America Secedes from the Empire

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Chapter 8

• America Secedes from the Empire

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Second Continental Congress

• Met in Philadelphia on May 10, 1775, with no real
  intention of independence, merely a desire to
  continue fighting in the hope that the king and
  Parliament would consent to a redress of
  grievances.
• Meeting occurred after the Battle of Lexington
  and Concord

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Accomplishments of 2nd Congress

• Adopted measures to raise money and to create an
  army and a navy
• Selected George Washington as commander-in-chief
  of the Continental Army.

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General George Washington

• Forty-three year old Virginia planter
• Colonel in the Virginia militia
• Fought in the French and Indian war at the Battle
  of Fort Duquesne
• Political move by Congress since they needed
  Virginias support for the war

George Washington in the uniform of the Virginia
Regiment
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Fort Ticonderoga

• 1775 Attack In the early morning hours of May
  10, 1775, Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold
  advanced upon Fort Ticonderoga. They approached
  the fort that was being held by a small British
  company of about twenty men under the command of
  Captain Delaplace. 
• They marched on the fort in column, three
  abreast. A sentry on guard at the entrance
  attempted to fire at the intruders, but his gun
  misfired (a common problem even today firing
  demonstrations held at the fort often misfire).
  The Americans stormed into the fort and Ethan
  Allen demanded surrender. When Captain Delaplace
  asked under whose authority, Allen responded,
  "the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress."
  Delaplace surrendered and Ethan Allen and
  Benedict Arnold had taken the fort without firing
  a shot.
• Gave the Colonists much needed ammunition.

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Battle of Bunker Hill

• June 1775
• Fought on Breeds Hill
• Occurred after the Battle of Lexington and
  Concord when colonial militia surrounded the
  British in Boston
• The Americans worked through the night
  constructing extensive earthworks for their
  protection at the crest of the hill. On the
  morning of the 17th, the British command in
  Boston was shocked to see a colonial army putting
  the finishing touches on their fortification. The
  Americans continued their labors until midday
  despite bombardment by British ships below.
• British mounted an attack on the hill
• Dont fire until you see the whites of their
  eyes.
• In the battle there were 1,054 British
  casualties, their heaviest toll of the war the
  Americans suffered 441 casualties, most of them
  during the retreat.

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Battle of Bunker Hill
Here stand the raw American militia in the main
redoubt at Breed's Hill as they are about to fire
upon the seemingly endless advancing ranks of
British regulars. Colonel Prescott stands on the
works with his sword ready to give the famous
command that would reshape American history
forever.
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Boston From Bunker Hill
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Hessians

• German soldiers loyal to King George III who
  fought for Britain in the Revolutionary War. King
  George was from Hanover, an area in Germany, and
  called in a favor to his homeland, asking for
  soldiers willing to fight in the New World. The
  Hessians numbered almost 30,000, and they fought
  mostly in the Northern Campaign.

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The Abortive Conquest of Canada

• An attempt made by the colonists to take Canada
  and make it a 14th state.
• General Richard Montgomery pushed up the Lake
  Champlain route and captured Montreal.
• General Benedict Arnold joined with Montgomery in
  an attempt to also take Quebec.
• The attempt failed due in large part to cold
  weather

Benedict Arnold's troops work their way through
the Maine wilderness on their way to Canada
CREDIT Adamson, Sydney, artist. "Working
Against the Flood on Dead River." Engraving by H.
Davidson. The Century Illustrated Monthly
Magazine, January 1903. Prints and Photographs
Division, Library of Congress.
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Evacuation Day in Boston

• After Americans fortified Dorchester Heights over
  Boston, the British got in their boats and left
  Boston.
• 1500 loyalist left with them
• Many colonists celebrated thinking the war was
  over.

Boston from the Dorchester Heights
12
Common Sense

• Pamphlet written by British-born colonist Thomas
  Paine
• Urged Americans to forgo redress of grievances
  and go for complete separation from Britain.

