Wars for Independence,

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CHAPTER 5

• Wars for Independence,
• 1764 - 1783

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Realignments in the Spanish Borderlands

• Britain gains Florida after Seven Years War
• Spain retains Louisiana and port city of New
  Orleans
• General Alexander OReilly
• Spanish forts in Southwest grow in number, Spain
  faces more threats from Apaches and Comanches

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The British Colonies Resist Imperial Reform

• Sugar Act attempts to end smuggling by lowering
  tariffs
• Writs of assistance
• Currency Act forbids colonists from producing
  paper money
• Stamp Act angers colonists and leads to formation
  of Sons of Liberty
• Patrick Henry
• Colonists in lower South are unhappy with both
  Parliament and their own colonial elite

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Imperial Reform (cont.d)

• Townshend Revenue Act worsens feelings
• Raises revenue without representation
• Results in Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania,
  uniting colonists
• Result is series of nonimportation agreements
• Boston becomes center of conflict
• Boston Massacre
• John Adams
• Burning of Gaspée and formation of Committees of
  Correspondence indicate colonial unrest

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Boston Tea Party

• Boston Tea Party of 1773 demonstrates colonial
  defiance
• Tea Act designed to protect British East India
  Company by removing duties on its tea
• Bostonians dump tea to protest manipulation
• Britain responds with Coercive Acts, designed to
  get Boston under control
• Quebec Act
• Coercive Acts
• First Continental Congress meets in Philadelphia
  in fall of 1774

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Resistance Becomes a War for Independence

• First shots fired in April 1775, at Lexington and
  Concord
• British losses 73 dead, 200 wounded
• Boston losses 49 dead, 43 wounded
• Green Mountain Boys capture Fort Ticonderoga
• Second Continental Congress meets in May,
  selecting George Washington to command the new
  Continental Army
• Battle of Bunker Hill leads George III to declare
  colonies in rebellion
• Olive Branch Petition

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Battles in Eastern Massachusetts
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Taking Sides

• Colonists find themselves having to choose sides
• Loyalists usually wealthy
• African American support ill received by Whigs
• Patriots resort to conscription
• Women support cause in many ways
• Continental Congress ratifies Declaration of
  Independence in July 4, 1776
• Thomas Jefferson
• In mid-July, adopted Articles of Confederation
• Confederation of sovereign states
• Congress conducted foreign affairs
• Congress had no power to tax or raise troops

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The War in the North, 1776-1779

• Britain invades New York
• Battle of Brooklyn Heights
• British dominate war
• Continentals use guerilla tactics
• British occupy Philadelphia during winter of
  1777-1778
• Washington turns troops into effective army at
  Valley Forge
• Baron von Steuben
• Battle of Saratoga brings French into war on side
  of colonists
• Patriots continue to suffer from economic problems

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Northern Campaigns, 1776-1778
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The War Moves West and South

• Fighting intensifies on frontier
• Natives attacked on entire frontier
• Fort Vincennes
• Iroquois and Delaware ally with British
• Continental forces devastated Native Americans
• Britain invades South, seeking Loyalist support
  there, but plan backfires
• British force to retreat North
• Lord Cornwallis surrenders to Washington at
  Yorktown, October 1781

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Southern Campaigns, 1778-1781
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Virginia and the Yorktown Campaign
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Peace Settlement

• Treaty of Paris (1782) ends hostilities but
  leaves problems
• New nation extends from Atlantic coast to
  Mississippi River, and from Canada to 31st
  parallel
• Britain agrees to remove troops promptly, then
  fails to do so
• Loyalists are assured of protection, but many
  face discrimination and leave country
• 20,000 slaves freed by British left with them,
  over protest of Americans
• War of Independence was a success, but left many
  unresolved issues

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Discussion Questions

• Why were Americans unwilling to support the
  various acts put forth by Britain to raise
  revenue from the colonies?
• What were the causes of the American Revolution?
  What advantages and disadvantages did each side
  have?
• What role did natives and African Americans play
  in the Revolution?
• How did the Revolution help establish a national
  identity for the United States?