Europeans

• * bubonic plague

• * chicken pox• * cholera• * influenza• * leprosy• * malaria• * measles• * scarlet fever• * smallpox• * typhoid• * typhus• * yellow fever• * yaws•

•

Infectious Diseases From The Native Americans

• Syphilis• Hepatitis• Yaws

The New World Native PlantsMaize, tomato, potato, tobacco.

The Old World Native Plants

Britain Conquest of North AmericaQueen Elizabeth and Sir Walter Raleigh

Sir Walter Raleigh

English Colonization

• English colonization began in 1584 with Sr. Walter Raleigh (1552 –1618) • His expedition explored the Outer Banks of North

Carolina and discovered Roanoke Island.• Three years later ,100 settlers arrived including women

and children under the leadership of John White as its governor.

• White returned to England to get supplies; when he returned in 1590, he found the village abandoned and pillaged. No trace of the “lost colonists” was ever found.

RoanokeThe Lost Colony

Roanoke Colony1584

Jamestown Colony Captain John Smith 1607

Captain John Smith

• John Smith led a group of 105 men.• They reached the Chesapeake Bay on May 6,

1607.• And planted the first permanent colony in

Virginia.• They called it Jamestown after King James I ,

who chartered the stockholders called the Virginia Company.

John Rolfe arrived in 1612Contributions

• He began the tobacco enterprise in America.• Increased immigration on the colony.• Married Pocahontas which helped to smooth

relations between Indians and the English settlers.

Pocahontas

Jamestown SettlementJames Fort

Britain and its Colonies in America

The Thirteen ColoniesNew England ColoniesRhode Island• Connecticut• Massachusetts• New Hampshire

Middle Colonies

• Delaware• Pennsylvania• New York• New Jersey

Southern Colonies

• Maryland• Virginia• North Carolina• South Carolina• Georgia

Virginia Colony 1607• Virginia was named for Elizabeth I, the Queen of England. Virginia is the

tenth one of the original 13 states to join the Union (1788). Virginia holds an important place in American history, as it was home to many of the founding fathers, including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, George Mason, and Patrick Henry.

• Four of America's first five presidents were Virginians. During the Civil War, Richmond, Virginia's capital, was the capital of the Confederacy. Virginia was the site of some of the most important events in American history.

• The first permanent English settlement was established by the Virginia Company at Jamestown in 1607. Famous homes include George Washington's Mount Vernon and Thomas Jefferson's Monticello. The Atlantic Ocean, Chesapeake Bay, and tidal rivers offer beach sports, sailing , and fishing.

Plymouth Colony 1620

• No event in American history is more famous throughout the world, and none has been followed by results more potent in the making of this country than the settlement of the Pilgrims at Plymouth. This pioneer company, which founded the second English colony in the New World, was composed of Puritans who had left the Church of England; they were known as Independents or Separatists.

The Pilgrims

The Pilgrims

• The Pilgrims, English Puritans who fled from religious persecution in Britain, moved to Holland in 1609. Although they prospered in Holland , they were concerned because their children were influenced by the Dutch culture. They determined to move to the New World. They received financial backing from merchants in England which covered travel and supplies, agreeing to labor for the merchants for seven years. 44 Pilgrims boarded the Mayflower with 66 other passengers, dubbed “the Strangers” by the Pilgrims, on September 6, 1620 , led by William Bradford. They landed 65 days later

William Bradford

Squanto

• The group attempted to settle in Plymouth but the bitter cold , heavy sleet , and snow interfered with construction. Of the 110 who arrived in November 1620, less than 50 lived until spring. Samoset, an Abnaki who lived with the local Patuxet tribe, entered the settlement on March 16, 1621. The Pilgrims were amazed when he greeted them in their own language. They discovered that he learned English from fishing captains who sailed off the American coast. Samoset returned shortly with Squanto, who had an even better command of the English language.

