4th Quarter Notes

1763-1789
Revolution Notes

1763—Proclamation Act

What was it?----The king decided to give the native americans their own land, and did not allow the colonies to invade on that land.
Why was it made?----To make the indians sure that the colonies would not expand any further out.



1764—Grenville Acts (direct tax)
Sugar (molasses, wine)
Stamp



Quartering
Currency
Virtual/ Direct Representation


The Grenville Acts were Britan's first attempt at taxing the colonies. These taxes on the colonies were essential for Britan, because they were paying debts that they had made in the 7 years war. The quartering act was when soldiers could come into your house no matter who you were.



1765—Stamp Act Congress
Sons of Liberty
Samuel Adams
Paul Revere
John Hancock
Propaganda
Boycotts
Lobsters (Lobster-backs, Thomas Lobster)

The Sons of Liberty was a group of men who acted like the mafia, they were fighting for colonial freedom, but they sometimes used violence to enforse their ideas. They first started because they were opposing the Stamp Act. Propaganda was used to make people even more angry and against the king. They even boycotted Britian, by throwing the Tea overboard one of their ships.






1766—Declaratory Act
What is it?-----the act that allowed the parliment to make laws and have a say in the colonies government. The king said that he would take away certian laws they didn't like, but he would have the right to tax them as much as he wanted.




1767—Townsend Acts (indirect tax)
Charles Townsend
Writs of Assistance (search warrants)
Revenue used to pay Royal officials in the colonies
Tea Act (glass, paper, paint) support British East India Company

Britian's second attempt at taxing the colonies. Britain is just trying to get their money by taxes, but not make the people angry.



1770—Boston Massacre
March 5, 1770
Local reaction (primarily)
5 dead colonists
John Adams defends British soldiers/5 exonerated-2 convicted
Convicted men discharged and thumbs branded

This event helped the Sons of Liberty to prove that the government was bad and to put the colonies against them. It also brought out many propaganda peices from those who were already against the government.



1773—Boston Tea Party
November 30, 1773--Dartmouth sails into Boston Harbor
December 16, 1773--Tea dumped into harbor
340 chests of tea dumped (value of 10,000 British pounds)

This was a boycott by the Sons of Liberty against British government rule. All the men were drunk and it was yet again an act just to prove the point that they did not want any part in Britain or their taxes.






1774—Intolerable Acts (Coercive Acts in Britain)
Close the port of Boston
Shut down Provincial and Town Governments
All offices appointed
Named General Thomas Gage as Governor
Gave all western lands north of the Ohio R. to Quebec, allowed Catholic Church to practice

These were punishments to the colonies for the Boston Tea Party.



1774—1st Continental Congress
September to October (7 weeks)
Carpenter’s Hall, Philadelphia
New England—John Adams, Paul Revere, Silas Deane
Virginia—Washington, Patrick Henry, Peyton Randolph, Richard Henry Lee
Pennsylvania—John Dickenson, Joseph Galloway (Plan for American council under Parliament, to avoid war)
New York—John Jay, James Duane
Maryland—Samuel Chase (future Supreme Court Justice), Charles Carroll (richest man in Maryland, Catholic)
Declaration of Rights—rejects Parliamentary authority over internal colonial affairs, colonies manage own defense, united aid to Boston if Intolerable Acts continue, absolute boycott of British goods to be enforced rigidly

12 of the 13 colonies sent delagates to represent them. Their goal was to stop all the bad things that Britian was doing to the colonies.



1775— January
William Pitt urges Parliament to withdraw troops from America because the idea of managing the colonies through force was “too ridiculous to take up a moment of your lordships’ time”



1775—April 19
Lexington and Concord
Gen. Gage sends 700 men to Concord to seize the powder supplies
Paul Revere and William Dawes raise alarm the night before
Town of Lexington is on the way to Concord
Minutemen are assembled on the town common
“Shot heard round the world”
18 colonials killed and the rest run away
British march on to Concord and find the munitions were moved overnight
Minutemen ambush the British the whole way back to Boston
430 Redcoats make it back to Boston
30,000 Colonists surround Boston

First battle of the Revolutionary War.


1775—May
Gen. Howe, Gen. Clinton, Gen. Burgoyne
5,000 British troops
Ethan Allen, “Green Mountain Boys” seize Fort Ticonderoga
Henry Knox uses canon to lay siege on Boston
Benedict Arnold (Connecticut) takes Fort Crown Point to impede an invasion from Canada

1775—May 10
2nd Continental Congress
Sam Adams pushes for Independence
John Dickenson (Penn.) urges restraint
Agree to form Colonial Army
Delegates unanimously agree to Washington as Commander of Continental Army (John Adams suggestion)

supports and discusses the colonial war effort and decide to make George Washing the Commander of the Continental Army

1775—June 17
“Battle of Bunker Hill”
Actually fought on Breed’s Hill
Gen. Howe leads assault without canon support (his canon had been matched with wrong-sized cannonballs [Amherst at Ticonderoga])
Militia waited to within 30 yards (some say 15 yards)
Militia target British officers
Militia ran extremely low on ammunition
On the third assault, led by Gen. Howe, British troops overtake the colonial position
Britain losses almost 1000 men (about half the attacking force)
Colonials lose about 500 men

British ends up losing, Americans build a group up the hill to entrap Gen. howe and his men in Boston, makes it difficult for the British to come back from.



