Objectives

1. Objectives • Explain why fighting broke out to begin the American Revolution and the response of the Second Continental Congress. • Describe the Loyalists’ view of the Patriots. • Analyze the impact of Thomas Paine’sCommon Sense. • Assess why Congress declared independence and the ideas underlying the Declaration of Independence.

2. Terms and People • militia–a civilian group that trains as soldiers to serve in emergencies • Loyalists–colonists who remained loyal to Britain during the Revolution • Second Continental Congress–colonial delegates who met in Philadelphia in May 1775 to organize a bigger fight against the British • Continental Army–volunteers who supported the Patriot siege of Boston and were put under control of Congress

3. Terms and People (continued) • George Washington–Virginian chosen to command the Continental Army • Thomas Paine–author of the pamphlet Common Sense that proposed independence • Declaration of Independence–1776 document that explained the reasons for American independence from Great Britain

4. Terms and People(continued) • Thomas Jefferson–Virginia patriot andmain author of the Declaration of Independence • natural rights–Enlightenment idea embodied by the Declaration of Independence that all men have rights which governments cannot take away

5. What events led the colonists to declare their independence from Britain? • In 1776, colonists made three important decisions: • To declare their independence • To choose a republican model of government • To confederate the thirteen colonies into the United States of America • Their strength surprised and changed the world.

6. In early 1775, Boston Patriots responded to the Intolerable Acts • John Hancock and Samuel Adams organized a Provincial Congress to run Massachusetts. • ThePatriots began to stockpile weapons and ammunition in towns outside of Boston. • Colonialmilitia calling themselves minutemen began to organize.

7. NOW READ THIS!!!! Read the “War Begins” The Battles of Lexington and Concord on pg. 108 and 109

8. Document A: Barker (Modified) 19th. At 2 o’clock we began our march by wading through a very long stream up to our middles. About 5 miles away from a town called Lexington, we heard there were some hundreds of people collected together intending to oppose us. At 5 o’clock we arrived there and saw a number of people, I believe between 200 and 300, formed in a common in the middle of the town. We still continued advancing, prepared for an attack though without intending to attack them. As we came near them, they fired one or two shots, upon which our men without any orders, fired and put them to flight. We then formed on the Common, but with some difficulty, the men were so wild they could hear no orders; we waited a considerable time there, and at length proceeded on our way to Concord. Source: Entry for April 19th, 1775, from the diary of Lieutenant John Barker, an officer in the British army.

9. Document B Sourcing: Before reading body of document What kind of document is this? Do you trust it more or less than a diary entry? When was this written? Whose side does this document represent? What do you predict they will say? Context/ Imagine the Setting: After reading through document What story do the minutemen tell? How does this differ from Barker’s account? Close reading: What is the significance of the phrase “to our knowledge?” Corroboration: Which account do you find more reliable? Why? Are there any facts that both accounts agree on?

10. Document B: Mulliken (Modified) We Nathaniel Mulliken, Philip Russell, (Followed by the names of 32 other men present on Lexington Green on April 19, 1775)…All of lawful age, and inhabitants of Lexington…do testify and declare, that on the nineteenth of April, about five o’clock in the morning, we proceeded towards the Green, and saw a large body of troops marching towards us. Some of our men were coming to the Green, and others had reached it, at which time, they began to disperse. While our backs were turned on the British troops, they fired on us, and a number of our men were instantly killed and wounded, not a gun was fired by any person in our company on the British soldiers to our knowledge before they fired on us, and continued firing until we had all made our escape. Lexington, April 25, 1775. Source: Sworn by 34 minutemen on April 25 before three Justices of the Peace.

11. Engraving rendered by Amos Doolittle in the fall of 1775, just a few months after the event.

12. Next we have the lithograph produced by William S. Pendleton in about 1830: While a number of militia men are retreating, some are now shooting.

13. Next comes Hammatt Billings’s rendering of 1868: Here very few men retreat; most are engaged.

14. “The Dawn of Liberty,” painted by Henry Sandham in 1886: Every man is now standing his ground.

15. The Revolution began on April 19, 1775. Redcoats marched toward Concord to seize weapons and ammunition. In Lexington, they met colonial militia. The Redcoats killed eight minutemen. Marching on to Concord, the British met hundreds of armed Patriots in a skirmish. As the Redcoats marched back to Boston, the Patriots killed or wounded 200 of them.

16. Aroused by the events at Lexington and Concord, thousands of Patriots surrounded the British in Boston.

17. Provincial assemblies seized control in the other New England colonies while colonial militia pinned down British troops in Boston. • In May 1775 the Second Continental Congress met in Philadelphia to take control of the fighting. • As volunteers arrived in Boston, George Washington was chosen to commandthe new Continental Army.

18. Assessment: Re-write the textbook excerpt about Lexington, telling the story of the first shots of the Revolutionary War.

19. Congress made one final attempt atreconciliation in July 1775. The Olive Branch Petition was sent to Britain reaffirming allegiance to King George, but not Parliament. • The petition was rejected. • Britain responded by sending more troops.

20. Not all colonists favored independence. • About one-fifth remained British Loyalists. • Some believed Britain was too powerful to beat. • Some feared a loss of business and income. • Some feared abuse from lawless Patriots. • Some resented Patriot taxes and militia demands. • Native Americans feared settlers moving westward. • Many slaves hoped for freedom under the British.

21. Paine depicted the king as an enemy of liberty. • He called for a republicwhere opportunity is based on merit not on inherited privilege. • He said the government should be elected by the common people. • Paine reinforced the Enlightenment idea that all men have natural rights. Thomas Paine’s pamphlet Common Sense crystallized colonial ideas in early 1776.

22. So Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence. Congress approved it on July 4, 1776. It stated that “All men are created equal.” In the spring of 1776, Congress selected a committee to declare, and explain reasons for, independence.

23. The Declaration was organized into four sections: • The Preamble stated the reasons for writing the Declaration. • The second paragraph stated the purpose of government − to protect people’s rights. • Then came a long list of grievances against the King. • The final paragraph actually declared independence.

24. The signers pledged, “our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.” Just as Patriots tore down this statue of the king for bullets, the signers of the Declaration knew there was no turning back.