Declaring Independence. Explain why fighting broke out to begin the American Revolution and the response of the Second Continental Congress. Describe.

Declaring Independence

• Explain why fighting broke out to begin the American Revolution and the response of the Second Continental Congress.

• Describe the Loyalists’ view of the Patriots.

• Analyze the impact of Thomas Paine’s Common Sense.

• Assess why Congress declared independence and the ideas underlying the Declaration of Independence.

Objectives

Terms and People

• militia – a civilian group that trains as soldiers to serve in emergencies

• Loyalists – colonists who remained loyal to Britain during the Revolution

• Second Continental Congress – colonial delegates who met in Philadelphia in May 1775 to organize a bigger fight against the British

• Continental Army – volunteers who supported the Patriot siege of Boston and were put under control of Congress

Terms and People (continued)

• George Washington – Virginian chosen to command the Continental Army

• Thomas Paine – author of the pamphlet Common Sense that proposed independence

• Declaration of Independence – 1776 document that explained the reasons for American independence from Great Britain

Terms and People (continued)

• Thomas Jefferson – Virginia patriot and main author of the Declaration of Independence

• natural rights – Enlightenment idea embodied by the Declaration of Independence that all men have rights which governments cannot take away

What events led the colonists to declare their independence from Britain?

In 1776, colonists made three important decisions:

• To declare their independence• To choose a republican model of government• To confederate the thirteen colonies into the United States of

America

Their strength surprised and changed the world.

In early 1775, Boston Patriots responded to the Intolerable Acts

• John Hancock and Samuel Adams organized a Provincial Congress to run Massachusetts.

• The Patriots began to stockpile weapons and ammunition in towns outside of Boston.

• Colonial militia calling themselves minutemen began to organize.

First Continental Congress

• September-October 1774• Met in Philadelphia • All colonies except Georgia sent delegates• Called for a boycott of British goods• Issued Declaration and Resolves that outlined

colonial grievances• Agreed to meet again the following year

The Revolution began on April 19, 1775.

Redcoats marched toward Concord to seize weapons and ammunition.

In Lexington, they met colonial militia. The Redcoats killed eight minutemen.

Marching on to Concord, the British met hundreds of armed Patriots in a skirmish.

As the Redcoats marched back to Boston, the Patriots killed or wounded 200 of them.

Aroused by the events at Lexington and Concord, thousands of Patriots surrounded the British in Boston.

• Provincial assemblies seized control in the other New England colonies while colonial militia pinned down British troops in Boston.

• In May 1775 the Second Continental Congress met in Philadelphia to take control of the fighting.

• As volunteers arrived in Boston, George Washington was chosen to commandthe new Continental Army.

SeconSecond Continental Congresstal Congress

• May 1775• Met in Philadelphia• Created the Continental Army and made George

Washington its commander• May 1775• Met in Philadelphia• Created the Continental Army and made George Washington its commander• May 1775• Met in Philadelphia• Created the Continental Army and made George Washington its commander• May 1775• Met in Philadelphia• Created the Continental Army and made George Washington its commander• Met in Philadelphia• Created the Continental Army and made George Washington its commander

Congress made one final attempt atreconciliation in July 1775.

The petition was rejected.

Britain responded by sending more troops.

The Olive Branch Petition was sent to Britain reaffirming allegiance to King George, but not Parliament.

Not all colonists favored independence.

• About one-fifth remained British Loyalists.

• Some believed Britain was too powerful to beat.

• Some feared a loss of business and income.

• Some feared abuse from lawless Patriots.

• Some resented Patriot taxes and militia demands.

• Native Americans feared settlers moving westward.

• Many slaves hoped for freedom under the British.

• Paine depicted the king as an enemy of liberty.

• He called for a republic where opportunity is based on merit not on inherited privilege.

• He said the government should be elected by the common people.

• Paine reinforced the Enlightenment idea that all men have natural rights.

Thomas Paine’s pamphlet

Common Sense crystallized

colonial ideas in early 1776.

In the spring of 1776, Congress selected a committee to declare, and explain reasons for, independence.

So Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence.

Congress approved it on July 4, 1776.

It stated that “All men are created equal.”

Declaration of Independence

• July 2, 1776– Adoption of Richard Henry Lee’s motion for

independence• July 4th

– Declaration of Independence approved– Invoked natural rights as well as British rights to

justify independence

• Declaratio of Independence reading- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYyttEu_NLU

• Schoolhouse Rock- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrSeCYSnj5Y

• The Preamble stated the reasons for writing the Declaration.

• The second paragraph stated the purpose of government − to protect people’s rights.

• Then came a long list of grievances against the King.

• The final paragraph actually declared independence.

The Declaration was organized into four sections:

The signers pledged, “our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.”

Just as Patriots tore down this statue of the king for bullets, the signers of the Declaration knew there was no turning back.