Choosing Sides Loyalists / “Tories” Did not support the Revolution Large land-owners Wealthy merchants Officials to the King Fix the problems instead of.

Choosing Sides

• Loyalists / “Tories”• Did not support the Revolution

• Large land-owners• Wealthy merchants• Officials to the King

• Fix the problems instead of breaking away

Choosing Sides in the Colonies

LoyalistsUndecidedPatriots

Why were they loyal?

• Loyal because…• England was their country!• Rebelling is wrong• Money• Might lose jobs• Fear

Tough Times for Loyalists

• Homes Burnt• Shops Destroyed• “Tarred and Feathered”• Forced to leave America• Some stayed and

fought for England• Split families apart

Journal Entry #1 - Division

It is July of 1776, and you are a young patriot, preparing to go off and to fight for the American Cause in General Washington’s army. Your older brother is furious with your decision, as just months earlier he joined the British army to defend the King. Your family has been torn apart by each of your decisions, but you feel you made the right choice. What are your feelings? Do you think your family can reunite after the war? Why did your brother choose the British? Why did you choose the Colonies? What if you two have to face each other in battle?

MONEY PROBLEMS

• Articles of Confederation – Our first Constitution

• Congress did not have the power to tax states for the war.

• Congress could only ask for donations.

• Congress tried to print money• Money was worthless• Soldiers were unpaid, unfed and

without uniforms

An Army of Patriots

• The Continental Army• Led by General George

Washington

• Local “Militias”• “Minutemen” • Average people• Citizens using personal

firearms to defend their homes, families and freedom

The American Patriot The British Redcoat

Journal Entry #2 – No Pay

It is now September of 1776, and you have been training with Washington’s Continental Army for three months now. The British invasion of New York forced your regiment to retreat. The British have captured most of your supplies and you have very little food to eat. Also, Congress is three months behind on paying you and your fellow soldiers. Some are beginning to grumble that this war is a “lost cause.”

What are your feelings? What is life like in the Continental Army right now? What are your fellow

soldiers thinking? Has anyone run away and left to go home? Are you afraid of the “British Redcoats”? Do you regret your decision to fight for American Independence,

or is it worth it to you?

The British Are Coming!

Three-Phased Strategy1. New England

2. Mid-Atlantic

3. South

*Focus on capital cities

*Block ports to prevent trade

*Divide colonies and conquer

*Force colonists to surrender

The Beginning…1775-1777

• 1775 - Loss at Bunker Hill (Boston)• 1776 - Failed to invade Canada

• “Quebec Campaign”

• 1776 - Retreat from NYC• 1777 - Multiple losses in Penn.

A very rough start for the American Colonies

The Battle of Trenton

• Morning of December 26th, 1776• George Washington

• Crosses the Delaware River

• “Hessians” – German Mercenaries• Surprise Attack• American Victory• Boosts American morale and

keeps the Revolution alive

Thomas Paine

• American writer and political philosopher• Published Common Sense in 1776• American Crisis in 1776 – Read aloud to Washington’s

soldiers before the crossing of the Delaware

The Battle of Saratoga

• October 7th, 1777• British attempt to choke

off New England• British spread thin and

supply lines too long• A surprising American

victory, led by General Horatio Gates and Benedict Arnold

• France will join the war as an American ally

Journal Entry #3 – The Sting of Battle

It is now November of 1777, and you are a battle hardened patriot. You have faced the British war machine on multiple occasions, watching your friends fight and die in American fields and on American hills. You have seen things that you will never forget. You have done things you wish you had never done.

Please record your experience of one specific battle (Trenton or Saratoga) on one page in your Revolution

Journal. Be descriptive and creative as you tell the horrors that you witnessed.

Valley Forge

• Valley Forge, PA• Winter of 1777-78’• British settled in

Philadelphia while the Americans froze

• Low of 6 degrees• Very little food, no

winter clothes, no pay. • Disease / Small pox

Surviving the Winter

• Many soldiers “deserted”• The American Revolution hung in

the balance• Baron von Steuben

• Former German soldier• Helped trained the Americans in

military discipline• Famous for swearing repeatedly in

French and German

• Washington’s leadership and Steuben’s training kept the army together and the Revolution alive

Journal Entry #4 - Hope

It is the winter of 1777’-78’ and you are with the Continental Army at Valley Forge. The conditions are unbearable. Disease. Little food. Lack of clothing. Poor shelter. Frost bite. Men deserting left and right. You too are beginning to wonder why you ever joined the Great Cause in the first place.

Please describe what life is like for you at Valley Forge

What do you eat?

What clothing do you have protecting you from the winter?

Why do you continue to fight?

Do you think you will desert and go home?

What is giving you hope?

War in the South

• Focus of the war shifts• Moves from Mid-Atlantic

States to the Southern States• Great Britain takes major cities

• Savannah, Georgia• Charleston, SC

Fighting in the Woods

• British troops chase American army into frontier

• Colonists use guerilla tactics

• British retreat to Yorktown, VA

• British General Cornwallis

The Final Surrender

• The Battle of Yorktown• October 1781

• French Navy• American soldiers• Surround Great Britain• Lord Cornwallis

surrenders to Washington• Revolution is over!• Treaty of Paris - 1783

Journal Entry #5 – Going Home

It is the morning of October 19th, 1781 and you are at Yorktown, Virginia. You have helped corner the British General, Lord Cornwallis, and today the British will surrender their last active army to the American colonists. You are watching the ceremony of Cornwallis handing over his sword to

Washington. This is the end. Peace will soon follow. You have earned your freedom. You are going home.

Please describe your feelings at this moment, as the British finally surrender.

How long have you been fighting for?

How have the French helped your army?

Will it be hard to leave your fellow soldiers?

What will you do when you get home?

Will it be hard to adapt back into normal life?

What do you think will change now that America is free from Great Britain?

Was it worth it to you?