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Declaration of Independence
The Declaration of Independence was written in 1776 by Thomas Jefferson. John Adams persuaded Thomas Jefferson to write the first rough draft and Jefferson kept writing from there. Thomas drew his ideas from the English philosopher John Locke. On July 4th the delegates made some changes to the Declaration of Independence and signed it. By July 9th there were copies made and released to the public. -
Battle of Trenton New Jersey
On Christmas eve in 1776 George Washington led 2,400 men across an icy river to surprise the British the next day, after that he and his army escaped to Princeton and the U.S. army scattered the British troops there. -
Battle of Saratoga
On September 19 on John Freeman's farm the battle of Saratoga took place while the British were heading to Albany, New York they were stopped by the Continental Army and fought for several hours but eventually the British forced the Americans to pull back, but the fighting lasted so long that the British could not continue their drive to Albany. -
British Capture Philadelphia
In September 1777 British General Howe approached Philadelphia from the Chesapeake River. General Washington set up troops along the Brandywine River to guard the route from Baltimore to Philadelphia but General Howe surprised him. General Howe first, sent his troops to Chadds Ford to distract General Washington while the rest of his troops invaded Philadelphia. Eventually, Washington's troops were beaten and outsmarted and were forced to retreat. -
Winter at Valley Forge
In December 1777, General Washington moved his army to Valley Forge. At this time they had lost many battles and were cold, hungry, tired, and disappointed because of the loss of Philadelphia. Valley Forge was 20 miles from Philidelphia and had access to water and firewood, despite that, they ran low on things like food and clothing. Paired with the cold of the winter disease spiked. The conditions at Valley Forge made 3,000 men unable to fight and over 2,000 soldiers died at Valley Forge. -
State Constitutions
Starting in 1777, the states started creating their constitutions. Each state decided their own answers to the questions being asked about how they were going to run their government. For example, Pennsylvania was the most radical in saying there were no property requirements for voting and if you were a man and you paid taxes you could vote, while in South Carolina you had to be a white man with a substantial amount of property to vote. -
The Articles of Confederation
The Articles of Confederation were created in 1777, and the main idea was to have one representative from each state help write it with the primary writer being John Dickinson from Delaware. The Articles of Confederation provided for a congress represented based on population. This also gave the government all power not designated by the states. The Articles of Confederation were adopted by Congress on November 15, 1777, and became the first constitution of the United States. -
Congress Prohibits Enslaved People from being Imported to the US
On June 16, 1777, a bill to prohibit the importation of slaves to America was written. It stated that any person who was free in their native country shall be free and any slave from another state or country will be free from slavery in Virginia and anyone caught enslaving others could be punished by death. This bill was passed in 1778. -
John Paul Jones & Serapis
In August 1779, John Paul Jones was sailing the Bonhomme Richard and sailed around the British Isles. On September 23, Jones ran into the Serapis and the Countess of Scarborough. After the Serapis and the Countess damaged the Bonhomme the captain of Serapis asked him if he was ready to surrender and Jones said he had not begun to fight. After 3 hours of fighting the Serapis and the Countess surrendered. The Americans switched to the Serapis after the battle and the Bonhomme sunk shortly after. -
Spain Declares War on the British
On June 21, 1779, Spain declares war on the British and create the de facto alliance with the Americans. King Charles III would not make a treaty with the Americans at first because he thought that one imperial power should not go against another imperial power. France stepped in and negotiated a treaty with Spain to join the war. King Charles III thought if he was the ally of the United States ally he could endorse the war from a distance. -
Capture of Charles Town
In 1779 General Sir Henry Clinton left New York with 13,500 soldiers and sailors. The sailed to Georgia and planned to capture Charles Town, South Carolina in 1780. When the British troops go there the American army was out numbered and the British captured Charles Town. -
British Surrender at Yorktown
On October 19, 1781 General Charles Cornwallis brought 8,000 British troops to Yorktown they expected for British ships to help, but they never came. The French General Jean-Baptiste Rochambeau joined General Washington to help fight off the British they gathered an army of 17,000 men. The French navy held off the British Navy and in doing so, cut off the British's supplies the British ran out of supplies later on and couldn't fight anymore forcing General Cornwallis to surrender. -
Treaty of Paris
In 1783 the Treaty of Paris formally ended the war. Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and John Jay negotiated the treaty with King George. The British formally realized that America was an independent country and had most of it's territory east of the Mississippi river. This almost doubled the size of the U.S. starting western expansion.
