The American Revolution Lesson 9. Lexington and Concord – "The Shot Heard around the World" a.Parliament ordered General Gage, new Gov. of Massachusetts,

the American Revolution

Lesson 9

Lexington and Concord – "The Shot Heard around the World"a. Parliament ordered General

Gage, new Gov. of Massachusetts, to arrest leaders of the rebellion and prepare for military action.

b. April 19, 1775 - 700 British redcoats sent secretly to nearby Lexington & Concord to seize gunpowder and arrest Sam Adams & John Hancock. • Paul Revere, William Dawes,

and others warned the militia (Minutemen). “One if by land two if by sea”

Horsemen such as Paul Revere and William Dawes spread the word to other Minutemen

“The Redcoats are turning out” not… “the Redcoats are coming”

Lexington and

Concord

• When the British soldiers reached Lexington, Captain Jonas Parker and 75 armed Minutemen were there to meet them.

• The Minutemen were greatly outnumbered. – 1st. shot? No one knows-

• 8 Minutemen and injuring 10 others.

• The British soldiers continued on their way to Concord, the men and women of Concord were busy moving the arms and ammunition to new hiding places in surrounding towns.

The British Retreat to

Boston• A large force of patriots

gathered in response to the British troops.

• As the British soldiers headed back to Boston, they were attacked by the Minutemen.

• All along the route, Minutemen, local farmers and townspeople continued the attack against the British.

• British soldiers reached Boston, 73 were dead and 174 more were wounded.

“By the rude bridge that arched the flood, Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled, Here once the embattled farmers stood, And fired the shot heard round the world”

Concord Hymn –Ralph Waldo Emerson

written for the 1837 dedication of the Obelisk

Poor Leadership - came back the same way they went out

• British Strengths and Weaknesses during the American Revolution British Strengths:

• Population favored Britain: 7.5 million to 2.5 million for the colonies

• Superior monetary advantage and the big navy in the world

• 20,000 slaves in Carolinas and Georgia eventually joined British (only 5,000 joined the rebels)• Britain promised slaves

freedom if they fought on their side.

• Many fled with the British after the war and left the country.

Many Amerindians also sided with Britain and attacked Americans along the frontier

The British represented last hope for keeping land-hungry colonists out of the western lands.

Britain possessed a larger army.

50,000 man professional armyKing George III hired an additional 30,000 German "Hessians" as mercenaries.Britain also enlisted about 50,000 colonial Loyalists.

British Weaknesses

1. An enormous distance separated England from the colonies.

Communication was inefficient for immediate action.

2. America was too large a region for Britain’s army to effectively occupy; the colonial population was too dispersed.

Britain’s conquest of large colonial cities had little to no strategic value

Same mistake Americans made in Vietnam

British Generals in America were often poor leaders.

• Many British soldiers did not want to kill Americans, whom they saw as their countrymen.

• Provisions for the army were poor.

• Americans had only to tie in order to win; the British had to win outright.

• France supported the colonies, first with funds, and after 1778 with full military support.

British Gov't proved ineffective

King George III and Lord North proved inadequate to the task.

Whig factions in Parliament cheered American victories at the outset.

George III

American Strengths • Strong military and

diplomatic leadership –knowledge of the land

• Economic aid from France at the outset, and then later military aid proved decisive.

• Defensive military tactics worked to their advantage

• Agriculturally self-sustaining• Colonials were competent

marksmen; • Moral advantage from

colonials’ belief in a just cause

• Weaknesses

• Continental Congress was weak

• Jealousy among colonies

• Quarrels over the appointment of military leaders .

Economic difficulties

• Little metal money existed Paper money was thus printed repeatedly to the point that it became almost worthless.

• Soldiers deserted due to economic difficulties of their families.

• Debtors paid their debts with seriously depreciated money.

• Morale in the Revolutionary army

• was undermined by

greedy American profiteers.Sold goods to British for payment in goldSpeculators forced prices sky-high.Boston merchants made profits of 50-200% while soldiers were dying.

• Only a select minority of Americans truly committed themselves to the cause (perhaps 1/3).

Second Continent

al Congress

• The Second Continental Congress was a body of representatives appointed by the legislatures of several British North American colonies

• May 10, 1775, to March 1, 1781

• By the time the Second

Continental Congress met, the American Revolutionary War had already started with the Battles of Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775.

• The Second Continental Congress found itself in the unenviable position of being the decision-making body of a military alliance at war with a far more powerful enemy.

Independence!

• Beginning in April of 1776, the colonies advised their delegates to vote for independence

• On June 7th, Richard Henry Lee introduced a brief “Resolution of Independence”

• On July 2nd, 1776, the Continental Congress adopted Lee’s resolution “that these united colonies are, and of right ought to be free and independent states.”

The Declaration of Independence

• The Official Declaration of Independence was announced July 4th, 1776

• Its purpose was to justify the Revolution, state that the colonies were independent and to express the nation’s principles

• The rest is history!

The Declaration of Independence

• Born on April 13, 1743 in Virginia to a wealthy family.

• He was very well educated. Attended The College of William & Mary.

• Served in the Virginia House of Burgesses.

