Studied by 14 peopleSecond Continental Congress
Meeting that authorized the creation of a Continental army. Many delegates still hoped that conflict could be avoided with the British.
Common Sense
Pamphlet written by Thomas Paine attacking the system of government by monarchy. This document was very influential throughout the colonies.
Battle of Yorktown
The defeat of the British in Virginia, ending their hopes of winning the Revolutionary War.
Treaty of Paris
The treaty that ended the Revolutionary War. By this treaty, Great Britain recognized American independence and gave Americans territory between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River.
Articles of Confederation
Document establishing the first government of the United States. The states retained much power and little power was given to the federal government.
Northwest Ordinances
Bills authorizing the sale of lands in the Northwest Territory to raise money for the federal government. Bills also laid out procedures for these territories to eventually attain statehood.
1775
Battles of Lexington and Concord Meeting of Second Continental Congress
1776
Common Sense published by Thomas Paine
1776
Declaration of Independence approved Surrender of British forces of General Burgoyne at Saratoga
1777
State constitutions written in 10 former colonies
1777–1778
Continental army encamped for the winter at Valley Forge French begin to assist American war efforts
1781
Cornwallis surrenders at Yorktown Articles of Confederation ratified
1783
Signing of the Treaty of Paris
1786–1787
Shays’ Rebellion in Massachusetts
1787
Northwest Ordinance establishes regulations for settlement of territories west of the Appalachian Mountains
Thomas Gage
The Massachusetts assembly defied General ______ and ruled most of the colony outside of Boston, where Gage sat with his small army of Redcoats.
Lexington
On April 19, the British vanguard met 80 militiamen in ____. The militia commander ordered his men to retreat, but not everyone heard him.
Concord
The British continued their advance to _______. They were ready for the Americans, who were gathering militiamen. The British destroyed some military supplies but did little damage.
Ethan Allen
In May, he and his Vermont Green Mountain Boys took Fort Ticonderoga from its tiny British garrison.
Ticonderoga
In March 1776, ______’s snow-dragged cannon convinced the British to leave Boston.
Second Continental Congress
In May, the _______ faced unprecedented challenges: the colonies were in rebellion and fighting the world's largest maritime empire.
Continental Army
Congress formed the ___________ and appointed George Washington of Virginia as its commander.
foreign policy
Congress formed a _________ committee and issued paper money to fund the war.
Olive Branch Petition
Congress sent George III the _______ to mediate a "happy and permanent reconciliation" between the colonies and the British government.
British intransigence
This forced even colonial moderates to consider American independence.
Common Sense
In January 1776, Thomas Paine published _______, one of the most influential political works in American history.
Thomas Paine
He published Common Sense
Richard Henry Lee
On June 7, 1776, ________ of Virginia placed a motion before Congress resolving “that these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States. …”
John Locke
Jefferson's text invoked _______'s natural rights theory, stating that "certain unalienable rights" include "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."
July 4, 1776
America’s Independence Day
Hessians
Redcoat Regulars
General Howe
_________ in New York City sailed for Philadelphia to capture the American capital and defeat Washington's army.
John Burgoyne
Howe's Philadelphia gambit failed and deprived General __________'s army, advancing toward Albany from Canada, of crucial support.
October 17, 1777
Burgoyne surrendered on _____.
Battle of Monmouth
Washington supported German officer Baron von Steuben's efforts to improve troop training. Steuben's efforts paid off at the __________ in June 1778.
September 3, 1783
The American delegation signed a treaty with the British on ________
Newfoundland and Nova Scotia
The Americans won lucrative fishing rights off ________ by promising the British to pay prewar merchant debts and return Loyalist property.
Continental Congress
By fall 1777, the ________ completed a limited national government constitution.
unicameral legislature
A ____ with one vote per state was the new government's centerpiece.
Maryland
They ratified the Articles of Confederation in 1781, establishing the new government.
1784 Ordinance
This established western states.
Land Ordinance of 1785
This established a system for selling western lands and reserved a section of land in each township for public education.
Ordinance of 1787
This ceded all state claims to western lands to the national government. It created the Northwest Territory, a jurisdiction expected to eventually be divided into three to five states. It established a procedure for a territory to apply for statehood.
slavery
The Ordinance outlawed ____ in the Northwest Territory, dividing slave and free states along the Ohio River.
Daniel Shays
A Continental Army veteran who had suffered financial hardships, named the uprising.
ask the king to craft a solution to end the tensions between Great Britain and the colonies.
The purpose of the Olive Branch Petition was to
they had outstanding generals that would be commanding British forces in the Americas.
Women were important in the war effort because they
raise an army.
The weakness of the national government created by the Articles of Confederation was demonstrated by the fact that it was not given the power to
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