The document provides details about key events and individuals in the American Revolution from Thomas Paine's pamphlet Common Sense advocating independence to the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, 1776. It then discusses the early military victories of the British forcing the Continental Army to retreat across New Jersey and into Pennsylvania as well as the turning point American victory at Saratoga that led France to form an alliance. In closing, it notes some of the obstacles the British faced in trying to retain control over the large territory of the thirteen colonies from across the Atlantic.
2. Common Sense
Thomas
Paine: author
of Common
Sense
38 yrs old
Thomas Paine
3. Common Sense
47 pages, 500K
copies
Argued for
breaking away
from Britain
Plain language
Cover of Common Sense
4. “I offer nothing more
than simple facts, plain
arguments, and
common sense . . ."
Common Sense
5. “I have heard it asserted that as
America hath flourished under her
former connection with Great Britain,
the same connection is necessary
towards her future happiness, and
will always have the same effect.
Nothing can be more fallacious than
this kind of argument…”
Common Sense
6. “But Britain is the parent country,
say some. Then the more shame
upon her conduct. Even brutes
do not devour their young, nor
savages make war upon their
families…”
Common Sense
7. “Nothing but independence…can keep the
peace of the continent…A government of our
own is our natural right: and when a man
seriously reflects on the precariousness of
human affairs, he will become convinced that
it is infinitely wiser and safer, to form a
constitution of our own in a cool deliberate
manner, while we have it in our power…”
Common Sense
8. Declaring
Independence
Lee Resolution:
“These United
Colonies are, and of
right ought to be,
free and independent
States…”
Proposed June 7,
1776
Richard Henry Lee
18. “The 2nd day of July 1776 will be the most
memorable in the epocha in the history of
America. I am apt to believe that it will be
celebrated by succeeding generations as the
great anniversary festival…with pomp and
parade, with shows, games, sports, guns,
bells, bonfires, and illuminations from one
end of this continent to the other…”
--John Adams, in a letter to Abigail Adams
Declaring
Independence
19. Declaring
Independence
July 4, 1776:
Declaration of
Independence
adopted
Declaration of
Independence
21. The Document:
Unalienable rights
Listed rights violated by
George II
Asserted right to break
away
Declaring
Independence
22. Patriots—colonists who
chose to fight for
independence
Loyalists—colonists who
sided with Great Britain in
the fight for Independence
Choosing Sides
23. Choosing Sides
100,000
Loyalists fled
America
William Franklin
William Franklin
Thomas Fairfax
24. “…all men are created
equal…”
Other Reactions to the
Declaration
25. Not included in the
Declaration:
Rights of women
Rights of African
Americans
Other Reactions to the
Declaration
26. Other Reactions to the Declaration
Abigail Adams:
wrote an
appeal to
include the
rights of
women in the
Declaration
Abigail Adams
27. Other Reactions to the Declaration
Jefferson included a
passage attacking
slave trade
Removed
Slavery/liberty
coexist?
Thomas Jefferson
28. GW ordered that no black soldier could serve
Leaders feared slaves having weapons
1775, VA offered freedom to slaves who would leave
their owners to fight
Army enlisted free African Americans
5,000 African American Patriots fought
American Indians knowledge of land and
recruitment led to an end of the Iroquois League-
some fought for Britain & some the U.S.
African Americans and
American Indians
29. Few fought, others worked as spies or
messengers
Deborah Sampson Garnett of Massachusetts
disguised herself as a man and fought as Robert
Sheffield- after she died in 1827 Congress gave
her husband a pension as a widow of the war
Worked as cooks, laundresses, nurses
Made uniforms and manufactured bullets
Women
33. At your table complete the following:
Handout on Thomas Paine’s Common Sense
Primary Source Analysis
Understanding Common Sense chart
Handout: Grievances from the Declaration of
Independence
Drawing Connections between Common
Sense and the Declaration of Independence
Summarizer
34. Learning Goal: Critique the
importance of foreign
involvement in the
American Revolution
[6.11.4]
There’s
Something
About a
War…
35. Offensive vs.
Defensive War
Make Canada “14 th
Colony”
British Victories
36. British Victories
General
Richard
Montgomery
leads forces
into Canada
General Richard
Montgomery
48. Washington continued to
retreat in a series of battles
Many Patriots captured or
killed
Washington pushed into New
Jersey
British Victories
49. Victory in New Jersey
November
1776: Howe
captured
New York
Settle in for
winter
General William Howe
50. Victory in New Jersey
New
Jersey
left in
Hessian
control
51. Battle of Trenton Referred to as the “10
crucial days” [12/25-
1/3]
•Referred to as the “ten
crucial days”…Dec. 25th to
Jan. 3rd
First major victory for
{
•First the Continental Army
major victory for the
Continental Army and
and Washington
Washington
•Raised the morale of the
American troops as well as the
Raised morale of
the country
American troops as
well as the country
•Led to soldiers re-enlisting and future enlistments
Led to soldiers re-enlisting and future enlistments
•Captured over 1,000 Hessian soldiers, weapons, food and etc.
Captured Army re-crossed the Delaware to Valley Forge in Pennsylvaniaetc.
•American over 1,000 Hessian soldiers, weapons, food and
American Army re-crossed the Delaware to Valley Forge in PA
52.
53.
54.
55. Battle of
Princeton—battle in
which Patriots
circled a British
camp in the dark &
attacked in the
morning
Victory in New Jersey
56. Battle of Princeton
Campfires left burning
Circles behind British
troops
Victory in New Jersey
57.
58. Battle of Princeton
Patriot Victory
Second of
Washington’s three
battlefield victories
Victory in New Jersey
59. General Horatio Gates surrounds the
British with the help of Benedict Arnold
British defeat stopped them from cutting
off New England from the rest of the
country and ending the war.
British lacked knowledge of geography
and failed at communications.
Oct. 1777, British General, John
Burgoyne was surrounded by US General
Horatio Gates and forced to surrender
6,000 British troops.
Led to a military alliance with France
providing soldiers, naval fleet and $$$$$.
(Franco-American alliance, 1778)
79. Victory at Yorktown
British surrendered
after losing at
Yorktown
Patriots defeat largest
British force-
British Surrender at
Yorktown
The World Turned Upside
Down
80. An agreement to stop
the fighting between
Britain and U.S.
Purpose was to create
peace between both
countries
Wanted to end the
fighting and killing
Treaty signed on
9/3/1783
Preliminary articles
signed 11/30/1782
The Treaty of Paris
81.
82.
83.
84.
85. British Obstacles in the
Revolution
3) The American Spirit. So
1) Their army simply long as the colonists were
wasn't large enough to determined to resist, the
occupy enough square British would have a
miles of territory in North difficult time retaining all
America. the thirteen colonies. They
had to break the
2) Distance. The American American will to fight or
rebels had the "Home at least disrupt America's
Field" advantage, while unity to make it too
Britain had to maintain painful for the colonists to
long supply lines back to wage a sustained
the Mother Country. rebellion.
86. Summarizer: On an exit
slip answer the following:
Could the colonies win
without the support of
France?
