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Revolutionary War Outline

By Tim Natzke

I.                   Causes

a.       Rivals for North America in 1753

                                                               i.      French

1.      They had Louisiana which was most of the United States and part Canada. The French also allied with the Algonquians and the Hurons.

                                                             ii.      Spanish

1.      They had the area of Mexico and part of the bottom west of the United States which was called New Spain.

                                                            iii.      British

1.      They had the 13 Colonies and the upper part of Canada. They also allied with the Iroquois.

b.      The French and Indian War

                                                               i.      Causes

1.      Between 1689 and 1748 there was three wars between France and Great Britain were they had fought for power in Europe and North America. The three wars are King Williams War, Queen Anne’s War, and King George’s War.

2.      In 1754 the French and Indian War breaks out because of scuffles between France and Britain in the Ohio River valley.

                                                             ii.      Start of the French and Indian War

1.      George Washington is sent by Governor Dinwiddie to warn the French in 1753 and when he gets back he is promoted and sent off to the west again with 150 men to build a fort.

                                                            iii.      Advantages

1.      The French had several advantages over the British. Since the colonies could not agree on a united defense, the 13 separate colonial assemblies had to approve of all decisions. New France, on the other hand had a single government that could act quickly if necessary. Also the French had the support of many more Indian allies than the British did.

2.      The British’s advantages were that the colonies were clustered along the coast so they were easier to defend than the widely scattered French settlements. At the same time the 13 English colonies were about 15 times bigger than that of the New France.

                                                           iv.      Attack against Fort Duquesne

1.      In 1755 Edward Braddock led the British and colonial troops in an attack against Fort Duquesne

2.      As the British neared the fort the French and their Indian allies launched a surprise attack. Almost half the British men were killed or wounded. Washington and the survivors returned to Virginia

                                                             v.      Fort William and Fort Oswego

1.      Were both lost to the French.

                                                           vi.      William Pitt

1.      In 1757 he became head of the British government. He sent Britain’s best Generals to North America. Lord Jeffery Amherst captured Louisburg the most important fort in French Canada. That year the British also won more Iroquois support. The Iroquois persuaded the Delawares at Fort Duquesne to abandon the French so the British seized the fort quickly. They renamed it Fort Pitt. which became the city of Pittsburgh which late grew up on the site.

                                                          vii.      Fort Niagara/Crown Point/Fort Ticonderoga

1.      The British took these forts in the summer of 1759.

                                                        viii.      Battle for Quebec

1.      Quebec was the capital of New France. The French lost the city in a fierce battle in which the British won with the help of General Wolfe. In 1760 the British took Montreal and the war ended in North America. Fighting drag on in Europe until the France and Britain signed the Treaty of Paris in 1763. It marked the end of the French power in North America. Britain gain Canada and all French lands east of the Mississippi River.

c.       Taxes

                                                               i.      Proclamation of 1763

1.      Pontiac’s war convinced the British government to issue the Proclamation of 1763.

2.      The Proclamation of 1763 drew a line along the Appalachian Mountains that the colonist were forbidden to settle west of. It ordered all settles already west of the line to remove them selves.

3.      The Proclamation angered the colonists. Some colonies including New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia claimed lands in the west. Also the colonists had to pay for the troops that had been sent to enforce the law. In the end they simply ignored the proclamation and moved west anyway.

                                                             ii.      Molasses tax

1.      The French and Indian War had plunged Britain deeply into debt which they thought the colonist should help pay for. George Grenville asked parliament to place a tax on molasses which was a valuable item in the triangular trade.

                                                            iii.      Sugar Act

1.      The Sugar Act replaced the tax on molasses because the merchants could not afford to pay it and keep in business. The Sugar Act of 1764 cut the prices of the molasses almost in half. But Grenville demanded that the smuggling and the bribes most stop.

                                                           iv.      Stamp Act

1.      In 1765 Grenville persuaded Parliament to pass the Stamp Act. The Act placed taxes on legal documents such as wills, diplomas, and marriage papers.

2.      The colonists were angry because there was taxation without representation. The Colonists insisted that only they or their representatives had the right to pass taxes.

                                                             v.      Stamp Act Congress

1.      In 1765 nine colonies sent delegates to what became know as the Stamp Act Congress. They sent petitions to King George III and to Parliament. In these petitions they rejected the Stamp Act. But parliament paid little attention. So the colonist boycotted. Finally in 1766 Parliament Repealed the Stamp Act.

