SIGNIFICANT EVENTS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION

1. SIGNIFICANT EVENTS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION

2. Colonists were unwilling to live under British rule and desired a democratic, representative government. A committee was formed to draft the Declaration of Independence.

3. 1776 The Declaration of Independence A committee composed of John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, Robert Livingston, and Thomas Jefferson submitted a landmark document Jefferson had drafted, in which the colonies declared themselves to be independent.

4. Issues That Prompted the Colonists to Declare Independence The Declaration of Independence listed the reasons why the colonists were no longer willing to live under British rule. They wanted control of the colonies and respect for the colonists’ rights.

5. In the Declaration of IndependenceThe colonists complained that the British king… • suspended their legislatures and abolished their laws • imposed taxes without their consent • deprived them of trial by jury • kept standing armies in the colonies in times of peace • quartered troops among the colonists

6. LEXINGTONAND CONCORD • British marched to Lexington and Concord to take away colonial weapons and arrest Samuel Adams and John Hancock. • First shots fired on April 18, 1775 when minutemen and British soldiers faced one another on the town commons. • It was known as “the shot heard around the world”.

7. BUNKER HILL (BREED’S HILL) • June 16, 1775. • British planned to drive Americans from their location. • Americans were low on ammunition. American Colonel Prescott shouted the order ”Don’t fire until you see the whites of their eyes”. • Americans lost they ran out of gunpowder and withdrew. • British won but suffered heavy losses.

8. SARATOGA • October 17, 1777. • Known as the “turning point” in the war. • American won this battle and it boosted American morale. • France enters the war on the American side. • British General Burgoyne surrendered and handed their weapons to the Americans.

9. YORKTOWN • OCTOBER 19, 1781. • Lord Cornwallis surrenders to American colonists. • British supplies were low; supply line had been cut by French Navy. • Colonial Patriots won the battle at Yorktown.

10. TREATY OF PARIS 1783 • Treaty was signed September 3, 1783. • Benjamin Franklin, John Jay, and John Adams represented the United States. • Treaty a triumph for the United States. • Great Britain recognized the U.S. as an independent nation. • The territory for the new nation extended from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi River and from Canada to Spanish Florida. • British promised to withdraw all their troops. • Treaty ended the American Revolution.

11. Articles of Confederation • The Articles of Confederation were approved by Congress in 1777. • The document was the first national constitution of the United States. • The Articles created a single national governing body called the Confederation Congress. • Congress had the power to make laws with the approval of 9 of the 13 states. However

12. However, the Articles had a number of weaknesses! • Inability of Congress to amend the articles without the approval of all 13 states • Lack of an executive branch • Inability of Congress to regulate trade between the states • Inability of Congress to impose taxes

13. By 1787 many Americans had become dissatisfied with the way the national government functioned under the Articles of Confederation. On May 25, 1787, the Constitutional Convention was convened in Philadelphia to revise the Articles. However, the result was the creation of an entirely new document.