Chapter 8America Secedes from the Empire

dun dun dunnn!

2nd Continental CongressMay 10, 1775

• 13 of 13 colonies were present• Most important decision George Washington

as general– Never above colonel– Only commanded small numbers– Was good leader, strong character, moral force– Choice was political

Bunker Hill June 1775

• America kept affirming loyalty to the King but kept fighting

• Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold captured Crown Point and Ticonderoga– Brought ammo and guns from the forts to Boston– 3,000 redcoats vs. 1,500 dug in colonists• 2,200 casualties for the British to 311 for the colonists

Olive Branch Petition

– Go back to the Status Quo– August 1775 George III declares state of rebellion– King hires thousands of Hessians

Canada

• Idea to invade Canada to get 14th colony– Deny British a base, thought French Canadians

would join them– Contradicted claim to fighting defensively for

redress of grievances– Took Montreal but fell apart at Quebec– French didn’t want to help

• Boston is evacuated in March 1776– Win 2 battles in spring of 1776 in North Carolina

Thomas Paine

• British acts like Burning towns (Falmouth and Norfolk) and hiring Hessians pushed towards independence

• Common Sense– Shilly-shallying was against common sense- come

right out and declare Independence– Called for the creation of a Republic– America had acted as a Republic for some time– In a republic individuals needed to sacrifice for the

common good

Declaration of Independence

• Reasons for declaring Independence• Natural rights• Now could get foreign aid• Now rebels with a cause• Left Parliament out of it-focused at the King-

didn’t recognize Parliaments power

Patriots and Loyalist

• Loyalists, Tories = on the British side• Patriots Whigs = side for Independence• Minority movement fought for civilian support

Loyalists Con’t• Loyalists 16% of America, older generation

– Kings officers– Beneficiaries of crown ($)– Anglican clergy and congregation– New York, Charleston, Penn and New Jersey– Many imprisoned after 1776– 80,000 fled, states confiscated– 50,000 served in British army– Served as spies, incited the Indians etc.– Seen as more aristocratic– African Americans– Loyalist areas depended on

• How they bought into the taxation argument• Recent immigrants distributions mostly in New York Georgia, and the Carolinas• Ethnicity French, the Dutch, Indians and the slaves felt indebted to Britain—The Germans

helped the Americans

Washington

• British abandon Boston for New York-Howe– 500 ships, 35,000 men

• Washington had 16,000 troops ill trained, poorly equipped– Retreated to New Jersey– Trenton December 26 captured 1,000 Hessians• Week later at Princeton

– Captured 400 lost 40– Boosted morale, undermined Howe’s plans, forced loyalists

out of New Jersey to new York

Burgoyne and Saratoga

• British pincher movement plan • Burgoyne was slowed down building roads

and by Arnold• Howe left him and went to Philadelphia• Burgoyne surrendered over 7,000 on October

12, 1777 to Gates 17,000– Brought foreign aid and morale

• French recognition 1778

Model Treaty

• John Adams• No political or military connection only

commercial– Idea that this would force countries to work together

for the common good– Very utopian, element of idealism that has been

constant in international affairs– Very revolutionary

• Military alliance with France, officially recognized American Independence

Wider War

• England vs France 1778 • Spain vs England 1779• Armed Neutrality created by Catherine the

Great of Russia– Passive hostility to Britain

• From 1778-1783 France provided guns, money, equipment, navy, ½ their troops

• British concentrated its forces in New York

Blow and Counterblow

• Rochambeau- French General with 6000 troops

• Benedict Arnold turns traitor• British were mopping up the South– Georgia 1778-1779 South Carolina-1780– Greene in the Carolinas vs Cornwallis– Greene gets rid of most of the redcoats

Frontier and Sea

• British agents offered bounties for scalps• Iroquois were split• George Rogers Clark

– 175 men captured forts in Ohio Valley• John Paul Jones

– Daring naval officers took war to British merchant ships near England

• Privateers– Around 600 British ships– Took men from the main force/war effort– Did give gold and morale

Yorktown

• Cornwallis leaves the South and heads north to Chesapeake

• Admiral De Grasse fleet in Indies• Washington from New York to Chesapeake to

trap Cornwallis meets De Grasse there with Rochambeau

• Cornwallis surrendered 1781

Treaty of Paris

1783

• Franklin, Adams, John Jay• France wanted U.S. subservient to them• Formal Independence• Boundaries to Mississippi River, Great Lakes

not Florida• Fishing Rights off Newfoundland• Loyalist property restored• Debts to Britain needed paid

Why Was The Treaty So Good?

• Get U.S. away from France• Reopen trade routes, needed money from

trade• France- bankruptcy and revolution

Revolution Society

• Egalitarianism• Losing of social classes