The American Revolution and Georgia

1. The American Revolution and Georgia SS8H3 The student will analyze the role of Georgia in the American Revolution.

2. Recap of Sections 1 & 2 • England’s colonies were broken into 3 groups • New England colonies- located in the NE of the U.S. • Middle colonies- states around NY, Penn, • Southern Colonies- Virginia south to Fl. • Religion: The colonies became an area where many different people came together and found out they had more in common than they thought.

3. French & Indian War 1st Real World War & lasted for 9 yrs. Resulted because of tensions btw GB and France. 1754, France occupied from Louisiana N to the Great Lakes, Spain controlled Fl. and Mex., and Britain had the 13 colonies along the Atlantic coast. 2 Reasons: Greed- wanted to get control of the most land in the New World. Fear- scared that who ever did get the most land would be the most powerful and could benefit from the natural resources of the land. British did have a few Indian friends and a strong navy but France had more and a stronger army.

4. Ohio River Valley • Both sides claimed the Ohio River Valley. • British were now trading with Indians that the French were once trading with. • The French began building forts in the area.

5. Rivalry Intensifies and War Erupts • Tensions increased cause both countries claimed land in the Ohio River Valley (about 200,000 sq miles). • Because people had been moving into and trading in the ORV, the French started building forts. • The gov. of Virginia sent George Washington in to tell them to stop. They didn’t and in 1754 Washington attacked.

6. French & Indian War • The British army was led by Major General Edward Braddock. He was a respected soldier but didn’t know how to fight the Indians. • He attempted to take Ft. Duquesne but because his troops wore bright colors and marched in straight lines the French & Indians won because they hid and ambushed the British. • When the Battle ended Braddock was dead and 2/3 of his men were killed or wounded. • Washington took over as commander andin 1757 William Pitt was put in charge of the war. • He sent Washington back to Ft. Duquesne and this time he won. This made the area safe for GB.

7. George Washington • Washington warned the French to stop building forts. • War began between the French and their Indian friends, and the British all over the world. • George Washington experiences defeat early with Gen. Braddock. • Later Washington leads troops against the French and is victorious.

8. Ga.’s Role in the War Didn’t fight in it but was helped by it. The Treaty of Paris of 1763- officially ended the war and set Ga.’s western boundary at the Mississippi River. Proclamation of 1763- issued by King George 3rd, moved Ga.’s boarder to the St. Marys River and didn’t allow the colonists to settle W of the App Mts.

9. Georgia’s and the French Indian War • * Georgia did not participate in the war but did reap the benefits of the war. • Georgia’s western boundary extended to the Mississippi River. • Spanish threat gone in Florida.

10. Results for England • France gave up all North American colonies. • This included French Canada • All land between Appalachian Mountains and the Miss. River.

11. Land Boundaries

12. Georgia 1763

13. The Proclamation of 1763 • King George III issued the proclamation creating new colonies and boundaries. • Proclamation- official/legal announcement by the king to the public. • The new boundary upset many of the middle and northern colonies because they couldn’t move west of the Appalachian Mountains. • Cherokee and Creek gave up all lands between the Ogeechee and Savannah Rivers and coastal land south of the Altamaha. • This moved the Georgia southern boundary to the St. Mary’s River. • The King was trying to maintain relations with the Indians.

14. Results of the French Indian War • Settlers begin to migrate to Georgia. • Georgia’s boundaries expand providing water access for shipping and also good farmland(coastal plain) and dense forests for timber. • Very costly for the British to fight this war.

15. Navigation Acts • This act was passed by Parliament to increase profit for Great Britain. • The Navigation Act required that all goods produced in British colonies had to be shipped directly to England and no where else. • The Act also required that all goods had to be shipped in English ships only. • This act took away profits for the colonies by not allowing for trade with other countries.

