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| British General John Burgoyne felt overwhelmed by a force three times larger than his own, and surrendered on October 17, 1777. This forced the British to consider whether or not to continue the war. The US victory at the Battle of Saratoga convinced the French that the US deserved diplomatic recognition. |
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| Washington, along with Admiral de Grasse's French fleet, trapped British General Cornwallis on the Yorktown peninsula. The Siege of Yorktown began in Sept. of 1781, and ended when Cornwallis realized that he lost three key points around Yorktown and surrendered. |
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| He had led troops (rather unsuccessfully) during the French and Indian War, and had surrendered For Necessity to the French. He was appointed commander-in-chief of the Continental Army, and was much more successful in this second command. |
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| A wealthy French nobleman, nicknamed "French Gamecock", made a major general of colonial army, got commission on part of his family. |
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| Best known for his role in the American War of Independence. During the Saratoga campaign he surrendered his army of 5,000 men to the American troops on Oct. 17, 1777. Appointed to command a force designated to capture Albany and end the rebellion, he advanced from Canada but soon found himself surrounded and outnumbered. He fought two battles at Saratoga, but was forced to open negotiations with Horatio Gates. Although he agree to a convention which would allow his troops to return home, this was subsequently revoked and his men were made prisoners. He faced criticism when he returned to Britain, and never held another active command. |
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| He was an American General during the Revolutionary War. He Prevented the British from reaching Ticonderoga. Later in 1778 he tried to help the British take West Point and the Hudson River but he was found out and declared a traitor. |
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| The British recognized the independence of the US. It granted boundaries, which streched from the Mississippi on the west, to the Great Lakes on the north, and to Spanish Florida on the south. The Yankees retained a share of Newfoundland. It greatly upset the Canadians. |
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| Battle of Trenton (Dec 26, 1776) |
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| Washington crossed the Delaware river going south and surprised the British by coming back across the river; Washington split his 2400 men into two divisions and attacked the British from two sides. The colonials were successful and the victory gave the troops a great boost of confidence and the colonies a great positive push. |
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| Battles of Lexington and Concord (Apr 19, 1774) |
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| General Gage, stationed in Boston, was ordered by King George III to arrest Samuel Adams and John Hancock. The British marched on Lexington, where they believed the colonials had a cache of weapons. The colonial militias, warned beforehand by Paul Revere and William Dawes, attempted to block the progress of the troops and were fired on by the British at Lexington. The British continued to Concord, where they believed Adams and Hancock were hiding, and they were again attacked by the colonial militia. As the British retreated to Boston, the colonials continued to shoot at them from behind cover on the sides of the road. This was the start of the Revolutionary War. |
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| Theory that people are born with certain "natural rights." Some say these rights are anything people do in the pursuit of liberty--as long as the rights of other are not impeded. |
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| Thomas Paine/Common Sense |
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| Common Sense written in 1776 was one of the most potent pamphlets ever written. It called for the colonists to realize their mistreatment to push for independence from England. The author Thomas Paine introduced such ideas as nowhere in the universe sis a smaller heavenly body control a larger. For this reason their is no reason for England to have control over the vast lands of America. The pamphlet with its high-class journalism as well as propaganda sold a total of 120,000 copies within a few months. |
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| They were German mercenaries who were comprised of approximately 30,000 soldiers in the British army during the Revolutionary War. They fought among 162,000 other Britons and loyalist but were outnumbered by the 220,000 troops of the Continental Army. |
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| Second Continental Congress |
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| Met in Philadelphia on May 10, 1775. Three delegates added to the Congress were Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and John Hancock. The Congress took on governmental duties. (United all the colonies for the war effort.) They selected George Washington as Commander in Chief. They encouraged the colonies to set themselves up as states. On July 4, 1776 they adopted the Declaration of Independence. The Congress ended March 1, 1781 when a Congress authorized by the Articles of Confederation took over. |
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