Second Continental Congress

1. Second Continental Congress • May 10, 1775—representatives from all 13 colonies meet • Adopted measures to raise money and create an army and navy • Drafted new appeals to the British and the king—rejected • Select George Washington as the head of the colonial army

2. George Washington • Had never been higher rank than a colonel in the militia • Never commanded more than 1200 men • Leadership and strength of character were his gifts—a symbol and a rallying point • Even though the Continental Congress didn’t know it, this was an extremely wise choice • Virginia was the largest and most populous colony, and people were jealous and distrustful of the large New England army surrounding Boston

3. War Begins • May 1775– Americans capture Ticonderoga and Crown Point in upper New York • Led by Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold • Gunpowder and artillery for siege of Boston • Bunker Hill (actually Breed’s Hill) • British launch a frontal assault on the American position and outnumbered them 2 to 1 • Americans forced to abandon the hill when they ran out of gunpowder

4. Olive Branch Petition • July 1775 • Professes American loyalty to the crown and asking the king to end hostilities • Following Bunker Hill, there is no chance of this in George III’s eyes, and in August 1775 he proclaims the colonies to be in rebellion • Fighting against the crown is now treason • Hessians start to be hired in September 1775

5. Invasion of Canada • Americans believed the French in Canada would rise up against the British • Change for the Americans—offensive warfare • The attack on Quebec failed with General Montgomery being killed and General Benedict Arnold being wounded

6. Thomas Paine Interjects Common Sense • The burning of Norfolk Virginia in January 1776 and Falmouth in Maine in October 1775 began to shock some colonists into realizing they had to separate from the crown • Thomas Paine writes Common Sense, and sold 120,000 copies within a few months • Called not just for independence, but for the creation of a new political society, a republic • Power must flow from the people themselves • Some felt that Paine went too far; that republicanism should end hereditary aristocracy, but not all social hierarchy. The masses have to be kept in check.

7. Independence • Richard Henry Lee puts forth the motion that “these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states” • Motion adopted on July 2, 1776 • Committee to draft the statement on the separation to be led by Thomas Jefferson • Declaration of Independence agreed to on July 4, 1776

8. Declaration of Independence • King is ignoring the natural rights of the colonists • List of the misdeeds of George III • “The world’s greatest editorial” • The phrase “all men are created equal” would be one that troubled the new nation for a very long time

9. Washington’s Battles • Army routed at the Battle of Long Island • Washington escapes to New Jersey and crosses the Delaware River • Wins two important battles at Trenton and Princeton during December 1776-January 1777. • Important battles because they forced the British into a defensive mode temporarily

10. Battle of Saratoga • The British had a plan to capture the Hudson River Valley in 1777 • Burgoyne had been stopped at Lake Champlain by Arnold • General Howe had defeated Washington twice near Philadelphia and had stopped there • Washington is stuck at Valley Forge • Burgoyne gets caught at Saratoga with no reinforcements from Howe or St. Leger, and has to surrender his entire army • Turning point of the Revolution—foreign aid from France now possible

11. Diplomacy with France • Model Treaty • No political connection • No military connection • Only a commercial connection • France-American Alliance—February 1778 • An entangling alliance that would give America weapons, war material and money as well as an official recognition of American independence

12. American Revolution becomes a World War • Spain and Holland enter the war against England in 1779 • Catherine the Great of Russia forms the “Armed Neutrality”—passive hostility of neutral European nations toward England • Americans kept the war going through 1778, but the French really helped the Continental Army win • From 1778-1783, guns, money, equipment, half of America’s regular armed forces, and nearly all naval strength came from France

13. British change tactics • British withdraw from Philadelphia to concentrate strength in New York City • British decide to come up from the South • Take Georgia in 1778-79, Charleston, SC in 1780 (5,000 men and 400 cannon)

14. Americans and the Frontier • Most of the Iroquois confederacy supported the British—restrain American expansion into the West • 1784- Treaty of Fort Stanwix • The Iroquois cede most of their land to the United States • George Rogers Clark • Takes British forts in Illinois—forces the British to cede the region north of the Ohio River at the Paris peace conference

15. Yorktown • General Cornwallis’ forces are trapped when Washington’s forces march from New York City to surround them at Yorktown along with the French leader, Comte de Rochambeau • Cornwallis is trapped from escaping to sea by the French navy • War continued for a year after Yorktown

16. Treaty of Paris (1783) • British formally recognize the independence of the United States • Granted boundaries from the Mississippi River to the Great Lakes to Spanish Florida • Americans were not to persecute Loyalists any more • Britain gave up so much at Paris because they wanted America to give up their alliance with France