The Road to Independence

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The Road to Independence

• 1754-1783

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The French and Indian War
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Causes

• Rivalry Between the French and the British
• British
• built their settlements on the coast
• founded towns
• poor relations with Native Americans
• French
• settled further inland
• established forts
• good relations with Native Americans

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• Britain and France both claimed the Ohio River
  Valley.
• 1754 A small force of British colonists built
  Fort Necessity in western Pennsylvania.
• French forces surrounded the fort and forced a
  surrender.
• The French and Indian War had begun.

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The Course of the War

• The colonies provided militia men and also made
  attempts at unity, such as the Albany plan of
  Union
• Initially the British did poorly in the war
  losing because the French and Indians used
  guerrilla warfare.

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• William Pitt
• Became British Prime Minister in 1757
• Believed the war would determine the future of
  the empire
• Persuaded Parliament to raise taxes and borrow
  money to fight the war.
• His efforts will pay off.

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William Pitt
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• British forces begin to turn the tide
• Seize Louisbourg
• Capture Fort Duquesne in Pennsylvania
• 1759 General James Wolfe laid siege to Quebec
  (capital of New France) and captured it.
• 1759 seized Montreal
• 1761 All of Canada was under British Control

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General James Wolfe
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Treaty of Paris 1763

• Ended the war
• France turned over Canada to Britain and
  surrendered all land claims east of the
  Mississippi River except New Orleans.
• Britain returned Cuba to Spain in return for
  Florida.

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Effect on the Colonies

• British thought the colonies did not provide
  enough support for the war.
• Colonists were shocked by the weakness of British
  military tactics.
• Colonists began to believe that the British did
  not share the same values or treat them with
  respect

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Issues Behind the Revolution
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British Policy Changes

• The Proclamation of 1763
• Tensions between the British and the Indians rose
  as colonists began to settle more land.
• Pontiacs Rebellion
• Ottawa, Huron, Potawatomi, and other Indians
  rebelled destroying every British fort west of
  the Appalachians except Ft. Detroit and Fort Pitt
• King George declared the region west of the
  Appalachians closed to settlement.

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• Financial Policy
• The cost of fighting wars to maintain the empire
  was high.
• The British people were among the most highly
  taxed in the world.
• The colonists were not heavily taxed and many
  like finance minister George Grenville believed
  they should share more of the burden.

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George Grenville
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• The Sugar and Quartering Acts
• Sugar Act
• Cut the tax on molasses to discourage smuggling.
• Enforced by Royal Navy ships and violators were
  tried by a judge in a British court, not a jury
  in a colonial court.
• Quartering Act
• Required colonies to provide housing and supplies
  for British troops.

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The Sugar Act
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Stamp Act Crisis

• March 1765 Parliament passed the Stamp Act
  placing a tax on printed materials in the
  colonies.
• The first time that Parliament had taxed the
  colonists for the clear purpose of raising money.
• The law touched everyone, especially printers,
  merchants, and lawyers.

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• Stamp Act Congress
• 1765 Representatives of 7 of the colonies met in
  New York
• James Otis said, No taxation without
  representation.
• Issued a series of resolutions claiming that
  colonists should have the same rights and
  liberties that the people of Great Britain had.

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James Otis
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• The Sons of Liberty
• Merchants and others organized a boycott of
  British goods.
• The Sons of Liberty groups were organized to
  enforce boycotts and resist the British.
• Boston Sons of Liberty
• Most famous
• Samuel Adams was one of the founders
• Warned the stamp tax collector that unless he
  resigned, his House would be immediately
  Destroyed and his life in Continual Danger.
• By Nov 1765, when the act took effect most of the
  tax collectors had resigned or fled.
• March 1766 Parliament repealed the Stamp Act

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Samuel Adams
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Colonial Tensions Rise

• Declaratory Act
• 1767 Parliament declared it did have the
  authority to pass laws that applied to the
  colonists.
• Townshend Acts
• Colonists were angered at being taxed without
  their consent.
• The boycotts were renewed.

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• Boston Massacre
• Fearing a rebellion, Britain had sent troops to
  Boston.
• March 5, 1770, a crowd or unruly colonists
  threatened a group of British soldiers.
• Fearfully the soldiers fired shots killed five
  Bostonians.
• The soldiers were arrested and later tried in a
  colonial court.
• Parliament canceled the Townshend taxes.

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The Boston Massacre
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• The Boston Tea Party
• May 1773, Parliament passes the Tea Act to help
  the British East India Company.
• This threatened colonial tea merchants.
• December 16, 1773, a group of colonists disguised
  as Indians boarded three tea ships in Boston and
  threw all the tea onboard into the harbor.