16. The Stamp Act • The British Problem- The French-Indian War had created lots of debt for the British. • The war had mainly been to protect the 13 colonies. • 1765 The British passed the Stamp Act. • Stamp Act- placed a tax on all legal documents such as licenses, newspapers, ect. • The Stamp Act was the first “direct tax” on the colonies. This meant that it affected all colonists not just the traders and shipping industry. • The Stamp Act required that all paper had to be bought from England with a royal stamp on the paper. • This paper was used for legal documents, licenses, and newspapers. • Results of Stamp Act- all of the colonies except Georgia met in New York City to oppose the act. • The Stamp Act upset the colonies who claimed “no taxation without representation”.

17. Protests Increase “No taxation w/ out representation” became the pre-Revolution war cry of the colonists. In March 1770 some folks in Boston started throwing snow balls at British soldiers and they shot into the crowd of protestors killing 5. An engraver named Paul Revere made a copper etching of the event and it was reproduced all over the colonies. The Boston Massacre started the serious cry for war.

18. Townshend Acts • The Townshend Acts were also taxes placed on imports coming into the colonies. • These taxes were placed on items such as tea, paper, glass, and coloring for paint. • These acts were also designed to increase profits for Great Britain to pay for war debt. • Because of the Townshend Acts, groups like the Liberty Boys began to form to protest the unfair taxes.

19. Sons of Liberty • The colonies began to boycott British goods. • Groups like the Liberty Boys formed and used violence and threats to make sure stamps were not sold. • Liberty Boys- Georgia’s chapter of the Sons of Liberty began to make threats which scared Gov. Wright. • All colonies refused to sell the stamps except Georgia which only sold a few in Savannah. • Parliament repealed the Stamp Act.

20. Protests Increase 1773 the East India Company had a lot of tea that it couldn’t sell and was almost bankrupt. Parliament passed the Tea Act of 1773, which allowed the company to ship tea straight to the colonies and then sell the tea for less than colonial merchants could. The colonists looked at this as a trick to get them to buy the tea and pay a lower tax. In December 1773 to protest the law a group of Patriots dressed up like Mohawk Indians boarded 3 ships and dumped 342 chests of tea in to Boston Bay. This was known as the Boston Tea Party.

21. The Intolerable Acts • Page 151-152 in textbook • The Intolerable Acts were meant to punish the colonists of Massachusetts. • 1. Boston port closed until the citizens pay for the tea. • 2. Massachusetts charter revoked and town meetings prohibited. • 3. Quartering Act- citizens had let British soldiers stay in their home free of charge. (Georgia needed soldiers to protect against Indian raids, didn’t want to pay) • 4. Impartial Administration of Justice Act- trials of British officials and soldiers could take place in England.

22. Sugar Act • The Sugar Act was a tax placed on molasses and sugar coming into the colonies. • This tax was an attempt to increase profits for Great Britain to pay for the debt from the French Indian War. • The Sugar Act greatly affected Georgia because the colonists were trading with the farmers in the Caribbean Islands. • Many Georgians began to protest to the governor of Georgia.

23. 1st Continental Congress • Representatives from the colonies sent delegates to Philadelphia to discuss the Intolerable Acts. • Only Georgia did not send anyone. • The delegates wrote a letter to the king voicing their concerns about the new acts and the fact that the colonies were not represented. *The King and parliament disagreed with the Congress.

24. Georgia’s Discontent • Georgia became divided into different groups because of laws and taxes passed by Parliament. • Many of the legislators in the Georgia Assembly began to complain. Their complaining put them at a difference with Gov. Wright who was loyal to the king. • Tories-Many Georgian’s who owed their wealth or position to England were loyal to the king.

25. Georgia’s Discontent • Patriots- were people that wanted to become independent from England. • Many Georgians did not care because they lived isolated lives out in rural Georgia. • Georgia- at this time tried to have a good relationship with England. (economics and protection) • Intolerable Acts- once the acts were put in place, Georgia began to grow unhappy but remained cautious.