                                                           vi.      Declaratory Act

1.      In this act Parliament claimed that it still had the right to make laws and raise taxes in all cases whatsoever.

                                                          vii.      Townshend Acts 1767

1.      This act placed taxes on goods such as glass, paper, silk, lead, and tea. The colonists got angry again because there was taxation without representation.

                                                        viii.      Writs of Assistance

1.      This gave a customs officer the right to inspect a ship’s cargo without giving a reason. It helped to stop the colonists from smuggling.

                                                           ix.      Nonimportation agreements 1767

1.      In these agreements the colonists promised to stop importing goods taxed by the Townshend Acts.

                                                             x.      Sons and Daughters of Liberty 1767

1.      The Sons of Liberty were the first group of angry colonists. The women also set up their own group known as the Daughters of Liberty. In the cities from Boston to Charleston the sons and daughters of liberty place lanterns in large trees and had meetings. They staged mock hangings of cloth or straw figures dressed like British officials.

                                                           xi.      Quartering Act 1766

1.      Under the Quartering act the colonists had to provide hosing, candles, bedding, and beverages. In 1766 the New York assembly refused to obey the act. The New Yorkers argued that it was just another way of taxing them without their consent.

                                                          xii.      The Boston Massacre

1.      On the night of March 5, 1770 a crowd gathered outside the Boston customs house. Colonists shouted insults at the British. A shot rang out so the British soldiers fired into the crowd and kill five people. Paul Revere made an engraving of the event. At trial the British soldiers received very light sentences.

                                                        xiii.      Repeal of the Townshend Acts

1.      On the day of the Boston Massacre, Parliament voted to repeal most of the Townshend Acts. The British merchants pressured Parliament to end the taxes, but King George III asked Parliament to keep the tax on tea.

                                                        xiv.       Tea Act of 1773

1.      The Tea Act allowed the companies to bypass the tea merchants and sell directly to the colonists. This was supposed to lower the prices and encourage colonists to buy more tea. The tea drinkers would have benefited from the law, but they believed that it was a British trick to make them accept Parliament right to tax them.

                                                         xv.      Boston Tea Party

1.      The Boston Tea party was were the about 50 or 60 people dressed up as Mohawk Indians and attack the ships containing tea and dumped it into the harbor. The place where the ships were was Griffin’s Warf. The job was done at 10 pm.

                                                        xvi.      Punishment for Massachusetts 1774

1.      Parliament shut down the port of Boston. No ship could enter or leave the harbor not even a small boat. The harbor would remain close until the colonist paid for the tea and showed they were sorry for what they did.

2.      Parliament forbade colonists to hold town meetings more than once a year without the governor permission.

3.      Parliament allowed customs officers and other officials charge with major crimes to be tried in Britain instead of in Massachusetts.

4.      Parliament passed a new quartering act. No longer would the soldier camp in tents on the British common. Instead they would live in the colonists’ houses.

5.      These acts were called the Intolerable Acts because they were so harsh.

                                                      xvii.      Quebec Act 1774

1.      The act set up a government for Canada and protected the rights of French Catholics. The act also redrew the boundaries of Canada to include the land between the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. This angered the colonists because they claimed land there.

                                                     xviii.      The First Continental Congress 1774

1.      In response to the Intolerable Acts colonists sent leaders to a meeting in September 1774. Delegates from 12 colonies gather as what became as the First Continental Congress. The colony that didn’t send delegates was Georgia. They decided to boycott all British goods and to stop exporting goods to Britain until the harsh laws were repealed.

2.      They urged each colony to set up and train its own militia.

                                                        xix.      The First Shot

1.      In 1775 General Thomas Gage the British commander learned that the minuteman had a large store of arms in Concord. On April 18, about 700 British troops left Boston for Concord under the cover of night.

2.      At April 19 the British reached Lexington, a town near Concord. There waiting for them were 70 minutemen. At the end eight minutemen were killed and one British soldier was wounded. The British pushed on to Concord were they found nothing. So they head back to Boston. On the bridge outside of concord the meet 300 minutemen and a fight broke out. By the time they reached Boston the British lost 73 men and another 200 were wounded or missing.

