Declaring Independence

How do we get there?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETroXvRFoKY

Second Continental Congress

• 1774- Continental Congress agreed to meet again if the situation with Britain did not approve.

• Met on May 10, 1775

• John Adams, Samuel Adams, Patrick Henry, Richard Henry Lee, George Washington (all delegates of First Continental Congress)

• New delegates = Benjamin Franklin, John Hancock, Thomas Jefferson

Benjamin Franklin

• Leader of PA legislature

• 1765 – represented the colonies in London and helped to repeal the Stamp Act

John Hancock

• Massachusetts

• Wealthy merchant

• Funded Patriot groups (Sons of Liberty)

• He is chosen to be president of Second Continental Congress

Thomas Jefferson

• Only 32

• Virginia legislature

• Already known as brilliant thinker and writer

Ready to vote for a break for Britain?

• Not yet.

• Another year before Jefferson would write Declaration of Independence

Actions of the Continental Congress

• Take steps to govern the colonies• Authorized printing of $$$$

• Set up a post office (Franklin in charge)

• Formed committees to handle relations with Native Americans & foreign countries

• Created Continental Army

Continental Army

• Unlike local militia, they could form and carry out an overall strategy for fighting

• George Washington chosen commander (experienced soldier & Southern planter)

• He leaves at once to take charge of forces in Boston

Avoid war?

• Offered Britain a last chance to avoid war

• Set petition (formal request) to Geroge III.

• Called the Oliver Branch Petition

Olive Branch Petition

• Assured the king that colonists wanted peace

• Asked him to protect colonists’ rights

• King rejects & prepared for war.• He hires more than 30,000 German troops (Hessians) to fight with

British troops

War Heats up

• Congress learned British troops in Canada were planning to invade New York

• Americans strike first

• Patriots marched north from Fort Ticonderoga & capture Montreal

• American attack on Quebec (led by Benedict Arnold) failed

• Washington reached Boston in July 1775 (few weeks after Bunker Hills)

• British held Boston, but Patriots were circled around the city

• Colonial forces growing everyday, but Washington realizes the men were disorganized & had no discipline (ability to follow strict rules and procedures)

• Begins to turn armed civilians into soldiers

Weapons

• Washington needs weapons

• Dozen of cannons hauled 300 miles from Fort Ticonderoga (major effort)

• March 1776= Washington feels his army is ready to fight

• Under darkness, moved soldiers and cannons into position overlooking Boston (redcoats sleeping)

• British realize now within easy reach of Washington’s guns. British General William Howe commanded soldiers to board ships and withdraw

Moving Toward Independence

• Many colonists still hope the colonies could remain a part of Great Britain.

• However, support for independence was growing

• Support inspired by Thomas Paine (published pamphlet called Common Sense (January 1776); bold language – calls for complete break with British rule

• This greatly influenced opinions throughout the colonies

Declaring Independence

• June 1776– Richard Henry Lee offered a resolution:

“That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States … and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved.”

- Richard Henry Lee, resolution for independence, 1776

• Congress debates

• Some delegates still thought they should not form a separate union; others argued the war had already begun and they should be free. Others feared Britain’s power to crush the rebellion

Declaring Independence

• Delegates debated, Congress chose a committee to write a declaration of independence.

• Committee = John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Robert Livingston, & Roger Sherman

• Jefferson asked to write first draft – was hesitant. Adams gets him to agree.

• “Reason first- You are a Virginian, and a Virginian ought to appear at the head of this business. Reason second- I am obnoxious, suspected, and unpopular. You are very much otherwise. Reason third – you can write ten times better than I can.”

- from The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, 1822

Writing the Declaration

• Jefferson draws on the ideas of English philosopher John Locke

• Wants to explain why the 13 colonies were proclaiming their freedom.

John Locke

• 1690s

• Expressed the idea that people are born with certain natural rights to life, liberty, and property.

• People form governments to protect those rights

• A government interfering with those rights could be overthrown

• Jefferson & other Patriots agree

Vote on Lee’s Resolution

• July 2, 1776 = 2nd Continental Congress voted on Lee’s resolution

• 12 colonies voted for independence

• New York didn’t vote, but later announced support

Jefferson’s draft

• Next they discuss Jefferson’s draft

• They made some changes

• Delegates approved the document on July 4, 1776

• John Hancock signed first (explain what a signature is called) – wrote his name large enough for King George to read without his glasses.

• 56 delegates signed the document – United States is born!

Now what?

• Copies were printed & sent out to people in the newly declared states.

• George Washington had the Declaration read to his troops in NYC on July 9

Sections to the Declaration: Preamble

• Introduction

• States people who wish to form a new country should explain their reasons

Sections 2 & 3

• List the rights the colonists believe they should have

• Complaints against Great Britain

Final Section

• Proclaims the existence of the new nation

Holiday

• John Adams expected the day Congress voted on Lee’s resolution for independence to be celebrated as a national holiday.

“The Second Day of July 1776 … ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade … and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other.”

* Instead July 4 (the day the Declaration was adopted is celebrated as Independence Day

Basic English rights:

• “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable (not to be denied) Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”

- Declaration of Independence, 1776

Declaration of Independence

• Government exists to protect these rights

• If government fails, “it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it and to institute new Government.”

Grievances against the king & Parliament

• “cutting off our trade with all parts of the world”

• “imposing taxes on us without our consent”

• Americans had “Petitioned for Redress” of the grievances

• British had ignored or rejected these petitions

America’s new status (STAY tuhs)

• Pledging “to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor,”

• The struggle for independence – the American Revolution had begun.