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• The Intolerable Acts
• Passed by Parliament as the Coercive Acts in 1774
  to punish Boston and all of Massachusetts.
• Closed Boston Harbor until the tea was paid for
• Eliminated self-government in Massachusetts and
  appointed Thomas Gage as governor.
• Stripped Massachusetts of its claims to western
  lands.

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• First Continental Congress
• Sept. 5, 1774, fifty-six delegates from the
  colonies (except Georgia) met in Philadelphia.
• Leading figures--Georgia Washington, Patrick
  Henry, Richard Henry Lee, and Samuel Adams.
• The Congress
• Renewed boycotts
• Called on the colonists to form militias
• Made a direct appeal to the King stating their
  grievances
• George III responded by saying, The New England
  colonies are in a state of rebellion, blows must
  decide.

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First Continental Congress
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Patrick Henry
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Richard Henry Lee
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The Battles of Lexington and Concord

• Massachusetts Patriots had stored a large
  stockpile of weapons at Concord.
• April 18, 1775, 700 British troops left Boston
  late at night to take the arsenal.
• Paul Revere and others rode all night to warn the
  Patriots.
• At Lexington, on April 19, 70 minutemen blocked
  the British advance.

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Paul Revere
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• During the standoff someone fired a shot.
• The minutemen were defeated and the British
  marched on to Concord and burnt the arsenal.
• On the route back, some 4,000 Patriots shot at
  the British from behind trees all along the road
  home.
• The British took heavy losses.
• The Revolutionary War had begun

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Ideas Behind the Revolution
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Common Sense

• January 1776
• Written by Thomas Paine
• 47 Page pamphlet designed to convince colonists
  that a break with Great Britain was the only
  answer to the problems they faced
• The period of debate is closed. Arms as the
  last resource decide the contest. . . . Every
  thing that is right or reasonable pleads for
  separation . The blood of the slain, the weeping
  voice of nature Cries, TIS TIME TO PART.
  Common Sense

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Thomas Paine
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Declaring Independence

• First Continental Congress
• 1775 Met in Philadelphia after the fighting of
  Lexington and Concord
• Drafted the Olive Branch Petition which expressed
  loyalty to the King and asked for peace.
• 1776 Second Continental Congress
• After a year of war began to debate declaring
  independence
• June 1776 the Congress appointed a 5 man
  committee to draft a declaration.

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• Writing the Declaration
• Committee Members Thomas Jefferson (primary
  author), John Adams, Roger Sherman, Robert
  Livingston, and Benjamin Franklin.
• Heavily influenced by Enlightenment Thinkers
• John Locke
• Two Treatise of Government
• Natural Rights
• Thomas Hobbes
• Leviathon
• Social Contract Theory
• Jean Jacques Rousseau
• Tabula Rasa / Natural Rights

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Thomas Jefferson
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John Adams
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Roger Sherman
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Robert Livingston
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Benjamin Franklin
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John Locke
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Thomas Hobbes
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Jean Jacques Rousseau
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• Structure of the Declaration
• Preamble
• Stated the purpose of the Declaration
• Rationalization
• Explained the basis for the right to declare
  independence
• List of Complaints
• Injustices committed by King George against the
  colonies
• Resolution of Independence
• Formal statement of independence from Great
  Britain

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• Adopting the Declaration
• July 2, 1776, the Second Continental Congress
  adopted Richard Henry Lee of Virginias
  resolution that independence should be sought.
• July 4, 1776, SCC voted to adopt the Declaration
  of Independence.
• Adoption would either be an act of heroism or an
  act of treason, depending upon the outcome of the
  war.

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Signing of the Declaration of Independence
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The Fight for IndependenceOnce these rebels
have felt a smart blow, they will submit . . .
King George
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Strengths / Weaknesses

• British
• Strengths
• Well equipped, disciplined, and trained army
• Worlds finest navy
• Support of the Loyalists
• Support of the Indians
• Use of Hessians (mercenaries)
• Weaknesses
• War was not popular in Britain
• Fought in a hostile territory unknown to them
• Resisted changing military tactics
• Patriots
• Strengths
• Fighting for their homeland
• Weaknesses
• For much of the war lacked a well-supplied,
  stable, and efective fighting force.

