Explain how the American colonists came to the idea of “Independence.”

1. Explain how the American colonists came to the idea of “Independence.”

2. After meeting for more than a year, the 2nd Continental Congress reluctantly began to favor independence rather than reconciliation. Fighting between Massachusetts and the British and New York and the British had already broken out. Still, not all of the colonies were in favor of separating from Great Britain. In a last attempt at reconciliation, the Congress sent an Olive Branch Petition to King George III. King George rejected it.On June 7, 1776, Richard Henry Lee introduced a resolution declaring the colonies to be independent. Five delegates, including Thomas Jefferson formed a committee to write a statement in support of Lee’s resolution.

3. Who wrote the Declaration of Independence, where did the ideas come from and what did it say?

4. The Declaration was drafted by Thomas Jefferson and listed specific grievances against George III’s government and also expressed the basic principles that justified revolution: “We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” These ideas were not specifically Jefferson’s own, they were based on the Enlightenment philosophies of John Locke: in his writings he had expressed that all men were created equal and should be allowed life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Another Enlightenment thinker, Montesquieu, had previously written that the best governments were those that were created by those who were to be governed. These two writers had a significant influence on the words chosen by Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence.

5. What was the significance of the French alliance and foreign assistance in the American Revolution? What role did Benjamin Franklin play in this regard?

6. The colonists knew at the beginning of the war that they would need foreign assistance to win the war against the British. They sent Benjamin Franklin as an envoy to King Louis XVI to win their help. But it was not until after the colonial victory at the Battle of Saratoga that the French were persuaded to come to the aid of the Americans. The French king thought he could weaken his country’s traditional enemy, Great Britain, by helping undermine its colonial empire. The French had secretly aided the colonists since 1775 with money and supplies. After Saratoga in 1778, the French openly allied itself with the Americans. A year later, the Spanish and the Dutch also entered the war against the British. The French alliance proved to be the decisive factor in the struggle for independence because it widened the war and forced the British to divert military resources away from America.

7. Who was the Marquis de Lafayette and what role did he play in the American Revolution?

8. The Marquis de Lafayette outfitted a ship with his own funds and sailed for America in 1777. He landed in South Carolina and joined the forces of George Washington as an unpaid volunteer. He returned to France in 1779 to promote American interests and then came back in 1781 to lead American forces in Virginia against Lord Cornwallis. He helped lead the American forces to victory in the Revolutionary War and then served as a diplomatic aid to Benjamin Franklin during peace negotiations.

9. Discuss how the Continental Army was organized and the military role George Washington played in the American Revolution.

10. George Washington was appointed commander in chief of the new colonial army in 1775 by the Second Continental Congress. He was sent to Boston to lead the Massachusetts militia and volunteer units from other colonies. General Washington never had more than 20,000 regular troops under his command at one time since most soldiers were reluctant to travel outside of their own regions. They would serve in local militia units and then leave to attend to their farms. Washington’s army was chronically short of supplies, poorly equipped and rarely paid. When the British offered freedom to any slaves that joined their effort in the war, Washington decided to do the same. Approximately 5000 African Americans fought as Patriots in the Revolutionary War. The first three years of the war, 1775-77 went badly for Washington’s army. It barely escaped complete disaster in the battle for New York City in 1776.

11. What was the significance of the crossing of the Delaware River and Valley Forge?

12. Washington's crossing of the Delaware River, occurred on December 25, 1776 during the American Revolutionary War, and was the first move in a planned surprise attack organized by George Washington against the Hessian forces in Trenton, New Jersey. Planned in partial secrecy, Washington led a column of Continental Army troops across the icy Delaware River in a logistically challenging and potentially dangerous operation. Other planned crossings in support of the operation were either called off or ineffective, but this did not prevent Washington from successfully surprising and defeating the German troops. By the end of 1777, the British occupied both New York and Philadelphia. After losing Philadelphia, Washington’s demoralized troops suffered through a severe winter of 1777-1778 camped at Valley Forge in Pennsylvania. Conditions were horrible. Washington lost 2000 of his 10,000 troops due to the conditions at Valley Forge – starvation, disease and freezing cold.

13. What happened at Yorktown and who led the British forces there?

14. In 1781, the last major battle of the Revolutionary War was fought near Yorktown, Virginia on the shores of the Chesapeake Bay. Strongly supported by the French naval and military forces, Washington’s army forced the surrender of a large British army commanded by General Charles Cornwallis. The Americans were victorious as they French bottled up the British navy and the colonial forces beat them on land. Cornwallis was defeated and had to surrender.The Revolutionary War was over and the colonists had their independence.

15. What were the terms of the Treaty of Paris, 1783 that ended the Revolutionary War?

16. In Paris in 1783, the Treaty of Paris was signed ending the war. It provided for the following: Britain would recognize the existence of the United States as an independent nation, the Mississippi River would be the western boundary of that nation and the Americans would pay debts owed to British merchants and honor Loyalist claims for property confiscated during the war.