Virginian, patriot, general, and president. Lived at Mount Vernon. Led the Revolutionary Army in the fight for independence. First President of the United States.
British and American troops poured into the Boston area. Americans killed over one thousand British soldiers and the British killed nearly four hundred. The Americans had to fled because they were nearly out of supplies. King George III suspended trade between Britain and the American colonies.
"Olive Branch Petition"
On July 8, 1775, the colonies made a final offer of peace to Britain, agreeing to be loyal to the British government if it addressed their grievances (repealed the Coercive Acts, ended the taxation without representation policies). It was rejected by Parliament, which in December 1775 passed the American Prohibitory Act forbidding all further trade with the colonies.
German soldiers hired by George III to smash Colonial rebellion, proved good in mechanical sense but they were more concerned about money than duty.
Invasion of Canada
U.S. General Richard Montgomery forced the British to evacuate Montreal in 1775 and invade Canada. A second force led by Benedict Arnold invaded the land by combining an attack on Quebec; however, it was a failure in that Montgomery was killed, Benedict was shot, and one-third of the colonial troops were killed or captured.
Patriot and writer whose pamphlet Common Sense, published in 1776, convinced many Americans that it was time to declare independence from Britain.
a political system in which the supreme power lies in a body of citizens who can elect people to represent them. This is the concept Thomas Paine and the revolutionaries were striving for.
The Declaration of Independence
An act of the Second Continental Congress, adopted on July 4, 1776, which declared that the Thirteen Colonies in North America were "Free and Independent States" and that "all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved."
Battle of Lexington
A conflict marking the beginning of the Revolutionary War in Lexington, Massachusetts, on April 19, 1775. An American force of about seventy minutemen under Capt. John Parker assembled on Lexington green after receiving word from dispatch riders, including Paul Revere, that a British force of about 250 men, under Maj. John Pitcairn, was advancing to Concord to confiscate provincial military supplies. British soldiers fired on Parker's force after hearing a gunshot, although which side the shot came from is uncertain, and it may have been accidental.
New Jersey Campaign
Washington stealthily crossed the Delaware River the morning after Christmas to surprise and capture a thousand Hessians sleeping. A week later another surprise attack on a British detachment at Princeton showed "Old Fox" at his best.
a leader of the American Revolution and a famous orator who spoke out against British rule of the American colonies (1736-1799) "Give me liberty or give me death!"
Battle of Long Island
George Washington and his army are badly beaten at this battle on August 27, 1776. Sorely outnumbered and surrounded at Brooklyn Heights, the 9,500 troops that survived retreated under cover of night across the East River to Manhattan.
Battle of Trenton
The Americans surprised the Hessian troops guarding Trenton and took most of them prisoner; the Americans won.
Surrendered to america at Saratoga, Wanted three British armies to march on Albany, New York, from different directions. They would crush American forces there once they controlled the Hudson River, the British could stop the flow of soldiers and supplies from New England to Washington's army.
He took command of British troops in North America after the Battle of Bunker Hill. He captured New York and Philadelphia, but botched the plan to isolate the New England colonies in 1777. He resigned in 1778.
Place where Washington's army spent the winter of 1777-1778, a 4th of troops died here from disease and malnutriton, Steuben comes and trains troops
Battle of Saratoga
Turning point of the American Revolution. It was very important because it convinced the French to give the U.S. military support. It lifted American spirits, ended the British threat in New England by taking control of the Hudson River, and, most importantly, showed the French that the Americans had the potential to beat their enemy, Great Britain.
Printer, author, inventor, diplomat, statesman, and Founding Father. One of the few Americans who was highly respected in Europe, primarily due to his discoveries in the field of electricity.
Term for the alliance of Catherine the Great of Russia and other European powers who did not declare war but assumed a hostile neutrality toward Britain
Battle of Yorktown
Last major battle of the Revolutionary War. Cornwallis and his troops were trapped in the Chesapeake Bay by the French fleet. He was sandwiched between the French navy and the American army. He surrendered October 19, 1781.