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Boston Under Siege

• 6,ooo British troops under Gen. Thomas Gage
  controlled Boston.
• Battle of Bunker Hill
• April 177520,000 Patriots surrounded Boston and
  positioned themselves on two hillsBreeds Hill
  and Bunker Hill.
• June 17, 1775, the British attacked Breeds Hill
  and Bunker Hill. Despite strong resistance the
  British took both positions.
• The British suffered 1100 casualties and the
  colonists suffered only 400.

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Gen. Thomas Gage
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Battle of Bunker Hill
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• Boston Liberated
• The Congress named George Washington commander of
  the Continental Army.
• January 1776, Gen. Henry Knox brought Washington
  the cannons he had taken from Fort Ticonderoga.
• Washington placed these guns on Dorchester
  Heights south of Boston.
• The Patriots now had the ability to shell the
  city and the harbor.
• March 1776, the British left Boston.

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Gen. Henry Knox
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British Return

• Summer 1776General Howe and a large British
  force appeared off the coast of New York.
• By October they had captured New York and by
  winter had taken Philadelphia.
• The Patriots Cause seemed doomed
• These are the times that try mens 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.
  Thomas Paine, The American Crisis

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General Howe
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Trenton and Princeton

• Trenton
• 1,400 Hessian troops were stationed in Trenton,
  New Jersey
• Against tradition, Washington chose to attack on
  Christmas night, 1776.
• 2,400 Patriot troops crossed the ice choked
  Delaware in small boats and surprised the
  Hessians.
• Almost all the Hessians were captured and the
  Americans only suffered 5 casualties.

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• Princeton
• A few days later Washington attacked nearby
  Princeton, New Jersey.
• Washington left the campfires burning and flanked
  the British force who thought they hadnt moved.
• The horses attached to our cannon were without
  shoes, and when passing over the ice they would
  slide in every direction. . . . Our men, too,
  were without shoes or other comfortable clothing
  and as traces of our march towards Princeton, the
  ground was literally marked with the blood of the
  soldiers feet Soldier at the Battle of
  Princeton
• The Battles of Trenton and New Jersey were both a
  great boost to American morale.
• The months that followed held no great successes
  for the Americans until Saratoga.

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Turning Point The Battle of Saratoga

• British Gen. John Burgoyne was ordered to
  northern New York to cut New England off from the
  rest of the Colonies.
• September 1777Americans led by Gen. Horatio
  Gates attacked Burgoyne near Saratoga, New York.
• On October 17, 1777, Gates surrounded Burgoyne
  and Burgoyne surrendered his entire army.

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Gen. John Burgoyne
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Gen. John Burgoyne
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Gen. Horatio Gates
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France Enters the War

• The Continental Congress had sent Benjamin
  Franklin to France after declaring independence.
• Franklins mission was to convince the French to
  enter the war on our side.
• The Battle of Saratoga convinced the French that
  the colonies could win.
• February 6, 1778, France and the US signed a
  treaty of alliance.
• The alliance meant supplies, money, troops, naval
  support, and another front in the war.

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Winning IndependenceThe British might capture
territory, but they will never win the war as
long as Americans are willing and able to
continue fighting them. . . .George Washington
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American Hardship

• Military
• Washingtons troops were very ill-equipped.
• The winter of 1777-1778 spent at Valley Forge,
  Pennsylvania, was very brutal and many froze.
• Government
• The Continental Congress had little real power,
  and could not raise all the money needed to
  properly fight the war.
• Civilians
• The British naval blockade devastated the
  economy.
• Shortages of goods were rampant.
• Inflation sky rocketed.

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Battle of Yorktown

• Months of fighting led British Gen. Cornwallis to
  need reinforcements. He placed his troops on the
  Yorktown Peninsula between the York and James
  rivers to wait for the Royal Navy.
• Patriots under the command of Gen. Marquis de
  Lafayette were positioned to block an overland
  escape from the peninsula.
• Washington saw an opportunity to win a decisive
  victory.

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• Washington moved his combined French and American
  force to the Peninsula to join Lafayette.
• The French Navy blockaded the peninsula and kept
  the British from reinforcing Cornwallis.
• After days of being pounded, Cornwallis
  surrendered to Washington on October 18.

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The Treaty of Paris 1783

• Provisions
• Great Britain recognized the independence f the
  United States of America.
• The northern border of the US was established.
• The Mississippi River was established as the
  boundary between the US and Spanish territory to
  the west.
• Florida was returned to Spain.
• Great Britain agreed to withdraw its remaining
  troops from US territory.
• Congress agreed to recommend to the states that
  the rights and property of American Loyalists be
  restored.

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The Legacy of the Revolution

• The greatest effect of the Revolution was to
  spread the idea of liberty here and abroad.