HOW DID THEY DO IT?

HOW WERE A BUNCH OF MERCHANTS, FARMERS, AND CRAFTSMEN ABLE TO DEFEAT

THE LARGEST, MOST EXPER IENCED, WELL -TRAINED, AND WELL -EQUIPPED ARMY IN THE

WORLD?

American Revolutionary War

1. Leadership2. Foreign Aid3. Knowledge of the land4. Motivation

Four Reasons

ADVANCEMENT BASED ON CONNECTIONS, NOT ABILITY

WE ARE THE BEST !

Leadership: British Side

British Obstacles

Gentleman Johnny Burgoyne

Travel slowlyLive in style / PartyDon’t rush – enjoy !

This will be a piece of cake, no worry.

The British Plan

Cut off the New England colonies from the other colonies – divide and conquor

British Plan: Let’s meet in Albany

St. Leger was to come from the west to join with Howe and Burgoyne, but he retreated.

Burgoyne was capture Ft. Ticonderoga and head south.

Howe was to come north and join St. Leger and Burgoyne, but he decided to follow General Washington instead.

Colonial Leadership

Benedict Arnold Ticonderoga 177 Ft. Stanwick Saratoga

• John Paul Jones The War At Sea

• George Rogers Clark The War on the Frontier

• Nathaniel Greene• War in the South

General Washington

New York Trenton, New Jersey

Troops commitment would end on December 31 Hessian troops stationed in Trenton Gained confidence, supplies, new recruits

Princeton, New JerseyValley Forge

Foreign Aid

France Franklin asked Louis XVI in 1776 Saratoga convinced France colonists had chance Supplies, ammunition, soldiers, ships

* Spain Louisiana to Pensacola, Florida

• Baron Von Steuben Prussian Military Officer Basic Military Drills / Sanitation

*Marquis de Lafayette Brought his own ship and men Served in Continental Army without pay “Like a son to Washington”

Knowledge of Land

Frances Marion Swamp Fox Guerilla Tactics

• Burgoyne’s Miscalculation 20 Miles from Ft. Ticonderoga to Hudson River

Map made journey look easy Took 3 weeks• Control of Interior British could control cities on coast Had little knowledge of interior

Motivation

*Continental Army Soldiersfighting for their own land

fighting for dream and liberty & self-government

Had everything to gain and nothing to lose

• British Soldiers Far away from home & family Would return home after war Just doing a job

Yorktown: The last battle

Washington Lafayette French Admiral DeGrasse French General Rochambeau British General Cornwallis Ground troops + French Navy = Siege

Treaty of Paris 1783

All British land south of Great Lakes & St. Lawrence * Spanish claims along Gulf and• Florida* All land east of the Mississippi• Spanish have land to west• Great Britain keeps Canada• Northwest claimed by Spain, Britain, Russia

Conditions

US independent countryIdentified boundariesUS fishing rights off Canada’s Atlantic coastEach side will repay debts owed from before

warBritish will return any captured slavesUS Congress will recommend that property

taken from Loyalists be returned