Squanto’s Help to the Pilgrims

• Squanto helped the Pilgrims immeasurably. They received a wealth of information from him. He taught them such things as how to distinguish between plants that were helpful and harmful, how to plant corn and other crops, and how to tap maples for their sap. The 1621 harvest in October was quite successful. There was much to celebrate:

Thanksgiving1621

• Governor William Bradford proclaimed a day of thanksgiving for the settlers and invited their Native American neighbors to join the celebration.

Thanksgiving Celebration

The Creation of Colonies During and After the Restoration

• 1642-1649: English Civil War• 1649 King Charles I executed.• 1640-1653: English monarchy replaced with the Commonwealth

of England.• 1655-1659: Replaced with Protectorate under Oliver Cromwell's

dictatorship.• 1660: Conservative military men under George Monck took

control and brought Charles II , son of Charles I, to the throne. He reigned from 1660 to 1685. This period is called the Restoration and it was significant for colonial North America because the King used the colonies to tighten control and to pay off debts incurred during his fight to recover the throne.

Charles II and the Restoration1660-1685

James II1685-1688

Exile to France

The Glorious Revolution1688

William and Mary1688-1702

In the Colonies• For the colonists, the result of the Glorious Revolution

was looser governance by the Crown.• William and Mary continued to have a definite

economic interest in the colonies.• They established a Board of Trade to oversee affairs.• They established a privy council to administer colonial

laws.• In general, the Crown ignores governance of its

colonies and enforcement of its trade laws so long as the colonies continued to provide England with sufficient cash and produce.

Salutary Neglect

• This system of Crown governance neglect gave colonial assemblies a high level of legitimacy.

• But the risk of salutary neglect was that if England ever decided to enforce the laws, a serious conflict was inevitable.

• And it happened with the French and Indian War of 1654-1663.

Queen Ann and The Georges

• Queen Ann reigned from 1702-1714• George I : 1714-1727• George II: 1727-1760• The French and Indian War: 1754-1763• George III: 1760-1820• The American Revolution: 1776-1783

Expansion and Control in the Colonies1700-1763

• As the colonial society grew, by 1700 four distinct regions developed:

• New England (Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Connecticut)

• The Middle Colonies (New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware)

• The Chesapeake (Virginia, and Maryland)• The Southern Colonies (North Carolina, South

Carolina, Georgia)

Economy In New England • Each region had a unique economy based on its geographical

location.• Most New Englanders were farmers.• They grew surplus agricultural goods (grains, meat, dairy

products) to trade for tools and furniture.• New Englanders also sold their goods to the West Indies in

return for sugar and molasses. Then they distilled the molasses to make rum and trade, along with other manufactured goods, with Africa in return for slaves and gold. The gold from this trade allowed New Englanders to purchased manufactured goods from England. New Englanders in turn sold their manufactured ships to England. This pattern is known as the Triangular Trade. By 1763, this thriving commerce gave the colonies a good deal of economic independence.

Economy In The Middle Colonies

• Life was slightly different in the Middle Colonies.

• With a warmer climate, they grew fruits, livestock, and wheat. Wheat was the biggest export.

• This area rapidly grew wealthier than New England, as money from England pour in.

Economy In The ChesapeakeVirginia and Maryland

• The Chesapeake regions had more fertile soil than either New England or the Middle Colonies, which influenced the development of a distinctly different society.

• Tobacco was the chief product and farmers remained tied to the single lucrative crop.

• There were hardly any developed industries, largely due to the scarcity of towns.

Economy In The Southern Colonies

• The staple crops of the Southern Colonies were tobacco, rice, and indigo, and they dominated the region’s economic life.

• Cotton would become significant only after 1793 when Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin.

• There was little industrial development.• The people of the Southern colonies relied on trade with

England for their industrial goods.• This led these colonies to participate in the Triangular

Trade: shipping tobacco, rice, and indigo to England in return for manufactured goods.

Expansion of Colonial Intellectual and Cultural Life

• The economic expansion and social life of the 1700s gave some people the time to engage in intellectual and cultural pursuits.