II.                The Revolutionary War

a.       The Beginning

                                                               i.      Green Mountain Boys

1.      They took Fort Ticonderoga on May 10, 1775, with a surprise attack. The fort was a British outpost at the southern tip of Lake Champlain.

                                                             ii.      Olive Branch Petition 1774

1.      Delegates from the 13 colonies came together to write the Olive Branch Petition. In it they declared their loyalty to the king. They also asked him to repeal the Intolerable Acts and end the fighting.

                                                            iii.      Continental Army

1.      The congress took a bold step by setting up the Continental Army. John Adams nominated George Washington as commander

                                                           iv.      Strengths And Weaknesses

1.      The American had troops that were mostly untrained. Some advantages were that they had every reason to fight because they were defending on their homeland. Some Americans had some soldiers but almost every framer owned a rifle and were good shots. They also had George Washington as a commander.

2.       The British had well trained soldiers and experienced fighting before and Britain’s navy was the most powerful in the war. It could move soldiers up and down the coast quickly.

b.      The Battles

                                                               i.      The Battle of Bunker Hill June 16th, 1775

1.      It was the first major battle of the war. At the end of the Battle the Americans lost the Bunker Hill and Breeds Hill, but more than 1000 British soldiers laid dead. The Americans had only lost 400.

                                                             ii.      Battle of Montreal

1.      The army lead by Richard Montgomery seized Montreal in November 1775

                                                            iii.      Battle of Quebec

1.      On December 31 1775 the Americans attack Quebec Richard Montgomery was killed and Benedict Arnold was wounded. They fail to take the city. They stayed outside of Quebec until May 1776, when the British landed forces in Canada.

                                                           iv.      Common Sense

1.      Common Sense was a pamphlet that made many colonists think about independence. It appeared in January 1776 written by Thomas Paine.

                                                             v.      Declaration of Independence

1.      On July 2, 1776 the Continental Congress voted that the 13 colonies were free and independent States. Two days later the delegates accepted the Declaration of Independence.

                                                           vi.      The Battle of Long Island

1.       More than 1400 American troops were killed, wounded, or captured. The rest retreated across the East River to Manhattan.

                                                          vii.      Nathan Hale

1.      Nathan Hale was a spy for the America troops. He was hanged when the British captured him.

                                                        viii.      The Battle of Trenton

1.      On December 26, 1776, the American surprised the Hessian troops guarding Trenton and took most of them prisoner. The Hessian population at 8 am. 1408 men and 39 officers; Hessian population at 9 am 0.

                                                           ix.      The Battle of Princeton

1.      On January 3, 1777, George Washington attack Princeton were they had another victory. Then he moved to Morristown were they spent the winter.

                                                             x.      Battle of Brandywine

1.      On July 1777, George Washington tried to stop Howe but was defeated.

                                                           xi.      Battle of Germantown

1.      On September 1777 George Washington attack the British again but was defeated again and they retreated to Valley Forge.

                                                          xii.      Battle of Bennington

1.      After the Burgoyne’s troop retook Fort Ticonderoga he sent soldiers into Vermont to find food and horses. The Patriots fell on these troops and nearly 1000 British troops were captured or wounded.

                                                        xiii.      Battle of Saratoga

1.      This battle end the threat to New England and it boosted the American spirits. But most important it convinced France to sign a treaty with the United States.

                                                        xiv.      The Battle of King’s Hill

1.      On October 7, 1780 the Patriots captured King’s Mountain which boosted the morale after a string of defeats in the south.

                                                         xv.      Battle of Moore’s Creek Bridge (Lexington and Concord of the south)

1.      On February 1776, North Carolina Patriots defeated a Loyalist army.

                                                        xvi.      An American traitor

1.      In the summer of 1780 George Washington received some bad news Benedict Arnold; one of his best generals had joined the British.

                                                      xvii.      Battle of Cowspens

1.      Another British army was defeated in South Carolina command by General Daniel Morgan.

                                                     xviii.      The Battle of Yorktown

1.      This was the last battle of the Revolutionary War. On October 17, 1781 Cornwallis surrendered his army. After he held out for 3 weeks.

III.             The After Affects of The Revolutionary War

a.       The Treaty of Paris

                                                               i.      Under the Treaty of Paris Britain recognized the United States as an independent nation. On April 15, 1783, Congress approved of the treaty.

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