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CHAPTER 4: “The American Revolution”
SECTION 1: “The Revolution Begins”
-In response to the Boston Harbor closing, as well as many other “abuses” caused by Great Britain, the colonists agreed to send representatives from each colony (except for Georgia).
-The representatives met in October 1774 at Carpenters’ Hall in Philadelphia, PA.
-The meeting was known as the First Continental Congress: was a gathering of colonial leaders who were deeply troubled about the relationship between Great Britain and its colonies in America.
•First Continental Congress:
-Patrick Henry and others, felt that violence was unavoidable. Delegates from Pennsylvania and New York had strict orders to seek peace.
-Compromise: Colonists encouraged to continue to boycott British goods, but told colonial militia to prepare for war.
-Drafted the Declaration of Rights: list of 10 resolutions to be presented to King George III.
- Right to “life, liberty, and property”.
•First Continental Congress:
-First Continental Congress DID NOT seek to separate from Great Britain.
-Goal: to state the colonists’ concerns and ask the King to correct the problems.
-Patrick Henry: -went back to Virginia to encourage support for the Patriot cause. “Give me liberty or give me death”.
-Patriots: colonists who chose to fight for independence from Great Britain.
•First Continental Congress:
-Thomas Gage (governor of Massachusetts) learned about a stockpile of weapons stored in Concord.
-April 1775 he secretly seized the supplies.
-Spies informed the Patriots.
-Paul Revere (member of Sons of Liberty) created a plan:
-Robert Newman was to climb the steeple of the Old North Church and watch for British
soldiers.
•“Shot Heard ‘round the World”:
-If British advanced across land, Newman would display one lantern from steeple. If British rowed across the Charles River, Newman would display two lanterns.
-Paul Revere and William Dawes saw two lanterns, they set off on horseback.
-Took two different routes out of Boston to sound the alert.
-Towns responded to their alert by using drums and ringing church bells to call out local militia.
•“Shot Heard ‘round the World”:
-Minutemen: local militia; who got their name because they were ready to fight at a minute’s notice.
Battle at Lexington:
-April 19, 1775 British troops arrived. 70 armed minutemen waited.
-Patriot captain John Parker ordered minutemen, “Don’t fire unless fired upon”.
-Shot fired (no one knows who fired first shot). The shot was known as “Shot heard ‘round the world”.
-Minutemen: 8 killed and 10 badly wounded.
-British: 1 solider wounded. British marched to Concord.
•“Shot Heard ‘round the World”:
Battle at Concord:
-Concord was warned about British troops, so they hid/concealed their weapons.
-British frustrated because they could not locate stockpile of weapons, burned a few buildings.
-Minutemen reacted by fighting. Skilled colonial marksmen found it easy to shoot British with their red coats. British were called Redcoats because of the color of their jackets.
-British forced to retreat to Boston with many casualities.
•“Shot Heard ‘round the World”:
-King George III refused to address concerns in Declaration of Rights.
-May 1775 delegates from 12 colonies met again in Philadelphia.
-Second Continental Congress: The second group of delegates from the colonies.
-Delegates debated between war and peace.
-Compromise: Asked the colonies to set up conventions to write new state constitutions. Authorized Massachusetts militia to become the Continental Army.
•Second Continental Congress:
-Continental Army: Force would soon include soldiers from all colonies and would carry out the fight against the British.
-George Washington: Virginian who commanded the army.
-Congress created Olive Branch Petition, which was final attempt to restore harmony. King George III refused to read it and further punished colonies.
•Second Continental Congress:
-Boston was key city in early days of war. Both sides fought to control it.
Bunker Hill:
-Colonists needed supplies in Boson, so they sent Benedict Arnold and 400 men to New York State.
-Objective: attack Fort Ticonderoga. Arnold captured the fort and its large supply of weapons.
-June 17th in Boston, British awoke to colonial forces that dug in at Breed’s Hill (a point overlooking north Boston). Redcoats have to cross Boston Harbor and fight uphill.
•Early Battles:
-2,400 British troops advanced while 1,600 militia waited. Militia low on gun powder, so they wore ordered not to fire, “until you see the whites of their eyes”.
-As British advanced uphill, they were cut down and retreated twice. On third advance, militia ran out of ammunition and had to retreat.
-This battle is known as the Battle of Bunker Hill, although it was actually launched from Breed’s Hill.
-The battle proved that the Patriots could take on Redcoats. It was a tragic victory for British because they sacrificed about double the number of patriot soldiers to win.
•Early Battles:
Dorchester Heights:
-Washington arrived in Boston with troops, but needed heavy artillery.
-Henry Knox assigned to transport cannons from Fort Ticonderoga to Boston. He brought cannons 300 miles of rough terrain in the middle of the winter.
-March 4, 1776, Washington advanced on Dorchester Heights. He positioned himself at Nook’s Hill (overlooking British position). British retreated to Canada.
-Patriots know control Boston.
•Early Battles:
