The War for Independence

Chapter 4

Washington Crossing the Delaware by Luetze, 1851

The Thirteen Colonies

The Road to Revolution What British actions led to the war for independence?

• Action: Proclamation of 1763 • Year: 1763 • Description: Barred settlement west of the

Appalachian Mountains • British Rationale: Protect the colonists from

the Native Americans • Colonial Response: Colonists felt they were

being “hemmed in;” they ignored the proclamation and colonial governors didn’t enforce it

The Road to Revolution What British actions led to the war for independence?

• Action: Sugar Act • Year: 1764 • Description: set a duty (import tax) on foreign

(from French West Indies) sugar, molasses, etc.

• British Rationale: colonists should pay for the war

• Colonial Response: “no taxation without representation!”

The Road to Revolution What British actions led to the war for independence?

• Action: Stamp Act • Year: 1765 • Description: taxed printed matter of all kinds • British Rationale: raise revenue after war • Colonial Response (there’s a lot!):

– “No taxation without representation!” – Nonimportation agreements

The Bostonians Paying the Excise-Man, 1774 (British propaganda print)

The Road to Revolution What British actions led to the war for independence?

• Colonial Response (there’s a lot!): – Demonstrations – Sons of Liberty – Stamp Act Congress

The Bostonians Paying the Excise-Man, 1774 (British propaganda print)

The Road to Revolution What British actions led to the war for independence?

• Action: Townshend Acts • Year: 1767 • Description: import duties on items such as

tea, lead, glass, dyes for paint, etc. • British Rationale: raise revenue • Colonial Response: colonial courts refused to

issue writs, demonstrations, nonimportation agreements

Charles Townshend

The Road to Revolution What British actions led to the war for independence?

• Action: Boston Massacre • Year: 1770 • Description: five colonists shot dead by British

soldiers • British Rationale: taunted by an angry mob • Colonial Response: dubbed action the “Boston

massacre;” committees of correspondence

The Bloody Massacre by Paul Revere , 1770

The Road to Revolution What British actions led to the war for independence?

• Action: Tea Act • Year: 1773 • Description: excused British East India

Company from paying certain duties and permitted it to bypass wholesalers

• British Rationale: save the ailing BEIC • Colonial Response: refused to buy tea; Boston

Tea Party

The Destruction of Tea at Boston Harbor by Currier 1846

The Road to Revolution What British actions led to the war for independence?

• Action: Coercive Acts/Intolerable Acts • Year: 1774 • Description:

– Closed port of Boston until all tea was paid for – Allowed royal officials charged with crimes to be

tried in England – Quartering Act ordered people to provide food,

housing, and lodging for soldiers stationed in colonies

The First Continental Congress

The Road to Revolution What British actions led to the war for independence?

• British Rationale: punish Americans for property lost in the Boston Tea Party

• Colonial Response: deepened colonial hostility

The First Continental Congress

First Continental Congress

• September-October 1774 • Philadelphia • Delegates from 12 colonies • What did they do there? • Pledged to meet again in May 1775 if

grievances not corrected

The First Continental Congress

Lexington and Concord

• April 1775 • Minutemen begin to stockpile firearms and

gunpowder • General Gage of MA decides to send troops to

Concord to destroy them • Paul Revere: “The Regulars are coming!” • Lexington: “the shot heard ‘round the world”

See next slide for map

Paul Revere’s ride

Lexington and Concord

Second Continental Congress

• May 1775 • Philadelphia • Create Continental Army in June 1775

– George Washington appointed commander

• Olive Branch Petition – Sent to king – King rejected

Congress voting on independence

Common Sense

• Published January 1776 • Thomas Paine • Anonymous • Urged independence

Thomas Paine

Declaring Independence

• June 1776 • Second Continental Congress appointed a

committee to draft, including Thomas Jefferson

• Three parts – Basic principles of self-government/philosophy of

human rights – Detailed misdeeds of George III – Formal declaration of independence

Declaring Independence

• July 2: delegates voted unanimously that they were free

• July 4: formal adoption of the Declaration of Independence

Cartoon by Benjamin Franklin

Divisions Over War

• Loyalists – Remained loyal to Britain – Opposed independence

• Patriots

Continental Army: Strengths and Weaknesses

Strengths • Familiarity of home

ground • Leadership of George

Washington and other officers

• Financial and military support of France

• Inspiring cause of the independence

Weaknesses • Lack of central

government • Supply shortages • Troop shortages • Troops untrained and

undisciplined

Washington at Valley Forge by Moran, 1911

Great Britain: Strengths and Weaknesses

Strengths • Strong, well-trained

military • Strong central

government with available funds

• Support of colonial Loyalists

Weaknesses • Large distance

separating Britain from battlegrounds

• Troops unfamiliar with terrain

• Weak military leaders • Not used to guerilla

tactics of Continental Army

Washington at Valley Forge by Moran, 1911

The War’s End

• Cornwallis surrenders at Yorktown (1781) • Treaty of Paris (1783)

– Recognized the independence of the United States – Marked the boundaries of the new nation

See next slide for map…

Surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown by Trumbull, 1797

The War’s End