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Richard Henry Lees Resolution

• On June 7, 1776, Richard Henry Lee of Virginia
  introduced this legislation in the Second
  Continental Congress proposing independence for
  the American colonies.
• Resolved, That these United Colonies are, and of
  right ought to be, free and independent States,
  that they are absolved from all allegiance to the
  British Crown, and that all political connection
  between them and the State of Great Britain is,
  and ought to be, totally dissolved.

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Declaration of Independence

• In response to Lees resolution Second
  Continental Congress hired Thomas Jefferson to
  write a declaration of independence.
• He was assisted by John Adams and Benjamin
  Franklin.

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John Hancock
John Hancock was President of the Second
Continental Congress and of the Congress of the
Confederation first Governor of Massachusetts
and the first person to sign the United States
Declaration of Independence
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Preamble to Declaration of Independence

• 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, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind
  requires that they should declare the causes
  which impel them to the separation.
• We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all
  men are created equal, that they are endowed by
  their Creator with certain inalienable rights,
  that among these are life, liberty and the
  pursuit of happiness.

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Loyalists

• Also known as Tories
• About 20 of the American people
• Remained loyal to the King
• Conservative Americans generally were loyalists
• Loyalist were most numerous in the South were the
  Anglican Church prevailed (except Virginia)
• Loyalists were least numerous in New England area

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Patriots

• Also known as Whigs
• Most numerous where Presbyterianism and
  Congregationalism flourished, notably in New
  England
• The Patriots were generally the younger
  generation, like Samuel Adams and Patrick Henry.
• Give me liberty or give me death Patrick
  Henry
• The Patriot militias constantly harassed small
  British detachments.

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Battle of Long Island

• After Britain's retreat from Boston Washington
  guessed that they would return to New York.
• July and August of 1776, 32,000 British troops
  landed at Long Island
• Washington had only 20,000 troops
• Americans were defeated by the British and
  retreated across the Delaware River and into
  Pennsylvania.
• British followed the Continental Army but did not
  engage in battle
• Hessians took over and watched the decimated Army

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• Low Point for the Continental Army
• Washington and his men were at their lowest
  point, lacking shoes, food and shelter

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Paines Crisis

• THESE are the times that try men's souls. The
  summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in
  this crisis, shrink from the service of their
  country but he that stands it now, deserves the
  love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like
  hell, is not easily conquered yet we have this
  consolation with us, that the harder the
  conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we
  obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly it is
  dearness only that gives every thing its value.

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Battle of Trenton

• On December 26th, Washington's Army crossed the
  Delaware and surprised the British at Trenton.
  The main attack was made by 2,400 troops under
  Washington on the Hessian Garrison. Washington's
  troops achieved total surprise and defeated the
  British forces. The American victory was the
  first of the war, and helped to restore American
  morale.

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This famous event from the American Revolution
was painted by German-born Emanuel Leutze
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Battle of Trenton
Battle in the Streets of Trenton
The surrender to General George Washington of the
dying Hessian commander, Colonel Rahl, at the
Battle of Trenton
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Britains 3-Pronged Plan to take the Hudson River
Valley

• General Burgoyne would push down the Lake
  Champlain route from Canada
• General Howes troops in New York, if needed,
  could advance up the Hudson and meet Burgoyne in
  Albany.
• A third and much smaller British force commanded
  by Colonel Barry St. Ledger would come in from
  the west by way of Lake Ontario and the Mohawk
  Valley.

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General William Howe

• General Howe, at a time when he should be
  starting up the Hudson, disobeyed orders and
  deliberately embarked on an attack on
  Philadelphia.
• Howe and his troops took Philadelphia but left
  Burgoyne to fend for himself.
• In May 1778, Howe was replaced as British Army
  Commander in America by Lt. General Henry
  Clinton.