1776—January,
Common Sense
Written by Thomas Paine

120,000 copies sold in three months

Challened the authority of the British governemnt and it's monarchy. First document to ask for independence from Great Britian and the language in it was easy for the more common people to understand.

1776—March
Gen. William Howe evacuates Boston
July 2, lands in Staten Island, New York (Loyalist base)



1776—Declaration of Independence

June 7, Richard Henry Lee (Virginia) introduces legislation to declare independence from Britain
Before voting on Lee’s proposal Congress appoints five-man committee to draft a formal Declaration of Independence (Thomas Jefferson, 33, does most of the writing)
June 28, Declaration presented to Congress
July 2, Congress approves Lee’s legislation to declare the United States of America independent of Great Britain
July 4, Congress officially adopts the Declaration of Independence
The Declaration intended to:
Undermine loyalty to King George III
Outline basic principles of representative government
Establish the “right” of rebellion

The document that declared, officailly, that we were dependent from Great Britian. It was intended to undermine the loyalty to the king, outline the basics of a representative government and to establish the right of rebellion. There was a 5 man committee that wrote it, but Thomas Jefferson was the main writer.




1776—August
Brooklyn Heights, New York
Largest Naval group Britain will launch until the 20th century
British victory, city falls to England
As winter came “sunshine patriots” left the American Army
Initial colonial enlistments due to expire

George washington is faced with having to defend Long Island from the huge British Forces coming from the Sea. He forgets to protect one passageway, and that is all it takes for them to make their way in. Thank goodness for the fog that rolled in and gave him a free pas to get away and not lose all his troops.




1776—December
Battle of Trenton
Howe believes war almost won
1,400 Hessians stationed at Trenton
Colonel Rall (Hessian) builds no fortifications
Washington “Crosses the Delaware” Christmas night
2,500 men; 18 artillery guns
Surprise attack at dawn
106 Hessians killed, 918 captured
No colonial casualties
Washington retreats in secret to avoid Gen. Cornwallis counter-attack

Washington and his troops had an sneak attack on the Hessians by crossing the delaware late at night. Then, even when he had been warned by a message sent to him, the leader of the Hessians ignored the message and got absolutely defeated by Wahsington and his army.

1777—January
Princeton
Washington ambushes British troops
Colonial victory establishes this will not be a quick war for Britain

Washington's troop's were almost at re-enlistment time but he convinced them to stay with him for another 6 weeks. Gen. Cornwallis forced Washington's troops up to Princeton but Washingon ends up ambushing Cornwallis' troops.

1777—September
October, Saratoga
Gen. Burgoyne plans a three-prong attack on colonials at Albany
Plan does not consider the terrain, forcing British troops to march through swamps, lakes, hills and forests full of rebels
Two of the three “prongs” never arrive (Howe goes to Philadelphia instead, St. Leger retreats to New York afraid of Benedict Arnold)
Sept. Burgoyne crosses Hudson River
Oct. 17, Burgoyne surrenders
Establishes American Army as real threat
Helps secure open French Alliance
Turning Point of the War


Gen. Howe had his own plan to take Philidelphia, and had gotten no offical orders to hlep Gen. Burgoyne and his other prong, St. Leger, got scared off by Benedict Arnold's Resistance to him, so he stopped heading for Saratoga. Burgoyne was afraid he wound't have enough supplies to keep his armies well enough to fight the advancing British. But he ended up facing the Hessians and British troops combined, but on Oct. 17 he surrendered. Seen as the truning point of the war, this is what gains the French Alliance.


1777-1778 Winter at Valley Forge
Under-funded troops
Low morale
10,000+ troops
4,000 troops listed as “unfit for duty” due to poor supplies (boots, blankets, coats, etc.)
2,500 troops die of disease (typhus, typhoid fever, dysentery, pneumonia)
George Washington mentioned a lack of shoes so severe that the men's "marches might be tracked by the blood from their feet”
Local farmers would sell produce to Brits who could pay cash

Troops has extremely low morale, they had firecakes for food and many got sick with disease and died because of the lack of treatment and hygene. Many men decided to un-enlist after the winter spent here.


1779—February, Vincennes


1780—August, Camden


1780—October, Kings Mountain


1781—October, Yorktown
British Gen. Cornwallis
American Gen. Washington (also “Mad” Anthony Wayne, Baron von Steuben)
French Gen. Rochambeau (also Marquis de Lafayette)
Essentially a French Naval victory
Last significant battle of the war


Last Battle of the War, is won by the French support of their naval skills and also the attacks on land by the american generals.

1783—Sept. 3,
Treaty of Paris
Britain recognizes American independence
America gets all land from Atlantic coast to Miss. River, Great Lakes to Florida
Fishing rights to the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and off the coast of Newfoundland
America must pay debts to Britain
American congress would “earnestly recommend” all Loyalist property returned (States ignore this request)

King George has to accept American Independence, fishing rights to Newfoundland. Benjamin Franklin ultimatliy gets France to agree to sign the treaty and end the wars.