• It also allowed Americans to participate in the monumental European movements that affected most of the Western world; the Enlightenment.

• This was very important for American history because Enlightenment ideals played a substantial role in the American Revolution and in the development of the American political system that was to come.

The American Enlightenment

• Background:• It stemmed from the European Enlightenment.• In the 1500, European scientists began to

postulate whether natural laws (no divine ones) governed society and the universe, and whether these natural laws were accessible to humans through the use of reason.

• The most prominent of these thinkers were John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau.

The American Enlightenment

John Locke 1632-1704

He argued that one’s environment was more significant than divine decree in the development of one’s character.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau1712-1778

• Rousseau believed that individuals had “natural rights” to life, liberty, and property, which even a king or a pope could not deny.

Adam Smith1723-1790

• He was the Key Enlightenment economist.• Adam Smith postulated a natural balance in

the economy determined by laws of supply and demand.

The American Enlightenment and Religion

• These ideas of the Enlightenment inspire both harmony and conflict with religious leaders.

• The American Enlightenment did not produce many atheists or agnostics, but it did begin a process where religious thinkers tried to find a balance between science and religion.

• Education: an education system was created.• America’s first college, Harvard, was founded in 1636.• Over time, the presence of schools grew, especially in New

England.• Secondary schools opened there in 1700.• Secular Press: Enlightenment ideals took hold in many laypeople.

The first newspaper was published in Boston by Benjamin Harris in 1690.

Harvard CollegeFounded in 1636

The Great Awakening

• During the expansion of Enlightenment ideals, American Churches experienced a revival.

• A combination of Enlightenment ideals and unhappiness with social and economic development fosters dissatisfaction with the direction American life was taking.

The Great Awakening1730

The significance of the Great Awakening

• It increased the number of churches in colonial America.

• It strengthened evangelical sects such as Baptists.• It inspired the foundation of several colleges

(Princeton, Brown, Rutgers, and Dartmouth)• It showed the juncture of religion with

Enlightenment ideals in America.• It served in some way as a precursor of the

American Revolution.

African Slavery

• A complex and harsh slavery system developed alongside the American Enlightenment and the Great Awakening.

• It was especially brutal in the Southern Colonies, although slavery existed everywhere in Colonial North America.

• The process of slavery began in the 1600s and it continued until the 1800s.

• Before the American Revolution, there were only few scattered movements to protest the slave trade and the practice of slavery.

African Slavery

Rebellion and Resistance

• Although slavery was most common in the Southern Colonies and the Chesapeake, it was legal in all English Colonies in America.

• Despite the horrific nature of slavery life, slave rebellions were infrequent because slave owners used drastic measures to maintain control over their slaves.

• The most notable slaves’ revolt of the 1700s was the Stono Rebellion in South Carolina in 1739.

• In response of the rebellion, South Carolina passed the Negro Act which forbade slaves from growing their own food, gathering together, or learn to read.

Slavery

The French and Indian War1754-1763

• Is the beginning of American Independence.• Provocations:• English colonists pushed deeper into the Ohio Valley

infuriating the French who were already established traders there.

• England wanted the trade monopoly that France had.• Colonists feared French incursions into the West.• The French were solidifying there position in the West by

establishing forts to protect there trading interests.• Conflict between France and England is inevitable.

The French and Indian War1754-1763

The Beginning of The War

Virginians sent an inexperienced young militia colonel named George Washington to deter the French from building more forts, a skirmish between the French and the English caused the war.

George Washington was forced to surrender.

English merchants in London lobbied to use this dispute to make a war that would eliminate the French from North America once and for all.

It was in this setting that a skirmish on the Pennsylvania frontier exploded into a world war that involved France, England, Austria, Russia, Prussia, Spain, and many Indian Tribes. In Europe was called the Seven Years’ War; in North America, it was the French and Indian War.

French and Indian WarBritish Victory

Results:• The Treaty of Paris in 1763 ends the war.• It gives England the western interior of North

America, Canada, and Florida.• Spain received Louisiana from France.• Mississippi River became the boundary

between England’s and Spain’s.• France was evicted from North America.