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Treaty of Alliance With France

• France was eager to get back at Britain so they
  supplied the Americans with gunpowder and other
  supplies throughout much of the war.
• After Saratoga France believed that an American
  victory was possible so they decided to fully get
  involved.

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Battle of Saratoga

• Burgoyne began his mission with 7000 troops and a
  heavy baggage train consisting of a great number
  of the officers wives.
• Burgoynes doomed troops were bogged down, and
  the rebels swarmed in with a series of sharp
  engagements.
• Burgoyne surrendered his entire force at
  Saratoga, on October 17, 1777
• Turning Point of the Revolutionary War

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Turing Point of War

• General Burgoyne surrenders to General Gates

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Valley Forge

• Of all the places associated with the American
  War for Independence, perhaps none has come to
  symbolize perseverance and sacrifice more than
  Valley Forge. The hardships of the encampment
  claimed the lives of one in ten, nearly all from
  disease.

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General Friedrich Von Steuben

• Despite his claims, the genial von Steuben was
  only a captain, not a former Prussian general
  but he was a superb drillmaster.
• Hired by Washington to train the troops at Valley
  Forge

Washington and Von Steuben
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General Benedict Arnold the Traitor

• Considered a hero at battles in Saratoga, New
  York and Quebec,
• Arnold was constantly persuaded that he was
  neglected and ill treated by Congress.
• He began a secret correspondence with Sir Henry
  Clinton, through Major John Andre.
• Arnold turned traitor by plotting with the
  British to sell out West Point.
• The plan was foiled when Andre was captured.
  Arnold escaped to the British and Andre was
  hanged as a spy. For the remainder of the war
  Arnold led British forces against American
  colonists, then settled in London as an officer.

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War in the South

• Tired of fighting against colonial militia, the
  British moved the fighting to the South in hopes
  of getting Loyalist support.
• Initially the British had success. Georgia was
  ruthlessly overrun in 1778-1779. Charleston,
  South Carolina, fell in 1780.
• In 1781, American riflemen wiped out a British
  detachment at Kings Mountain, and then defeated
  a smaller force at Cowpens.
• Continental Army General Nathaniel Greene helped
  clear the British out of most of Georgia and
  South Carolina.

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Yorktown

• Retreating to Chesapeake Bay and assuming that
  the British would send more troops and supplies,
  Cornwallis instead fell into a trap.
  Washingtons army, which had come 300 miles from
  New York, Rochambeaus French army, and the navy
  of French Admiral de Grasse surrounded Cornwallis
  and his men.
• King George wanted to continue the war, since he
  still had 54,000 troops in North America and
  32,000 in the U.S., and
• Fighting continued for about a year after
  Yorktown, especially in the South, but America
  had won.

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Surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown (John
Trumbull, 1797). Despite the painting's title,
Cornwallis (claiming illness) was not present and
is not depicted. Washington is on horseback in
the right background because the British
commander was absent, military protocol dictated
that Washington have a subordinatein this case
Benjamin Lincolnaccept the surrender.
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Maneuvering Before the Treaty

• Benjamin Franklin, John Adams and John Jay were
  sent to Paris, with the hopes of negotiating a
  peace treaty. The three envoys were under
  instructions not to make a separate peace with
  the British. The negotiators, fearing French
  interests were not the same as those of the
  Americans, decided to open direct talks with the
  British, who were eager to entice one of the
  enemies from the alliance.

Painting by Benjamin West (from left to right)
John Jay,John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Henry
Laurens, and William Temple Franklin. The
British commissioners refused to pose, and the
picture was never finished
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Treaty of Paris of 1783

• Great Britain had to acknowledge the United
  States as a free and independent country
• North to Canada
• West to the Mississippi River
• South to Florida
• The U.S. also retained fishing rights off of
  Newfoundland.
• Congress promised to recommend that loyalist
  property be returned by the states
• The Mississippi River was to remain open to both
  the U.S. and Great Britain.