George Washington
Member of Continental Congress, and elected to head the Army.
Had great leadership qualities and a good moral leader.
Selection was political in a sense (wanted someone not from New England).
Ethan Allen
Helped (with Benedict Arnold) to capture Fort Ticonderoga and Crown Point, where valuable gunpowder and artillery secured.
Benedict Arnold
Helped (With Ethan Allen) to capture Fort Ticonderoga and Crown Point, where valuable gunpowder and artillery secured. He also helped lead an assault on Quebec (which failed).
He turned traitor (he thought his services weren't being appreciated), and plot
Richard Montgomery
Formally British, he pushed up Lake Champlain, and captured Montreal, but was later killed during failed assault on Quebec.
Thomas Paine
Author of Common Sense, an influential pamphlet, which helped convince many to rebel for Independence.
Richard Henry Lee
Wrote statement, "these United colonies are, and of right ought to be, free, and independent states", which was adopted as, and written in, the formal Declaration of Independence.
Thomas Jefferson
Brilliant young writer, and member of Continental Congress.
Given task to write formal Declaration of Independence.
Loyalists
Loyal to King George III, they consisted of 16% of the American Colonies.
They were usually people of education and wealth, and numbered more in the older generation.
Most numerous where the Anglican Church was the strongest.
Patriots
Fought for rights, and against the British.
Mostly made up of younger people.
Most numerous in Presbyterian or Congregational places.
Patrick Henry
Impassioned patriot who cried before the Virginia Assembly "Give me liberty or give me death!
General Howe
Washington's adversary, and not a huge military genius.
Commander at Bunker Hill.
He was not quick enough in crushing Washington's Army before Winter.
Comte de Rochambeau
Led powerful French army of 6,000 troops to Newport, Rhode Island.
Provided no military advantage at first, by were preparations for the French-American attack on New York.
Nathanial Greene
Exhausted General Cornwallis in a vain pursuit in the Carolinas.
Cleared most of Georgia and South Carolina of British.
General Cornwallis
British commander who was forced to surrender after being trapped in by Washinton and Admiral de Grasse.
Joseph Brant
A Mohawk chief who believed that a victorious Britain would restrain expansion west.
Ravaged back country of Pennsylvania and New York until checked by American forces.
George Rogers Clark
Captured a few scattered British forts by surprise in Illinois country.
Kaskaskin, Cahokia, and Vincennes.
John Paul Jones
Scotsman who led a tiny naval force that made a dent in Britain's fleet.
Carried war into waters around British Isles.
Privateers
Privately owned, armed ships specifically authorized by Congress to prey on enemy shipping.
Diverted manpower from main power, but brought in gold, harassed enemy, and raised morale.
Admiral de Grasse
With a powerful fleet from the West Indies, he joined the Americans, and blocked Cornwallis in from the sea, on an assault of Yorktown.
John Jay
Sent to negotiate terms of peace withe British.
Ignored instructions of Congress after seeing signs that Paris was about to betray American interests (land west of Appalachian Mountains) to satisfy Spain's.
Second Continental Congress
Represented by all 13 colonies, there was no defined sentiment for Independence, but appeals were drafted to British people and King.
Measures were also adopted to raise money and create an army/ navy.
Bunker Hill
Colonists seized a hill outside of Boston, from which they terrorized the British.
British led, a frontal attack, and while they eventually gained the hill, they had great losses.
Common Sense
Influential pamphlet in convincing Colonists of cause for Independence.
- Argued that right to rule comes from people
- Called King "Royal Brute"
- Big colonies should not be ruled by small island 3,000 miles away.
Republic
Government where power of the government flows from the people. - People have a say in the government.
Comes from Greek and Roman Ideas.
Needs of all people over needs of an individual.
Declaration of Independence
Written by Thomas Jefferson, it was a formal, written declaration of the colonies' independence.
Included: man's natural rights and a list of grievances.
Battle of Long Island
Americas routed to Long Island, where panic seized them, and then retreated to Manhattan Island, and crossed the Hudson and Delaware River.
Pursued by General Howe.
Battle of Trenton
Washington crossed the Delaware river, and made a surprise attack on Hessians celebrating Christmas.
(Captured 1,000 Hessians)
Battle of Saratoga
Where General Burgoyne had to surrender to American general Horatio Gates after St. Leger's force was driven back, and they were unable to advance or retreat.
Treaty of Fort Stanwix
Signed by pro-British Iroquois that ceded most of Indian land to Americans.
Yorktown
Washington came to Yorktown on Land, and Admiral Grasse by water, surrounding Cornwallis, and forcing him to surrender.
Major ending point in war (even though war continued for a year after).
Treaty of Paris
- British formally recognized the independence of the Colonies
- Granted boundaries stretching from Mississippi River to the Great Lakes, to Spanish Florida.
- Yankees able to retain fisheries in Newfoundland.
- Yankees to not persecute Loyalists and to r
Model Treaty
Drawn up to guide American commissioners about to dispatch to the French Court (to get help from French).
No political connection - No military connection - Only a commercial connection.
Declaration of the Rights of Men
French equivalent of the Declaration of Independence during the French revolution.
Olive Branch Petition
Adopted by the Continental Congress, it professed American loyalty to the crown, and asked for no more hostility.
Armed Neutrality
Catherine the Great of Russia organized European countries who would have neutral hostility to Great Britain.