• Eloquent correspondent, but not a good public speaker

• Known as the "silent member" of the Congress

• Was unanimously chosen by the Committee of Five to prepare a draft of the Declaration alone.

Thomas Jefferson

Jefferson’s Viewpoint on the Major Issues of His Time

• He believed in the separation of church and state.

• He believed that the colonies had the right to overthrow a tyrannical government.

Main Points of the Declaration of Independence• All men are created equal.

“We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.

• Men are given by God certain unalienable rights.“They are endowed, by their Creator, with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.”

• We have the natural right by God to declare our independence from England.“When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the Powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them…

• Governments derive their authority from the consent of the people.

“Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”

• When a government abuses it’s power, the people have the right to overthrow it.

“That whenever any form of Government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it…

• The colonies tried repeatedly to compromise with King George, but has been a tyrant.

“Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government.

Five Parts of the Declaration

1. Preamble2. Statement of Human

Rights3. Charges against King

and Parliament4. Statement of

Separation5. Signatures

The American Revolution: 1775-1783

Unit 3.3

Second Continental Congress (May, 1775)

A. All 13 colonies were present• Delegates were still

not interested in independence but rather the redress of colonial grievances (this was a relatively conservative position at the time).

Philadelphia State House (Independence Hall)

Most significant act of Congress: Decided to go to war and elected George Washington to lead the Continental Army.

• His selection was largely political as northerners wanted to bring Virginia, the most populous colony, into the war.

Olive Branch Petition July 5, 1775- written largely by John Dickinson.1. Last ditch effort by moderates in the Continental Congress to prevent an all-out war.

2. Again, pledged loyalty to the crown; sought to restore peace

3. Appealed to George III to convince Parliament to reconsider the “Intolerable Acts”

4. King George III refused to recognize the Congress

5. Followed by the July 6 Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms,

Early American Victories Ticonderoga and Crown

Point, May 1775• Tiny forces under

Ethan Allen and his Green Mountain Boys of Vermont and Benedict Arnold of Connecticut surprised and captured British garrisons in upstate New York.

• British cannons and munitions were transported to Boston where the rebels eventually forced the British to abandon New England.

Bunker Hill – June 17, 1775 1. Colonials seized Breed's

Hill and thus commanded a strong position overlooking Boston.

2. Over 1,000 oncoming Redcoats in an ill-conceived frontal assault were mowed down by 1,500 American riflemen.• 140 Americans killed;

441 wounded

The Battle of Bunker HIll

• Americans ran out of gunpowder and were forced to abandon Bunker Hill in disorder.

• Viewed as an American victory due to Britain’s heavy losses

• Bloodiest battle of the war

• After cannon from Ticonderoga were positioned on Dorchester Heights overlooking Boston, the British Army left Boston to conduct the war from New York.

In response, King George declared the colonies in rebellion.

• 18,000 Hessians were hired by the king to support British forces.• Americans

shocked the king would hire soldiers reputed for brutality; Colonials saw the war as a family conflict

This was a declaration of war against the colonies.

Americans failed to successfully invade Canada in October 1775.

• One expedition left Fort Ticonderoga under Richard Montgomery, besieged and captured Fort St. Johns,. The other expedition left Cambridge, Massachusetts under Benedict Arnold, and traveled with great difficulty through the wilderness of Maine to Quebec City. The two forces joined there, but were defeated at the Battle of Quebec in December 1775.

Shift of colonial loyalty1. Britain’s hiring of

Hessians shocked colonials.

2. The burning of the New England towns of Falmouth and Norfolk by the British enraged many colonists.

3. The governor of Virginia promised freedom to slaves who would fight for Britain. • Impact: persuaded

many southern colonial elites (especially plantation owners) to join New England in the war effort.

Loyalists (“Tories”) accounted for about 20% of the colonists.

• Fought for a return to colonial rule; loyal to the king

• Conservative, educated and wealthy; fearful of “mob rule”

• Included the older generation; the younger generation was more revolutionary

• Loyalists Included the king's officers and other beneficiaries of the crown.

• The Anglican clergy and a large portion of their followers; most numerous of the Loyalists (except in Virginia)

• Loyalists most influential in the Middle Colonies and Charleston

• Least numerous in New England

• Ineffective at gaining the allegiance of neutral colonists

Patriots• Sometimes called "whigs"

(named after British opposition party)

• American rebels fought both British soldiers and Loyalists.

• Most numerous in New England

• Constituted a minority movement

• More adept at gaining support from colonials

About 80,000 Loyalists fled the colonies as a result of the Revolution.• Were regarded by Patriots

as traitors.• Their estates were

confiscated and sold; these funds helped finance the war.

• 50,000 fought for the British.

The War in 1776-1777Britain changed its focus to the

mid-Atlantic states after abandoning New England in the wake of losses and challenges in 1775-76.

Battle of Long Island (Summer and Fall 1776)• Washington’s army

escaped from Long Island to Manhattan and then New Jersey.

• Britain did not pursue - lost a great opportunity to crush the Americans early.

U.S. artillery retreats from Long Island,

August 27, 1776

STOP