American Pageant Theme Notes Ch. 8

Themes in U.S. History
Chapter 8

American Diversity
Loyalist vs. Patriots
Tories vs. Whigs
16% of Americans were loyalists
Loyalist most numerous where the Anglican Church was strongest
NYC, PA, NJ, and Charleston had mostly loyalists
Patriots numerous in New England
Patriots most numerous where Presbyterian and Congregationalism flourished

American Identity
Common Sense by Thomas Paine
Republicanism
Declaration of Independence – July 4th 1776 – written by Thomas Jefferson
“Natural Rights” – life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness (land)
Patrick Henry – “Give me liberty or give me death!” – Before the VA Assembly

Culture

Demographic Changes
British evacuated Boston in March 1776
80,000 loyalists fled

Economic Transformations

Environment

Globalization
August 1775 – King George II proclaimed the colonies in rebellion
Declaration of Independence – July 4th 1776

Politics and Citizenship
Second Continental Congress – May 10, 1775 – all 13 colonies
“Olive Branch Petition” – July 1775 – professed American loyalty to the crown and begged the king to stop hostilities
Declaration of Independence – July 4th 1776

Reform

Religion

Slavery and Its Legacies in North America
Thomas Jefferson owned slave and wrote “all men are created equal”

War and Diplomacy
George Washington elected head of army by 2nd Continental Congress
Unofficial war – April 1775 to July 1776
June 1775 – US seized Bunker Hill (Breed’s Hill) – ran out of gun powder and forced to surrender – British lost many troops
King George III hired German Hessians for troops
October 1775 – British burned Falmouth (Portland), Maine
December 31, 1775 – assault on Quebec – failed, US Gen. Montgomery killed, Benedict Arnold wounded in the leg
January 1776 – British burned Norfolk, VA
US wins - February 1776 – Moore’s Creek Bridge in NC; June 1776 – Charleston Harbor
British base of operation – New York
Battle of Long Island – Washington narrowly escaped
General William Howe – British commander
December 26, 1776 – Trenton – Washington crossed the ice-clogged Delaware River
Washington captured 1,000 Hessians
Washington defeated a small British detachment at Princeton
British scheme to capture the Hudson R. and cut off New England from the rest of the colonies – led by General (“Gentleman Johnny”) Burgoyne
Burgoyne forced to surrender – Saratoga – October 17, 1777 – to American General Horatio Gates
GA was overrun in 1778-1779
Charleston, SC fell in 1780
1781 – General Nathanael Greene “Fighting Quaker” – standing and then retreating, he exhausted his foe – General Charles Cornwallis – lost the battle but won the campaigns, cleared most of GA and SC of British troops
The Oneidas and the Tuscaroras, sided with the Americans
The Senecas, Mohawks, Cayugas, and Onondagas joined the British
Mohawk chief Joseph Brant – believed that a victorious Britain would restrain Americans from moving westward; ravaged PA and NY backcountry until checked in 1779
1784 – the pro-British Iroquois forced to sign the Treaty of Fort Stanwix – Indians ceded most of their lands
George Rogers Clark – 1778-1779 – captured Kaskaskia, Cahokia, and Vincennes; by floating down the Ohio River with a surprise attack
French Admiral de Grasse – agreed to join the Americans in an assault on Cornwallis at Yorktown – he was coming from the French West Indies
Washington made a 300 mile march from NY to the Chesapeake
Washington attacked by land and de Grasse attacked from the sea
Cornwallis surrendered his entire force of 7,000 men on October 19, 1781
Ben Franklin, John Adams, and John Jay go to Paris to discuss peace
Treaty of Paris of 1783 – British formally recognized the independence of the US, granted generous boundaries; loyalist couldn’t be persuctued, Loyalist property should be returned, Americans were to not stand in the way of British persons collecting debts