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Road to the Revolution
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George Washinton
February 22, 1732 - December 14, 1799
George Washinton was a patriot general of the continental army and the United States first president. He played a big part in helping to unify our country as a whole, and as general of americas armed forces, he was able to liberate us from the tyranny of Great Britain. -
Paul Revere
January 1, 1735 - May 10, 1818
Paul revere is a patriot famously known for alerting early american malitias about the british coming to invade by sea. This came of main importantce because if he was unsuccessful in alerting everyone, we may well have lost the war, because the British would have had the advantage. -
John Hancock
January 23, 1737 - October 8, 1793
John Hancock is a patriot famously known for writting the biggest signiture on the declaration of independence. The reason being for this was to show how much he cared about what the document had to say and wanted to make sure King George saw his signiture first. -
Thomas Jefferson
April 13, 1743 - July 4, 1826
He is a patriot most famously known as the one who wrote the Declaration of Independence. He became of main importance because when he wrote the Declaration of Independence, he and other colonial leaders were declaring their independence from Great Britain to create their own country. -
Marquis de Lafayette
September 6, 1757 - May 20, 1834
A french nobleman who left France to help the colonial cause in America. He was able to persuade other french men to help the american cause. Lafayette was of major importance, because he provide military aid that the colonical forces desperatley needed. -
Boston Massacre
This event occured when a patriot crowd throwed snowballs at some british soldiers, who felt that they were being threatened and fired into the crowd, killing 5 people. The british soldiers responsible for killing the 5 men were put on trial, of which 2 of them were found guilty of manslaughter. The significance of this event was that when colonists heard of what had happened they were furious. This event had severed the last bond that the americans had, had for the british. -
Boston Tea Party
Conducted by the Son's of Liberty, they threw all the tea in the boston harbor to make a point that the british had no right to tax them the way they did. This even caused the Intolerable Acts to be put in place. It had only caused american and british relations to become more tense than they were before. -
Intolerable Acts
These laws came into immediantly affect after the Boston Tea Party occured. The british hada hoped that putting in these laws would stop any further acts of rebellion, but it had only given the colonists more reasons to be angry -
Battle of Lexington and Concord
The night before this battle began Paul Revere made his famous ride to worn the militias at lexington and concord that the british were coming to try to capture their military leaders and steal their supplies. The next morning at Lexington the american militas fired first and it became known as "the shot heard round the world." This battle helped push back british troops into boston were the Seige of Boston began. -
Battle of Bunker Hill
Began/Ended: June 17, 1775
The americans were defeated by the redcoates at the battle of bunker hill. The americans were told "Don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes!" in order to preeserve what little ammo they had. They british eventually overwhelmed the americans and forced them to retreat. This battles significance was that it taught that americans can overcome british military might as long as they kept fighting. -
Common Sense
Written by Thomas Paine, this document challenged the british governments right to rule the colonies using a plain language and logic. It also called for the colonies right to independence from Great Britain. This document helped show americans, in lay mans terms, how Britain was oppresing the colonies. Doing this had caused many colonists to be enraged at Britain and bring them a step closer to the revolution. -
Battle of Brandywine
Began/Ended: September 11, 1777
The Americans lost this battle and the British forced the americans to leave the Philadelphia capital. This battle has a big significance because it showed a flaw in the american troops. It had shown that they had an insufficeint number of men, and did not properly scout the area, which caused the british to have the advantage of suprise. -
Valley Forge
This was not a battle, but an american military camp. Over 2,500 american soldiers died during the harsh winter here from starvation to diseases. It became important because it was known as the turning point in the war because they were able to get military support from France. This helped pick up the soldiers spirits and made them feel once again that they had a chance to be able to defeat the largest military power in the world. -
Battle of King's Mountain
Began/Ended: October 7, 1780
This battle was won by american militia troops against the british. It's significance was that after the battle was won, british loyalist Lord Cornwallis had to abandon his plans on conquering North Carolina and recede back into South Carolina. -
Battle of Yorktown
Began: September 28, 1781 – Ended: October 19, 1781
This was the last major batle of the American Revolution. George Washington had ordered 5,000 american troops and the french navy to block off the british escape from yorktown. General Charles O'Hara took his commanders place in signing an offical declaration of surrender to the americans and french.
