Con%nental Colours (a.k.a. Grand Union Flag) 1775 – 1777 The First Unites States Flag Bales of Lexington and ConCord, 19 April 1775 Paul Revere 1734 (O.S.) - 1818 Thomas Gage C. 1719 – 1787 Gov. of Massachuse?s Bay William Dawes 1745 - 1799 Bale of ConCord, 19 April 1775 General Gage sent 700 troops to ConCord to seize Colonial muni%ons. At the North Bridge, Bri%sh troops enCountered ACton and ConCord mili%a and a bale ensued. The Bri%sh retreated to Boston aer finding nothing in ConCord. Bale of Bunker Hill, 17 June 1775 The Colonial mili%as of Massachuse?s, ConneC%Cut, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island and ProvidenCe Plantaons gathered in Cambridge and laid siege to Boston. Over 3000 Colonial mili%a fought 2400 Bri%sh. The Bri%sh won a Costly bale in terms of dead and wounded. Boston on 29 July 1775 Fort TiConderoga, seized by Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys in May 1775 In the winter 1776, the Cannons were hauled to Boston and brought to DorChester Heights whiCh prompted the Bri%sh to evacuate Boston on 17 MarCh 1776. The SeCond Con%nental Congress Convened at Philadelphia on 10 May 1775 and disbanded on 6 MarCh 1781 Bale of QuébeC City, 31 DeCember 1775 The AmeriCan Con%nental Army totalling 1200 men lead by Generals RiChard Montgomery (killed), BenediCt Arnold, and Daniel Morgan (Captured) were defeated by the Bri%sh forCes totalling 1800 men. FiZy AmeriCans were killed, 34 wounded and 431 Captured versus five Bri%sh killed and 14 wounded. In June 1776, the Con%nental Congress Created a Commi?ee of five to dra a deClaraon of independence 2 July 1776, the Congress voted to for independenCe: 12 Colonies in favour 1 Colony (New York) abstained 4 July 1776, the Congress approved the wording of the DeClaraon of IndependenCe, Signed the handwri?en dra, and sent it to the printer. 8 July 1776 it was publiCly proClaimed in Philadelphia and Easton, Penn. and in Trenton, New Jersey 9 July 1776, it was published in German. The DeClaraon of IndependenCe In Congress, July 4, 1776 IntroduC%on The unanimous DeClaraon of the thirteen united States of AmeriCa, The Congress Claimed that a people have the ability to assert or Claim their When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one poli%Cal independenCe as a maer of people to dissolve the poli8cal bands which have connected them with Nature Law. The reasoning for that another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate independenCe was reasonable and and equal sta8on to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God explained. en8tle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separa8on. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, Preamble that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. This paragraph jus%fies the Revolu%on That to secure these rights, Governments are ins8tuted among Men, by outlying the a general philosophy of deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That government when it Can be shown that whenever any Form of Government becomes destrucve of these ends, a government is violang natural law. it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to ins8tute new Government, laying its founda8on on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their The philosophy of government and Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments natural law was based upon the long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; theories of Englishman John LoCke and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more (1632-1704). His theory of government disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves had a signifiCant role in the evolu%on of by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long the Bri%sh government by forming the train of abuses and usurpa8ons, pursuing invariably the same Object raonale of the Glorious Revolu%on of evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despo8sm, it is their 1688-1689. right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. Such has been the pa8ent sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the IndiCtment necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is is a history The largest seC%on of DeClaraon of repeated injuries and usurpa8ons, all having in direct object the of IndependenCe is a list of establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Complaints, ‘repeated injuries and Facts be submiSed to a candid world. usurpaons’ of the rights of He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for liber%es of AmeriCans, many of the public good. those being the rights of He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing Englishmen that the government importance, unless suspended in their opera8on 8ll his Assent should be of Great Britain has abused. obtained; and when so suspended, he has uSerly neglected to aSend to them. He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommoda8on of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representa8on in the Legislature, a right ines8mable to them and formidable to tyrants only. He has called together legisla8ve bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fa8guing them into compliance with his measures. He has dissolved Representa8ve Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness of his invasions on the rights of the people. He has refused for a long 8me, aVer such dissolu8ons, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legisla8ve Powers, incapable of Annihila8on, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean 8me exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within. He has endeavoured to prevent the popula8on of these States; for that purpose obstrucng the Laws for Naturaliza8on of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migra8ons hither, and raising the condi8ons of new Appropriaons of Lands. He has obstructed the Administra8on of Jus8ce by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing IndiCtment Judiciary Powers. connued He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries. He has erected a mul8tude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance. He has kept among us, in 8mes of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures. He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power. He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdicon foreign to our cons8tu8on, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legisla8on: For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us: For protecng them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States: For cung off our Trade with all parts of the world: For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent: For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury For transpor8ng us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences: For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments: For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever. He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protecon and waging War against us. He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people. He is at this 8me transpor8ng large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat IndiCtment Con%nued the works of death, desola8on, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized na8on. He has constrained our fellow Ci8zens taken Cap8ve on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the execu8oners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands. He has excited domes8c insurrecons amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our fron8ers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undis8nguished destrucon of all ages, sexes and condi8ons. In every stage of these Oppressions We have Pe88oned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Pe88ons have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people. Nor have We been wan8ng in aSen8ons to our Bri8sh brethren. We have warned DenunCiaon them from 8me to 8me of aSempts by their legislature to extend an This paragraph summarizes unwarrantable jurisdicon over us.