Toward Revolution1763-1775

• The French and Indian War was expensive. Britain was in debt. What to do?

• The British decided to tighten control over the colonies and raise revenue.

• Reforms:• Suspension of government sale of western lands.• Proclamation of 1763: Prohibited settlements in the west of the

Proclamation line. This act infuriated the colonists; after all , the war was fought so that the colonists could move farther west. This Proclamation was impossible to enforce. Colonists moved across the line anyway.

• Revenue Acts: (Crown’s interfering in the colonies' economy)

The Colonies as Source of direct Revenue

Sugar Act of 1764: The act taxed not only sugar but indigo, spices, some wine, and coffee.

Quartering Act of 1765: It required the colonists to feed and house British troops stationed in their territories.

Stamp Act of 1765: The most disruptive of all. It mandated the use of stamped paper for all official papers, including diplomas, marriage licenses, wills, newspapers, and playing cards.

Royal control was growing more tedious.

Royal Stamp

Beginning of American Resistance1765

. This was the first time that the 13 colonies started to organize themselves and work together.

. Opponents in Massachusetts began a circular letter inviting all the colonies to send representatives to a congress to discuss resistance to the Stamp Act

. This was a radical move. Without British authorization , it was an illegal act. Even though, the Stamp Act Congress met in New York City in October 1765 with representatives from nine colonies.

. The Stamp Act Congress declared that taxes had never been imposed on the colonists by anyone other than colonial legislature.

Protests

In Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Charleston, and smaller posts, merchants signed agreements not to import British goods until the Stamp Act was repealed.

In New England, women’s groups called “Daughters of Liberty” organized local boycotts against cloth and tea imported from Britain.

Riots proved to be the most effective form of protest. Several colonists formed groups called the “Sons of Liberty” led by wealthy men such as Samuel Adams

Daughters of LibertyBoycotts

Samuel Adams and the Sons of Liberty

Taxation without Representation

• John Otis of Massachusetts argued that because the colonists were not represented in Parliament, Parliament had no authority to tax them.

• John Adams of Massachusetts also argued that allowing Parliament to tax the colonists without their consent threatened the sanctity of private property and personal liberty. (Enlightenment ideology)

John Adams1735-1826

“No freeman should be the subject to any tax to which he has not given his own consent.” John Adams, 1765

Taxation Without Representation

Repeal of the Stamp Act

• A trade recession gripped the British economy.• The King withdrew his support of the Stamp Act.• Eventually , Parliament repealed it.• On the same day , Parliament passed the

Declaratory Act which affirmed its authority to legislate in the colonies.

• In 1767 , Parliament passed the Townshend Acts which laid taxes on glass, lead for paint, tea, paper, and other items.

Townshend Act of 1767

Reaction to the Townshend Acts

• The colonies began to boycott British goods.• Women stopped wearing silk and satins or serving tea and

wine.• By 1769 , the boycotts were effective in every colony.• The prominent lawyer John Dickenson wrote a series of

essays called Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania. He argued that the purpose of the Townshend taxes was unconstitutional because Parliament had the right to control trade but not levy taxes.

• Opposition to the Townshend Acts provoked riots as well.

The Boston Massacre

• On March 5, 1770, a crowd of Boston rebels began throwing snowballs, oyster shells, and other things at a British guard. When a stick hit one of the soldiers, he fell, and someone shouted, “Fire!” prompting a British guard to shoot into the crowd. In the end, five colonists lay dead, six wounded. The colonists called this the Boston Massacre.

• Even though the soldiers were found not guilty, the Boston Massacre ended up as important propaganda for the Sons of Liberty.

The Tea Act of 1773

• In 1773, Parliament passed the Tea Act. It was designed to give the West India Company a monopoly on the sale of tea in North America.

• The company was badly in debt but had influence in Parliament.

• The Act was designed to bring British tea to the colonies at a lower price

• Now colonial merchants could no longer sell tea.

