Chapter 8 American Pageant Outline

Congress Drafts George Washington

* George Washington had never risen above the rank of a colonel in the militia

* Lost more battles than he had won

* Had outstanding leadership, he radiated patience, courage, self-discipline, and a sense of justice

* Congress wanted a commander from Virginia , the largest and most populous colony

* Could be counted on by his peers to check "the excesses of the masses".

Bunker Hill and Hessian Hirelings

* Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold surprised and captured the British garrisons at Ticonderoga and Crown Point

* The British launched a frontal attack on Bunker Hill with 3000 men

* The colonist met the force head on but ran out of gunpowder and was forced to abandon the hill

* July 1775, the Continental Congress adopted the "Olive Branch Petition," to profess American loyalty to the crown and begging the king to prevent further hostilities.

* August 1775 , king George formally proclaimed the colonies in rebellion

* George the third hired German mercenaries called Hessians

* Hessians were more interested in booty than the British cause

The Abortive conquest of Canada

* October 1775, British burned Falmouth, Maine

* American leaders believed that the conquest of Canada would add a 14th colony

* Richard Montgomery pushed up the Lake Champlain and was joined at Quebec by the bedraggled army of General Benedict Arnold

* An assault on Quebec was launched on the last day of 1775 and the colonies lost

* French Canadians leaders showed no real desire to welcome the colonist

* In January 1776 the British set fire to the Virginia town of Norfolk

* In march they were forced to leave Boston

* In 1776 the colonist won in February against 1500 loyalists

* In June the colonist won against an invading British fleet at Charleston

Thomas Paine Preaches Common Sense

* Many Americans continued to consider themselves part of a transatlantic community in which the mother country of Britain played a leading role

* "Common sense" written by Thomas Paine said why not throws off the cloak of inconsistency? Nowhere in the physical universe did the smaller heavenly body control the larger one.

* He also referred the king as "the Royal Brute of Great Britain."

Paine and the Idea of "Republicanism"

* Republic-where power flowed from the people themselves, not from a corrupt and despotic monarch

* Republicanism appealed to British politicians critical of excessive power in the hands of the king and his advisers

* The colonists' experience with governance had prepared them well for Paine's summons to create a republic.

* Most Americans considered citizen "virtue" fundamental to any successful republican government

* The collective good of the "people" mattered more than the private rights and interests if individuals

* Some favored a republic ruled by a "natural aristocracy" of talent

Jefferson's "Explanation" of Independence

* On June 7, 1776, Richard Henry Lee of Virginia said that the united Colonies should be free and independent

* The declaration of independence was used to cut up ties with British and was an inspirational appeal to enlist other British colonies in the Americas, to invite aids from foreign nations, and to rally resistance at home

* Congress appointed Thomas Jefferson to daft the declaration of independence

* The declaration of independence was formally approved on July 4, 1776

* Thomas Jefferson gave his appeal universality by invoking the "natural rights" of humankind-not just British rights

* Marquis de Lafayette hung a copy of the declaration of independence in his home

Patriots and Loyalists

* Loyalist- colonials loyal to the king-Tories

* Patriots -American rebels-Whigs

* Many colonists were neutral like the Byrds of Virginia

* Militias took up the task of "political education" served as effective agents of revolutionary ideas

* Loyalists, numbering about 16% remained to their king

* Loyalty is ordinarily regarded as a major virtue-loyalty to one's family one's friends, one's country

* Loyalist were numerous with the older generations

* Loyalist also included the king's officers and other beneficiaries of the crown

* Loyalist were numerous where the Anglican church was strongest with the exception of Virginia

* Loyalists were least numerous in New England where self government was especially strong and most numerous where Presbyterianism and congregationalism flourished.

* Patrick Henry a patriot cried "give me liberty or give me death

The Loyalist Exodus

* Before the Declaration of Independence in 1776 the persecution of the loyalists was relatively mild

* After the DoI in 1776 loyalist were roughly handled

* Some fifty thousand loyalist volunteers at one time or another bore arms for the British. They also helped the king's cause by serving as spies, by inciting