In 1775, Patrick Henry gave his famous speech ("give me liberty or give me death") to lawmakers in Virginia; he urges a citizens' army to defeat the British. The first shots of the Revolutionary War are fired after Paul Revere rode his horse through Concord and Lexington to warn colonists that the British soldiers are coming. Also in 1775, George Washington is given command of the Continental army, and John Hancock is appointed president of the Second Continental Congress. In August of 1775, King George III makes a declaration that the colonies are in open rebellion against the British.
The Declaration of Independence was adopted on July 4, 1776, in Philadelphia, by the Continental Congress. "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal..." is the beginning of the declaration. Thomas Jefferson is given credit for most of the writing of the declaration, along with John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and others.
In December, 1776, things are not looking good for General Washington's troops; four months of battle has left 6,000 volunteers in his army very weary and wishing to go home for Christmas. Washington's troops have been "swept off" of Long Island (www.pbs.org),and is camped on the Delaware River. In Saratoga New York, on October 17, 1777, things have turned around dramatically for Washington and his army. The British Army (7,000 strong) surrendered, with the British General saying "The fortunes of war have made me your prisoner." The news of this surrender had a very positive effect on the colonies.
In 1778, France and the United States signed treaties of alliance and of trade, and these cooperative measures were to prove very helpful as the Revolutionary War dragged on.
Meanwhile, on October 19, 1781, Cornwallis surrendered his army, the entire British Army, to American and French forces near Yorktown, Virginia. The French had been a big help to the Americans; offshore, the French navy blocked any British ships from coming into Virginia to help Cornwallis's troops, and onshore, the "incessant shelling of the French and American guns" made it very difficult for the...
But those high hopes were not to be, as patriot forces in the south fought gallantly to stave off Cornwallis's attacks.
In 1782, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, John Jay, and Henry Laurens went to France to draw up a peace treaty. Then, in January, 1784, the Treaty of Paris was ratified by Congress in the United States, and the Revolutionary War is officially over.
In 1786, Thomas Jefferson's Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom is passed by the Virginia legislature, and in 1787, delegates meet in Philadelphia to rewrite the Articles of Confederation.
When the six and a half years of bloody fighting were finally over, and the country began to settle into a period of peace and productivity, a Bill of Rights was officially part of the U.S. Constitution, on December 15, 1791. The ten amendments to the original constitution were mostly the work of James Madison, who believed that even though many felt that the Bill of Rights were already implied in the Constitution, the ten rights were needed.
Outline of Paper a) reasons for colonist discontentment with British
1) taxation without representation b) British try to push colonists around by force
1) George Washington uses volunteer army to defeat British with help of France c) Americans defeat British and beef up the Constitution with Bill of Rights d) Treaty of Paris is signed officially ending war in 1784
Works Cited
Library of Congress. "Religion and the Founding of the American Republic." Retrieved 9 Nov. 2006 at http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/rel03.html.
Public Broadcast Service. "Liberty! The American Revolution / Chronicle of the Revolution."
2005). Retrieved 9 Nov. 2006 at http://www.pbs.org/ktca/liberty/index.html.
Public Broadcast Service. "Timeline of the Revolution." Retrieved 10 Nov. 2006 at http://www.pbs.org/ktca/liberty/chronicle_timeline.html.
