Chapter 2 - The American Revolution
I. The Colonies Fight for Their Rights
A. The French & Indian War
1. The First Skirmish
a. Ft. Duquesne (Pittsburgh)
b. George Washington @ Ft. Necessity
2. The Albany Conference
a. the Iroquois stay neutral
b. Albany Plan of Union
3. The British Triumph
a. French win early
b. Brits use navy to cut supplies
c. Siege of Quebec
d. Treaty of Paris
i. Brits get everything east of Miss. River
ii. Spain gets west of Miss. River
B. Growing Discontent
1. The Proclamation of 1763
a. avoid trouble with Indians by not settling west of App. Mts. & save $
b. makes colonists mad (ignore order)
2. Customs Reform
a. Try to reduce smuggling & force payment of customs duties
b. Vice-admiralty court
3. The Sugar Act
a. Tax on sugar, etc.
i. Brits all up in their bid-ness (pg 58)
4. The Stamp Act Crisis
a. Tax on paper products
b. Patrick Henry in H of B & Sons of Liberty
c. Stamp Act Congress
d. Boycotts get it repealed w/ Declaratory Act
C. The Townshend Acts
*raise $, reduce smuggling, writs of assistance
1. Action and Reaction
a. unified colonial resistance—boycotts
2. The Boston Massacre
a. 5 dead and anger spreads
b. Brits repeal Townshend Acts to keep peace
II. The Revolution Begins
A. Massachusetts Defies Britain
1. The Gaspee Affair—RI
a. committee of correspondence
2. The Boston Tea Party
a. tax cut on Eng. Tea makes it cheaper
i. may put Am. Teac merchants out of
business
b. c of c organize boycott all over
i. Boston folks dumped tea into harbor
3. The Coercive Acts
a. punish Mass. & end challenges to Brit.
authority
i. shut Boston port
ii. banned town meetings—gov/king in charge
iii. Brit soldiers tried in Eng
iv. Quartering Act
4. The 1st Continental Congress
a. unified reaction to the Intolerable Acts
i. Patrick Henry, “give me liberty or give
me death”
b. Declaration of Rights & Grievances
i. we’re loyal so don’t treat us badly
c. let’s meet again
B. The Revolution Begins
* John Hancock, minuteman militias, General Gage
1. Loyalists & Patriots
a. Loyalists—tories-NC, SC, GA, NY
b. Patriots—whigs-NE & VA
i. all types of people support both sides
2. Lexington & Concord
a. Gage ordered to take Mass. Congress
i. take arsenal instead
b. Paul Revere (&Dawes) ride to warn
c. Lexington (shot heard ‘round the world),
then Concord, then back to Boston (see
map pg 69)
d. Pats follow and harass
3. The 2nd Continental Congress
a. create Continental Army—G.W.
b. Bunker Hill (w/o G.W.)
C. The Decision to Declare Independence
1. Efforts at Peace
a. Olive Branch Petition—ignored
b. CC acts like first gov’t
2. The Fighting Spreads
a. Tories in the South
b. GW boots Brits from Boston
c. Hessian mercenaries
3. Common Sense & Independence
a. Thomas Paine—blames king & warns of
tyranny in Common Sense
b. Thomas Jefferson—writes D of I
i. US is born & war officially starts
III. The War for Independence
A. The Opposing Sides
1. Brits—more men, $, training, discipline
2. Pats—deserters, no taxes, paper $, R. Morris
3. guerrilla warfare—war of attrition
4. European balance of power
5. General William Howe—plan
a. take NY and split colonies
b. negotiate peace
B. Battles in the North
* Brits take NY from GW, Nathan Hale’s life to lose
1. Crossing the Delaware
a. GW loses in NY and runs to Philly
b. Brits camp in NJ for winter
c. GW attacks Trenton & Princeton
i. not major victories, but morale boost
2. Philadelphia Falls (Sept. 1777)
a. Burgoyne’s 3-part plan
b. Howe takes Philly (why)
c. GW camps @ Valley Forge
i. 2500 die
ii. help from de Lafayette & von Stueben
3. The Battle of Saratoga
a. Burgoyne marches south, St. Leger &
Iroquois south & west
b. Ticonderoga falls & Gates arrives
c. St. Leger loses & Burgoyne surrounded,
quits @ Saratoga
e. turning pt. of war—France, Spain join
against Brits
4. The War in the West
a. George Rogers Clark takes O.R. Valley
b. Brits&Iroquois kill in PA then lose in NY
c. Indians lose everywhere
5. The War at Sea
a. letters of marque
b. John Paul Jones
C. Battles in the South
*Clinton replaces Howe, calls all Brits to NY, Battle of Monmouth, focus on South
1. The Struggle in the Carolinas
a. Brits take Savannah then Charleston
i. now Cornwallis v. Gates
b. Battle of King’s Mt. (turning pt. in South)
i. Tories v. Pats
ii. mt. men beat up Brits
iii. Nathanial Greene & the “Swamp Fox”
2. The Battle of Yorktown
a. read pg. 85
3. The Treaty of Paris (1783)
a. US gets east of Miss River
b. Spain gets Fla.
c. France gets colonies in Africa and Carib.C
IV. The War Changes American Society
A. New Political Ideas
1. New State Constitutions
a. democracy vs. republic
i. majority rule, minority rights
b. separation of powers (gov., senate, assembly)
c. bill of rights
2. Voting Rights Expand
a. battle shows equality of men, what about
voting?
i. white men (pay taxes)
3. Freedom of Religion
a. TJ – VA Statute for religious Freedom
i. no state sponsored church
B. The War and American Society
1. Women and War
a. do man’s job at home (& some fought)
b. Judith Murray, “On the Equality of the Sexes”
i. women are smart, need school
2. African Americans
a. some freed for fighting
b. emancipation becomes an issue (N)
c. discrimination continues
i. but focus on own culture (AME)
3. The Loyalists Flee
a. run to Canada
4. An American Culture Emerges
a. “I’m an American” vs. “I’m a Pennsylvanian”
b. American Painters (Turnbull & Peale)
c. changes in education
i. rise of public schools (teach American
ideals)
ii. Noah Webster