26. The Revolutionary War Period • The 1st battles of the ARW were Lexington and Concord in Mass. The battles happened in April and news didn’t reach Ga. until May. • These battles forced Ga. to take a stand. • In September 1775 Ga.’s Joseph Habersham and Cpt. Oliver Bowen captured 14,000 lbs. of gun powder. Ga. kept 9,000 and sent 5,000 to the newly formed Continental Army.

27. Preparing for War • 3 wks after the 1st battles the Second Continental Congress opened in Philadelphia. • They sent a petition to King George 3rd asking him not to fight and he rejected it. At the same time they were calling for a Continental army, which would be led by George Washington. • Ga. was absent on the 1st few days of the meetings but on May 13, 1775, Lyman Hall arrived in an unofficial capacity. • The other colonies were mad at Ga. because they thought that Ga. wasn’t siding with the other colonies and threatened to punish the state. • But very soon Ga. was ready to act and held a second Provincial Congress at Tondee’s Tavern.

28. Preparing for War • Along w/ Lyman Hall, Archibald Bulloch, John Houston, Noble Wimberly Jones, and Reverend John Zubly were sent to represent Ga. They were told to vote for the common good of all people in Ga. • Gov. Wright was arrested in mid-Jan 1776 by the Liberty Boys when he asked if British ships could buy supplies. Wright got away and fled to a British war ship leaving the Council of Safety to govern Ga.

29. Declaration of Independence • On July 4, 1776 the 2nd Continental Congress approved the DOI. When it was officially signed on August 2, 1776 3 Georgian’s had signed. (Lyman Hall, George Walton, and Button Gwinnett) • The 1,458 word document was written mainly by Thomas Jefferson & can be broken into 3 parts 1. Preamble (stated how the colonists felt about democracy) 2. Body (listed 27 complaints against KG3 and his gov. that led to seeking independence) 3. Conclusion (declared the colonies to be an independent nation forever. • When the DOI was read in Ga. it got most folks excited but some decided to go back to GB. • Finally, Ga. started to prepare for war by sending food and supplies to the Continental Army and started building a home militia. • The DOI meant that the colonies were 1 nation, still not in total agreement, but still 1 nation.

30. Political Changes in Ga. The former colonies were sick of the rules & laws of GB. The new goal for each colony was to become a state. Each state had to come up w/ its own gov and laws to meet its own needs by writing a state constitution. Georgia came up w/ a gov based on the separation of powers & the rights of citizens to agree w/ how they were governed.

31. Political Changes in Ga. • By May 1777, Ga. adopted the 1st state constitution, the parish system was taken out, & 8 counties were formed.(named after important people that favored the Rev.) • There were probs to it: rather than a bicameral legislature, the Con of 1777 had a Unicameral legislature- 1 house leg that had a wide range of powers, like the ability to make appointments for the courts (judicial branch) and the governor (executive branch).

32. Political Changes in Ga. • The Con also wanted to limit the power of the Governor because of what Ga. went through w/ the royal gov.’s. • The Con proposed a 1 yr term & selected by the legislature rather than people voting. • The actual power was really w/ the members of the leg, cause they could accept/reject proposals started by the governor. • The constitutional convention selected John Treutlen, a Salzburger, as the 1st governor of Ga. • On July 4, 1778, Ga. approved the Articles of Confederation- the 1st Constitution of the U.S.

33. Independence Declared • 1775 the first shots were fired at Lexington and Concord • The Second Continental Congress- met to decide what the colonies would do. • Lyman Hall- went to Philadelphia as an unofficial representative. This made the other colonies angry with Ga. Later Georgia elected to send other delegates to the meeting.

34. Second Continental Congress • The Congress tried to compromise with England but this failed. • The Congress voted to form the Continental Army and made George Washington the commander. • They then officially declared the independence for the colonies.

35. The Declaration of Independence • On July 4, 1776 the delegates to the Second Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence. • This document declared that the American colonies were a united and free nation. • The three Georgians that signed the declaration were Lyman Hall, Button Gwinnett, and George Walton.

