the revolution begins
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The Revolution Begins. Section 1 Chapter 6. Focus Questions. What actions did the First Continental Congress take? How did the fighting at Lexington and Concord affect the colonies’ conflict with Great Britain? What did the Second Continental Congress accomplish? - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
The Revolution Begins
Section 1Chapter 6
Focus Questions What actions did the First Continental
Congress take? How did the fighting at Lexington and
Concord affect the colonies’ conflict with Great Britain?
What did the Second Continental Congress accomplish?
How did geography affect the early battles of the war?
The First Continental Congress
The First Continental Congress met in Philadelphia in September 1774 There were 56 representatives from all the
colonies except for Georgia Delegates debated the best course of action to
deal with the situation in Boston Some felt weapons were the best way to go
and some felt peace was the best way to go The delegates decided to continue
boycotting and warned colonial militias to be ready
The First Continental Congress
The delegates also put together the Declaration of Rights and sent it to King George III and listed some of the things that he had denied them and that they wanted “life, liberty, and property”
The Delegates decided to meet in May of 1775 if King George did not respond
The “Shot Heard round the World”
Militia men in Boston began calling themselves minutemen because they could be ready to fight in a minute’s notice
The Royal Governor Thomas Gage decide to take away the minutemen’s weapons
The weapons were stored at Concord (20 miles west of Boston)
On the evening of April 18th, 1775, Paul Revere and William Dawes road through the country side warning the minutemen that the British were coming
The “Shot Heard round the World”
On the morning of April 19, 1775, less then 70 minutemen gathered in Lexington
As the British soldiers arrived, the colonial commander shoot not to fire on them until they were fired upon
A shot rang out (no one knows who shot first) and the short battle at Lexington began
The colonials were beaten badly at Lexington loosing eight to death and ten to injuries
The colonials retreated
The “Shot Heard round the World”
The British moved on to Concord At Concord they ran into a
motivated group of minuteman that had already taken the weapons from the Concord arsenal
The British retreated at Concord and as they retreated the minutemen fired on them from behind trees and buildings
The colonials called the British Redcoats because of their bright red uniforms
By the time they reached Boston, the British had 250 causalities and the minutemen had fewer then 100
The Second Continental Congress
In May of 1775, 12 of the colonies met in Philadelphia for the Second Continental Congress
The members of the Congress did NOT want to break from Great Britain but they did create a Continental Army and chose George Washington to command the army
On July 5, 1775 delegates sent the Olive Branch Petition to King George III as a symbol of peace
By November, King George had rejected the petition and fighting in the colonies had spread
Early Battles The early target for the colonists was Fort
Ticonderoga which guarded Lake Champlain a key water way
Colonel Benedict Arnold and Ethan Allen surprised the British by attacking in the early morning and took the fort and its large supply of weapons and cannons
Early Battles The British made their attempt
to take Boston by taking Charleston (island north of Boston) and then moving in on the city that was under colonial siege
The colonists were backed up to Breed’s Hill and fought bravely until they ran out of ammunition (the British had over a thousand casualties while the colonists had 400)
The battle known as the Battle of Bunker Hill showed the colonists that they could hold their own against the British
Early Battles George Washington was
called in to win back Boston
He needed the cannons from Fort Ticonderoga and Henry Knox successfully moved them 300 miles in the middle of winter
In March of 1776, Washington used those cannons to blast the British and their general William Howe out of Boston
Focus Questions What actions did the First Continental
Congress take? How did the fighting at Lexington and
Concord affect the colonies’ conflict with Great Britain?
What did the Second Continental Congress accomplish?
How did geography affect the early battles of the war?