Boston Tea Party

Colonial Response

• The colonists responded as they had before, only more violently.

• They stroked against the Crown.• The tea shipment from Britain had to be paid by December

17, 1773. Bostonians pressed to have the tea sent back to England.

• Governor Hutchinson promised to unload the tea and pay the tax on the day of deadline.

• To prevent this, on the night of December 16, an organized squad of roughly sixty colonists dressed as Mohawk Indians boarded the ship and dumped the entire cargo.

The Coercive Acts, 1774• To avoid prosecuting the Bostonians, Parliament passed legislation-the so-

called Coercive Acts- in 1774 to punish Massachusetts for the Tea Party.• They were:• 1) the Boston Port Act; which closed Boston Harbor until the town paid

for the destroyed tea.• 2) the Massachusetts Government Act, which terminated most self-

government in the colony.• 3) the Administration of Justice Act; which dictated that any British

official charged with a capital offense in the colonies could be tried in Britain.

• 4) the Quartering Act; which applied to all colonies and allowed the British Army to house troops wherever necessary, including privates buildings.

The Coercive Acts

The Intolerable ActsQuebec Acts

• In 1774 Parliament passed the Quebec Acts.• It guaranteed French Canadians the right to

practice Roman Catholicism.• The act also declared much of the England

holdings across the Proclamation Line of 1763 (everything west of the Appalachian Mountains) would be governed from Quebec.

• The colonists were infuriated referring to the acts as Intolerable Acts.

Colonial Response The First Continental Congress

• In September 1774, twelve colonies’ delegates met at the First Continental Congress in Philadelphia to consider the American response to the Coercive Acts.

• The delegates created the Continental Association that came before a “Declaration of Rights,” which claimed the natural-rights of men put forward by John Locke- “life, liberty, and property.”

The First Continental Congress

Militia PreparationsLexington and Concord

• Back in Boston, local militias were preparing for battle.• Governor Gage sent troops to the town of Concord, about twenty miles

northwest of Boston to capture the colonial military supply hidden there.• The Boston patriots detected the troops and sent Paul Revere to alert the

colonists in the countryside between Boston and Concord.• In the mourning of April 19, a militia assembled in Lexington to stop the British

before they reached Concord. The American militia captain ordered his men to retreat after the British forces ordered them to disperse. Someone fired a shot and the British soldiers began firing on the militia. The colonists suffered eighteen casualties (eight killed and ten wounded) while the British suffered only one.

• During the retreat to Boston, militias fired upon the British column• Inflicting many casualties. In Boston, the British were besieged and eventually

lived the city. This is the major confrontation where colonists fired upon British troops.

The Battle of Bunker Hill

• On June 17, 1775, British Army crossed the Charles River to capture artillery on Breed’s Hill. The colonists had fortified the hill to fire upon the British in Boston. Attached to the hill be a small patch of land was Bunker Hill.

• This is the first all-out battle of the Revolution. The British forced the colonists to leave the field of battle; however, the colonists inflicted serious casualties to the British.

• In one hour, the British lost 1,000 men. The colonists lost 400 militiamen. When the battle was over, the British suffered some 1,150 killed and wounded or nearly half of the force engaged. The American casualties were estimated at 450 killed and wounded.

The American Revolution1776-1783

The Revolution and Republicanism

• After the long train of abuses, American patriots fought a difficult war with the most powerful army in the world.

• The battle was between freedom and tyranny.• The most influential idea was Republicanism.• Republicanism was the idea that government should

be based on the consent of the people.• The American Revolution was the first serious

modern attempt to craft a government based on these principles.

Common SenseThomas Paine

• The best known expression of republican ideas in revolutionary America was Thomas Paine’s political pamphlet Common Sense, publish in 1776. Paine asserted that the King never had the welfare of his subjects in mind and that he was concerned with His exercise of power.

Thomas Paine 1737-1809

Towards Independence

• In March 1776, the Continental Army forced the British to evacuate Boston, ending the eleven month siege of the city that had begun after Lexington , Concord , and the Battle of Bunker Hill.