36. Lyman Hall • Lyman Hall was one of three Georgians to sign the Declaration of Independence. He served as a representative to the Continental Congress and as governor of Georgia (1783-84).

37. George Walton • George Walton was one of three Georgians to sign the Declaration of Independence. • Elected to the Second Continental Congress • Helped represent Georgia during the war.

38. Button Gwinnett • Gwinnett signed the Declaration of Independence • Gwinnett was a staunch patriot/loyalist • Member of The Commons House of Assembly in Georgia. • Killed in a duel with Lachlan McIntosh.

39. The Declaration of Independence • The document can be divided into 3 parts. 1.The Preamble- the introduction stating how the colonists felt about democracy. 2. The body- listed 27 grievances against the king. 3.The conclusion- declared the colonies to be an independent nation for the all the future.

40. The Declaration of Independence • What did the Declaration mean? • It meant that all 13 colonies were now one nation. • What did Georgians do? • Some left Georgia, but the majority began to prepare for war and sent supplies to the Continental Army.

41. The Declaration of Independence • After the signing of the declaration, many Tories fled from Georgia. Most Tories stayed to protect their property and because they believed that Great Britain would crush the revolution.

42. The Revolution and Georgia • As the war began to spread, many Georgians split into the two sides Tories and Patriots. • Many patriots would raid British storehouses and steal arms and gunpowder. • In 1775 a group of patriots met in Savannah to set up a Patriot government called the Provincial Congress. • This gave Georgia two governments with one that was led by Gov. Wright and the loyalists. • The Patriots proved to strong and Wright fled for his life.

43. The Rev. War in Ga. • Little fighting took place in Ga. • December 1778, British troops took control of Savannah and a month later took Augusta because of the small amount of troops in the Ga. militia couldn’t do anything to stop them. • GB sent James Wright back to govern. • Moral throughout the colonies was low & finally there was a victory in Ga. w/ the Battle of Kettle Creek.

44. Battle of Kettle Creek A militia group led by Colonel Elijah Clarke beat a force of 800 British troops. A minor battle compared to the rest of the war but important to Ga. cause the militia was able to take badly needed weapons & horses from the British. It also lifted morale.

45. The Siege of Savannah • Siege- occurs when forces try to capture a fort or town by surrounding it & preventing supplies from reaching the town. • September 1779 22 French Ships & 4,000 troops led by Charles Henry Comte d’Estaing landed off of Tybee island and joined 15,000 Americans who were under control of Benjamin Lincoln. • On the A.M. of October 9 the 2 sides attacked the British, the battle lasted 45 mins and failed, leaving more than 1,000 American/French troops dead and only 40 British dead. • GB controlled Savannah for another 3 & 1/2 yrs.

46. Battle of Yorktown George Washington beat British General Lord Cornwallis on October 1781 @ this battle and he surrendered . By the spring of 1782 all GB troops left Savannah. Treaty of Paris- signed by GB, France, and the U.S. in 1783 was the document that officially ended the Am Rev. There were only 11 battles on Ga.’s soil.

47. Blacks in the Am Rev. • Austin Dabney- followed Elijah Clarke at the Battle of Kettle Creek, he was born free from mixed parents. • Joined the army in place of Richard Aycock who was not known for his bravery. • Wounded in the BKC, and taken care of by a family named Harris. • After Rev. War veterans were given land, some didn’t want Dabney to get his share of land. • But Governor George Glimer and the legislature gave him some land in Madison County.

48. Nancy Hart • Some British soldiers demanded her to cook for them and were bragging about the murder of one of her neighbors (colonel John Dooley) • She got them drunk and they didn’t notice that she was hiding her guns, one of them finally noticed and she killed the guy when he tried to get the gun from her. • She grabbed another rifle and held the other soldiers captive until help arrived. • She is the example of the Rev. spirit in Ga. the city of Hartwell in Hart Co. is named after her and is the only county in Ga. named after a woman.