REVOLUTIONARY WAR1775-1783

Events that led to the war

Salutary Neglect• During the first half of the

1700s, England interfered very little in colonial affairs – hands off policy

• Colonies got used to acting independently

French & Indian War(seven years war)

• 1754-1763

• French & Indians vs. Great Britain

• British won the right to control North America east of the Mississippi River

• War was very expensive and caused a large debt to Great Britain

Proclamation of 1763• Forbade colonists to settle west of

the Appalachian Mountains–To keep peace with Indians, would

be expensive to defend western lands

• To enforce proclamation, England’s King George III kept 10,000 soldiers in the colonies

Quartering Act• Saved England money

–Colonists had to provide housing, supplies and feed British soldiers

Sugar Act• Tax on sugar and molasses

–Taxed mostly the merchants

Stamp Act• All paper had to carry a stamp – was

taxed–Taxed all colonists

• “Taxation without representation” phrase that summarized a big colonial complaint– Colonists paid taxes but were not

represented in Parliament

British Stamps of the Stamp Actand the Colonial stamp

Townshend Acts• King’s finance minister, Charles

Townshend, created to raise revenues– Suspended New York’s assembly –

took away local government– Created many new taxes– Writs of assistance – British could

enter homes and businesses to search

Many new protests• Colonists created groups (secret

societies) to oppose British policies–Sons of Liberty – staged protests

against the Stamp Act and led the boycott of British goods

–Committees of Correspondence –exchanged letters on colonial affairs

• For the first time colonies started to act together – to do things together like boycott British goods

• Colonies started to think of the whole instead of just their colony

• British – Redcoats/Lobsterbacks

• Colonists – Yankees/Provincials

British Soldier

Boston Massacre• March 5, 1770

• 5 colonist killed by British troops including Crispus Attucks – known as the first casualty of the Revolutionary War

• England repealed (take back, revoke) Townshend Acts but kept the tax on tea

Boston Massacreby William L. Champney

Boston Tea Party• December 16, 1773

• Colonists angry with the tax on tea disguised as Native Americans destroyed 342 chests of tea – dumped them into Boston Harbor

The Destruction of Tea at Boston Harbor

by Nathaniel Currier

Intolerable Acts• After the Boston Tea Party,

England passed laws to punish Massachusetts colony and warn other colonies

• Parliament appointed General Gage governor of Massachusetts to enforce the acts

First Continental Congress

• all colonies except Georgia attended – later agreed to actions

• Voted to ban all trade with Britain until Intolerable Acts repealed

• Each colony would begin training troops– Serious sign that war was coming

WAR BEGINS

War Begins• Lexington & Concord were the first

battles of the Revolutionary war• Night of April 18, 1775, three riders

warn “British regulars are out”–Paul Revere–William Dawes–Dr. Samuel Prescott

• (joined in Lexington on the next day)

British troops march to Lexington and Concord

• British sent out from Boston to:1. Capture Samuel Adams and

John Hancock in Lexington

2. Destroy military supplies – weapons and ammunition in Concord

Lexington & Concord• April 19, 1775 – War starts• About 80 militia in Lexington verses

about 700 British Regulars• A gun went off

–Nobody is really sure who fired the first shot of the war, but that first shot is known as the “shot heard around the world”

• Americans (colonists/rebels) fled Lexington and went to Concord

• More militia arrived – “Minutemen” – select men, highly mobile, ready to respond immediately (in a minute)

• Americans crossed the North Bridge back to Concord and then defeated the British troops at the North Bridge

Old North Bridgeby Domenick D’Andrea

• British retreated to Boston

• Americans were attacking and harassing the whole way back to Boston and then surrounded the city

• British 73 dead, 174 wounded

• American 49 dead, 41 wounded

• Americans win as the British Retreat

• Lexington & Concord are significant as the first battles of the Revolutionary War

Lexington & Concord

Minutemen of 1776

Fort Ticonderoga• Fort in upstate New York

• Three battles took place there

1st Battle at Fort Ticonderoga

• May 10, 1775• Americans first captured the fort• Local militia – Green Mountain Boys

– led by Ethan Allen, joined by colonel Benedict Arnold from Boston

• At first, Green Mountain Boys didn’t want to fight under Arnold but joined together to attack fort under a joint command – Arnold and Allen

• Green Mountain Boys crossed the river at night to get to the fort – half of them made it by dawn

• Ethan Allen decided to attack instead of waiting for the others

• One British guard at the south gate – his musket misfired and he ran away

• The Green Mountain Boys entered the fort and captured 48 British soldiers – no one was killed

• The main reason to take the fort was to capture the cannons

• The cannons were moved to Boston and used to help end the Siege of Boston

• The fort was held by the Americans to defend New York from attack from the north

• 2,000 American soldiers led by General St. Clair were stationed there to defend the fort

2nd Battle at Fort Ticonderoga

• July, 1777• 8,000 British soldiers attacked led

by General John Burgoyne• Americans retreated and the

British captured the fort• Loss was a huge blow to the

Americans

3rd Battle at Fort Ticonderoga

• September 18, 1777

• 500 Americans led by Colonel John Brown tried to take back the fort – not successful, but they did rescue 118 American prisoners and capture 293 British

• British held the fort until the end of the war

Battle of Bunker Hill• June 17, 1775• Most fighting is actually on

Breeds Hill• Boston is British controlled –

valuable seaport• Thousands of American militia

attack

• British decide to take two hills, Bunker Hill and Breeds Hill, to gain a tactical advantage

• Americans heard of the British plan – the night before the battle, Americans moved to the high ground of the hills to defend them–Americans built fortifications

(defenses), built a six foot wall

• British were amazed by the overnight work

• General William Howe (in charge of British troops) said, “The rebels have done more work in one night than my whole army would have done in one month.”