• Rather than sail for home, however, the British Army went to New York, where more loyalists resided than any other colony. The British hoped to divide the colonies by setting their base of operations in an area less committed to independence

Struggles for Independence

• The Continental Army was under the orders of George Washington.

• The first half of the war took place in the North. The second half was fought in the South.

• Generally speaking, the American’s strategy was to run and survive. They attacked only when they were convinced of victory.

The Drafting of the Declaration

• Richard Henry Lee, a Virginian delegate to the Continental Congress, proposed, on June7, 1776, that the colonies officially declare their independence.

• The committee consisted of John Adams of Massachusetts, Roger Sherman of Connecticut, Robert R. Livingston of New York, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania, and Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, who was selected as the principal draftsman.

• The committee presented the Declaration of Independence to the congress on June 28, 1776.

Continental Congress1776

Early British Success

• In July 1776, 34,000 troops delivered a crushing defeat to the patriots on Long Island, New York. The patriots withdrew to Manhattan and then all the way to New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

• It was a terrible blow to morale.• Washington decided on a bold, brilliant action.

American Victory at Trenton 1776and the Battle of Saratoga 1777

• On December 1776, the Continental Army crossed the ice-filled Delaware River and captured Trenton, New Jersey, which at the time was held by 1,500 British troops.

• In 1777, British General John Burgoyne led his army south from Canada. Burgoyne's army captured outposts in New York (Fort Ticonderoga) and began to move south. But the British faced many obstacles; Burgoyne's troops were slowed by retreating Loyalists. The Americans forced him to stop, and while he waited for reinforcements, 6,000 Continental soldiers surrounded him. At the end of the fighting, Burgoyne surrendered. This was the Battle of Saratoga.

Battle of SaratogaSeptember 19- October 7, 1777

The French Alliance

• The Battle of Saratoga was significant because it brought the French into the war on the American’s side.

• It convinced several European powers to fight against the British, including Spain and the Dutch.

• Most United States History textbooks pay relatively little attention to the Spanish role in the American Revolution, both Spain and France contributed to the colonist's victories on the battlefield that culminated at Yorktown, Virginia, in 1781, and at the Treaty of Paris two years later.

The French Alliance

The Coming Victory • In 1779, the British landed a large army at Charleston, South

Carolina. Commanded by General Sir Charles Cornwallis , the army captured Savannah, Georgia, and Charleston, South Carolina.

• In 1780, the Continental Army in the South led by Nathaniel Greene attempted to counter Cornwallis's army and to draw the British away from their supplies. The plan succeeded. British supplies gradually ran low . When the two armies fought, the Continental soldiers inflicted major casualties on the British.

• In 1781, Cornwallis was forced to take his army north into Virginia to wait reinforcements. He planned to reunite with his naval fleet at Chesapeake Bay. However, the French had forced the British fleet retreat to New York.

Yorktown Victory

• Washington seized the opportunity to attack.• He moved a combined force of American and French

troops across the lower peninsula; the American victory was complete when the French fleet arrived before the British fleet could rescue Cornwallis's army.

• On October 19, 1781, Cornwallis turned his sword over Washington.

• When news of Cornwallis’s surrender reached England, king George III grudgingly accepted defeat.

The Battle of Yorktown

Yorktown Victory

Spanish aid and The Treaty of Paris

• The Spanish smuggled guns, ammunition, and crucial information to the Anglo-American rebels even before they officially declared war on British.

• Led by Bernardo de Galvez, the energetic young governor of Louisiana, Spanish troops dealt decisive blows to the British at Pensacola , Mobile , and Natchez on the Mississippi River

• In the Treaty of Paris of 1783, Great Britain formally recognized the independence of the United State and returned Florida to Spain.

Historical materialResources

Martin and Wasserman. Latin America and Its People.

Schultz,U.S.History through 1877.Tindal, et.al . America, A Narrative History.