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Battle at Lexington and Concord
● General Gage sends British militia to Massachusetts
● Met by Patriots and Minute Men
● "shot heard round the world" - the shot that started the war between the Britsh and the American colonies -
Second Continental Congress
● Creation of Continental army
● Appoints George Washington to lead army -
Battle at Bunkerhill
● Americans were winning at first against the British
● Continental Army defeats the first two lines of British soldiers
● Americans run out of ammunition and supplies
● British eventually beats them
● Battle shows America's army's lack of supplies -
Dunmore gains Loyalists
● Governor Dunmore enlists both white and black people for British cause
● Proclaims freedom to slaves and indentured servants who join the Loyalists -
Thomas Paine: Common Sense
● Publishes a pamphlet that spreads quickly though the colonies
● Calls for independence and a republican government
● Attacks the oppressive rule of traditional monarchy -
Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge
● Josiah Martin, North Carolina's royal governor, has 1,500 Loyalist soldiers
● Patriots create a militia and defeat Governor Martin's army
● Inspires radical Patriots to try and persuade the Continental Congress to declare independence -
Declaration of Independence
● Written by Thomas Jefferson
Section I: Statements of philosophy; national statement of belief
Section II: Indictments against King George III's oppresive actions
Section III: Resolution - the colonies have the right to be free of the crown and independent states -
Battle of Long Island
● Prime Minister Lord North appoints William Howe to lead British troops to capture New York City
●Strategy: Seize Hudson River to cut off connection between New England and the southern colonies
● General Washington leads Continental Army
● British defeat the Americans at Long Island and force them to retreat all the way to Pennsylvania
● Battle shows British war advantages and American weakness
● Battle represents Washington's first two years of defeats as the leader -
Pennsylvania Constitution
● Property ownership is taken out of the voting qualications
● All taxpaying men can vote and hold office
● Creates a unicameral legislature with complete power -
John Adams: Thoughts on Government
● Response to Pennsylvania constitution
● Creates an idea that joined the mimxed government theory with a republican society
● Legislatures make laws, the executive would administer laws, and the judiciary would evforce the laws
● Demands a bicameral legislature with a upper and lower house with substantial men in the upper house
● Says the elected governor should have veto power and the judiciary should be appointed -
Valley Forge
● Washington's army facesdisaster in Valley Forge during the winter
● Desertion, starvation, and disease strike soldiers
● Baron von Steuben, a foreign officer, trains the Continental army
● By spring, the Continental army become professional soldiers -
Battle of New Jersey
● Washington leads his Continental army to Trenton, New Jersey
● Surprised attacks British and beats 1,000 Hessian soldiers
● Small victory against the British -
Battle of Saratoga
● Lord North launches a military campaign:
● solate New England by surrounding it with troops from all fronts
● General Burgoyne leads a group of British troops and wins against the Americans at Fort Ticonderoga
● Gerneral Horatio Gates leads the Americans and slows down the British troops' campaign
● Eventually Americans overwhelm Burgoyne's forces and he surrenders
● Turning point of the war because of America's great feat -
Articles of Confederation
● Based on the idea of a central government with limited powers
● Each state has its own freedom
● Important laws need 13 states' approval
● Ratified in 1781 due to problems with fulfilling individual state desires -
Treaty of Alliance
● France and America join in alliance
● Neither partner would sign a serparate peace without the freedom of the United States
● Congress would recognize French claims of the West Indies
● Alliace boosted Patriotic morale
● PARLIAMENT'S RESPONSE:
● Repeals Tea and Prohibitory (Intolerable) Acts and renounce its power to tax the colonies in hopes of negotiation with the Americans -
British take coastal Georgia
● Sir Henry Clinton, Governor of New York, sends Colonel Cambell and his British troops to take Savannah, Georgia
● In early 1779, the British take Augusta, Georgia -
Philipsburg Proclamation
● Declares that any slave who deserted a revel master would receive protection, freedom, and land from Great Britain
● Helps further Britiain's southern strategy:
● Defend the West Indies and capture the successful cultivating southern colonies
● Results in about 30,000 slaves to join British side -
British take South Carolina
● British wins victory at Charleston, South Carolina
● Takes the Carolinian garrison of 5,000 troops
● Lord Charles Cornwalis takes control of British army
● British defeats General Horatio Gates's American force at Camden, South Carolina -
Battle at Cowpens
● General Morgen of the American force won a bloody victory at Cowpens
● Battle stops the consistent wins of the British -
Battle at Guilford Court House
● Washington sends General Nathaniel Greene to stop the British southern campaign
● Greene lures Cornwalis's troops into the Guilford Court House
● Battle ends in a draw
● Cornwalis beats the Americans at the courthouse, but Greene only uses this battle as a trap
● Cornwalis gives up the Carolinas to the Americans -
Battle of Yorktown
● Lord Cornwallis and his troops move to Yorktown, Virginia
● Joined by Benedict Arnold, a Patriot traitor, and his men
● Washington's strategy:
● Fake an attack on New York City to draw British forces
● March the new huge French militia and send the French fleet south towards Yorktown
● The French join Greene's army and surround Cornwallis
● Cornwallis surrenders
● Battle ends all battles in the American Revolution against the British -
The Ordinance of 1784
● Written by Thomas Jefferson
● Territories could become states as their populations grew -
The Land Ordinance of 1785
● Mandatated a grid system of surveying and placed the minimal price of $1 per acre
● Required that half of the townships would be sold in single blocks of acres that benefited large-scale speculators and small amounts of land acres for well-to-do-farmers -
Shay's Rebellion
● Farmers are heavily in debt, but the legislature increases taxes
● Farmers respond by revolting against taxes imposed by an unresponsive government
● Rebellion displays that farming families felt oppressed even under American rule
● The government was not playing to the citizen's interests -
Virginia Plan
● Proprosed at the Philadelphia Convention
● Devised by James Madison who supported a strong central government
● Rejects state sovereignty
● Calls for the national government to be established by the people and for national laws be enforced on citizens
● Proposes a three-tier election system -
New Jersey Plan
● Devised by William Paterson
● Gives the Confederation various powers
● Gives states the control of their own laws and guarantees their equality in the legislature -
Northwest Ordinance of 1787
● Creates territories that are now the Midwestern states
● Prohibits slavery and earmarks funds from land sals for schools
● Says Congress would appoint a governor and judges for the new territory until the population reached 5,000 adult men
● As population grows, the citizens could elct a territorial legislature and then the legislature could create a republican constitution and apply for a position in the Confederation -
The Great Compromise
● Proposed by the Conneticut delegates
● Says the Senate have two members from each state
● Says the House of Representatives have their seats distributed by population -
The Federalist
● A series of essays written by Federalists James Madison, John Jay, and Alexander Hamiltion
● A response to Antifederalists disagreement of the constitution
● Becomes a treatise of practical republicanism
● Points out that power among the legislature, the executive, and the judiciary would "check and balance" and so preserve liberty -
Federalists in Massachusetts
● Antifederalists argue with Bostonian Federalists
● The Federalists calm down the Antifederalists by assuring them that they would consider a national bill of rights -
Constitution is Ratified
● 9th state ratifies Constitution meeting the qualifications that 9 out of 13 states need to approve the document
● Includes the idea of a Supreme Court and state courts
● Includes the rule that slaves count as 3/5 of a free person
● Foundation for the laws of the United States of America
