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Chapter Eight: The American Revolution C o nt e nt s 8.1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................ 330 8.1.1Learning Outcomes .......................................................................................330 8.2THE SECOND CONTINENTAL CONGRESS, 1775-1781 .........................................331 8.2.1Movement toward Independence, 1775-1776 ....................................................333 8.2.2The Declaration of Independence ..................................................................... 333 8.2.3Before You Move On... .................................................................................... 336 Key Concepts ................................................................................................... 336 Test Yourself .................................................................................................... 336 8.3REVOLUTIONARY WAR BATTLES ...................................................................... 337 8.3.1 Bunker Hill, June 16, 1775 ............................................................................ 338 8.3.2 Quebec, December 31, 1775 ......................................................................... 340 8.3.3 Long Island, also known as Brooklyn Heights, August 27, 1776 .......................... 341 8.3.4 Battle of Trenton, December 26, 1776 ............................................................ 344 8.3.5 Battle of Saratoga, NY, September 19-October 17, 1777 ................................... 345 8.3.6 Siege of Charleston, March 29-May 12, 1780 ................................................... 347 8.3.7 Cowpens, January 17, 1781 .......................................................................... 348 8.3.8 Yorktown, September 28-October 19, 1781 ..................................................... 349 8.3.9 Before You Move On... .................................................................................. 351 Key Concepts ................................................................................................... 351 Test Yourself .................................................................................................... 351 8.4 THE IMPACT OF WAR ...................................................................................... 352 8.4.1 The Cost of Supporting the Patriot Cause ........................................................ 352 8.4.2 The Struggle of the Loyalists ......................................................................... 354 8.4.3 The Role of Women ...................................................................................... 356 8.4.4 The Future of Slavery ................................................................................... 358 8.4.5 Indians and the American Revolution .............................................................. 361 8.4.6 Before You Move On... .................................................................................. 363 Key Concepts ................................................................................................... 365 Test Yourself .................................................................................................... 363 8.5 THE TREATY OF PARIS, 1783 .......................................................................... 364 8.5.1 Before You Move On... ................................................................................ 367 Key Concepts ................................................................................................... 367 Test Yourself .................................................................................................... 367 8.6 CONCLUSION ..................................................................................................371 8.7 CRITICAL THINKING EXERCISES .................................................................... 372 8.8KEY TERMS ..................................................................................................... 373 8.9 CHRONOLOGY .................................................................................................374 8.10 BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................. 374 8.11 END NOTES ................................................................................................... 376 ANSWER KEY FOR CHAPTER EIGHT: THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION ....................... 378 Page | 329Page | 329 CHAPTER EIGHT: THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION Chapter Eight: The American Revolution 8.1 INTRODUCTION The American Revolution is generally considered one of the most important revolutions in human history due not only to the founding of the United States but also to its influence on other countries who later fought for the right to Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. The American Revolution, grown out of the colonies’ frustration with British rule, has been seen by historians as an encouragement to others to throw off the burdens of colonialism or an oppressive government. Yet, the American Revolution proved difficult. Not all Americans wanted to be independent of Great Britain. The war brought suffering to many, both to soldiers on the front lines and to their families back home. Our Founding Fathers could agree, after much debate, on the need to break from Britain, but then found themselves in disagreement as to what the new nation should be. Their struggles over conflicting ideas shaped our nation. 8.1.1 Learning Outcomes After completing this chapter, you should be able to: • Explain the reasons that by 1775 war between the mother country and the colonies was inevitable. • Analyze the motives of both the mother country and colonial leaders as the year 1775 progressed. • Analyze the motives of those who argued for and against independence. • Explain the activities of the Second Continental Congress and analyze the need for a central government once the war began. • Analyze the relative military strengths and weaknesses of England and the colonies during the war. • Explain why the Americans won their independence. • Analyze the content of the Treaty of Paris and its impact on future diplomacy for the new United States. • Explain the impact of the war for independence on loyalists, women, and blacks. • Explain the impact of Indian participation in the war on both colonial and British strategies. Page | 330 CHAPTER EIGHT: THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION 8.2 THE SECOND CONTINENTAL CONGRESS, 1775-1781 When the Second Continental Congress convened on May 10, 1775, the first job of the delegates was to address the Conciliatory Proposition sent to the colonies from Lord North earlier in May. Thomas Jefferson wrote the response to this Proposition that was entered into the records of the Congress in July 1775. Britain’s Conciliatory Proposition had suggested that taxes would be used only for the purposes of regulating trade, an idea that had once been acceptable to the colonies, and that any taxes collected internally would be given to the colony itself, provided that the colony in question would help defray expenses for its protection. But the petition was too little, too late. The recent conflict at Lexington and Concord was on everyone’s mind, and those who assembled in Philadelphia in May were well aware of Patrick Henry’s outburst at a meeting of Virginia leaders in March. The colonies, he insisted, “have done everything that could be done to avert the storm which is now coming on. It is vain…to cry ‘peace, peace’…The war is actually begun!”1 Even John Dickinson, author of the Letters from a Pennsylvania Farmer and a supporter of reconciliation, was pessimistic, musing “what topics of reconciliation are now left for men who think as I do? To recommend reverence for the monarch, or affection for the mother country?…No. While we revere and love our mother country, her sword is opening our veins.”2 As was the case with the First Continental Congress, the delegates to the Second Congress were a distinguished group of colonial leaders. John Hancock, a wealthy Bostonian, was chosen president of the Congress. Thomas Jefferson was present, as was Benjamin Franklin, who had come to the opinion, after months of trying to achieve conciliation in London, that independence was the only solution to the impasse between colonies and mother country. Georgia was represented at the Congress, though marginally at first, as only one Figure 8.1 Patrick Henry | Patrick Henry, first delegate, Lyman Hall, attended. and sixth governor of Virginia after Independence, is perhaps most well-known for his remarks in March Despite the convictions of Patrick 1775: “Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me: Give me Liberty, or give me Henry, Thomas Jefferson, John Death!” Adams, and Benjamin Franklin, Authors: George Bagby Matthews, Thomas Sully Source: U. S. Senate Collection winning the majority to the cause of Page | 331Page | 331 CHAPTER EIGHT: THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION independence was an uphill battle, and in June the Congress decided to make one last effort at reconciliation. The Olive Branch Petition drafted that same month suggested that the colonists either be given free trade and taxes equal to those levied on citizens living in the mother country, or no taxes at all and strict trade regulations. The petition was approved on July 5, and taken to London by William Penn later that month. The king was less than gracious, especially in light of the battle of Bunker’s Hill. He refused to see
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