• British made 3 charges – Americans turned back the first 2

• Because Americans low on ammunition – Colonel William Prescott, in charge of Americans, said, “Don’t fire until you see the whites of their eyes.” (Israel Putnam)

• British third charge was successful – Americans out of ammunition retreated.

• British won the hill – very high cost, 1000 dead/wounded – many more than the Americans

• *Important battle – Americans knew they could stand up to the British in battle

The Battle of Bunker Hillby Percy Morgan

Bunker Hillby Don Troiani

Declaration of Independence

• Signed July 4, 1776• Primarily written by

Thomas Jefferson

a) Jefferson was part of a five

member committee

b) Jefferson wrote a draft and

the others edited

Declaration of Independenceby John Trumbull

Crossing the Delaware• December 25, 1776• Washington crossed the

Delaware river into Trenton, New Jersey for a surprise attack on the British forces

• Was a decisive victory – helped to turn the war back to America’s favor

• British army of Hessians (German mercenaries) held Trenton, NJ

• It was Christmas, cold and snowy and the river was icy and dangerous – BIG SURPRISE

• Hessians surrendered

• 1000 captured

• Americans desperately needed a victory to boost moral

• Washington’s army had to cross the Delaware River 3 times

1. The attack2. Return to camp with prisoners3. A day later to push back British

forces and take back control of the colony of New Jersey – Called the Battle of Trenton

• Future president James Monroe was with Washington

Washington Crossing the Delawareby Emanuel Leutze

America Chooses a Flag• June 14, 1777• Continental Congress adopts a

flag “the stars and stripes” with:–13 stripes – alternate red and white–13 stars – white in a blue field

• First flag believed to be sewed by Betsy Ross

Betsy Ross Sewing the Flag for George Washington

by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris

Battles of Saratoga• Series of battles ending with the

Battle of Saratoga• Commander of the British forces,

General John Burgoyne, surrenders

• Turning point of the Revolutionary war

• American forces led by General Horatio Gates with Generals Benedict Arnold and Ben Lincoln

• General Gates didn’t like Benedict Arnold, they had a falling out – relieved Arnold of his command

• Burgoyne’s plan was to split the colonies in two and divide them – thought they would fall

• British generals Burgoyne and Howe were supposed to meet up at Albany, NY and combine forces–Burgoyne went

–Howe went to Philadelphia instead

–Burgoyne was left to fight alone

First Battle of Saratoga• Sept. 19, 1777

• at Freeman’s Farm

• British won the battle but suffered many more casualties than the American

Battle of Bemis Heights

• Americans set up defenses

• British attacked – defeated by the Americans, Burgoyne retreated

• General Gates pursued (followed) British army and surrounded them

• British (Burgoyne) surrendered

Battles of Saratoga

• Result of the Battles:–British surrendered causing a

major turning point of the war

–American moral boosted

–French decided to support the Americans with military aid/support and treaties

Surrender of Burgoyneby John Turnbull

Benedict Arnold• After falling out with General

Gates, Arnold was wounded • While recovering, he married a

Loyalist• Felt he was mistreated and not

rewarded for his actions at Saratoga

• He betrayed his army

• In 1780, he agreed to turn over an American fort to the British

• The plot was discovered before he could turn the fort over

• Arnold escaped and joined the British troops was appointed General and led British troops later in the war

• After the war, moved to England• Even today, the name Benedict

Arnold means traitor

Valley Forge• During the winter of 1777-1778,

the Continental Army under General George Washington trained at Valley Forge–Shortages of food, clothing and

medicine–Very cold

• German General Baron von Steuben trained the militia to be soldiers

Baron von Steuben drilling Washington's army at Valley Forge

by Edwin Austin Abbey

Battle of Yorktown• Last major battle of the Revolutionary

War

• British army under General Charles Cornwallis was retreating to Yorktown

• General Washington, in charge of the American troops, marched the army down from the north

• French Navy defeated the British navy and controlled the coast

• British army was outnumbered and surrounded at Yorktown

• Battle lasted for about 20 days• For 11 days the Americans

bombarded the British• Cornwallis sent out a white flag

for surrender• Cornwallis tried to set a lot of

conditions for the surrender• General Washington said “NO”

• American troops started to prepare for another attack

• 8,000 British troops surrendered• On October 19, 1781 Cornwallis

signed the British surrender• Document was called

the Articles of Capitulation• British tried to surrender to the

French but they made the British surrender to the Americans

The surrender of Lord Cornwallisby John Turnbull

Treaty of Paris of 1783• September 3, 1783

• Treaty that officially ended the Revolutionary War

Famous Revolutionary Quotes

Patrick Henry"I know not what course others may

take, but as for me, give me liberty or give me death! " 

Benjamin Franklin“We must all hang together, or

assuredly we shall all hang separately.”

Nathan Hale

"I only regret that I have but one life to give for my country."

Thomas Paine

“These are the times that try men’s souls.”

John Paul Jones

“I have not yet begun to fight.”