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This Curious War of Inconsistency
On the one hand, the Americans were emphatically affirming their loyalty to the king and earnestly voicing their desire to patch up difficul-ties. On the other hand, they were raising armies and shooting down His Majesty’s soldiers. -
Lexington and Concord
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Second Continental Congress
This time the full slate of thirteen colonies was represented and there was still no well-defined sentiment for independence. The most important single action of the Congress was to select George Washington. -
Bunker Hill Battle
In May 1775 a tiny American force under Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold surprised and captured the British garrisons at Ticonderoga and Crown Point. A priceless store of gunpowder and artillery for the siege of Boston was thus secured.
The colonists seized Bunker Hill, and menaced the enemy. The British shot Americans and the colonists’ scanty store of gunpowder finally gave out, and they were forced to abandon the hill in disorder.
"The British would have no army left in America." -
Olive Branch Petition
The Continental Congress adopted the Olive Branch Petition, professing American loyalty to the crown and begging the king to prevent further hostilities. But following Bunker Hill, King George III slammed the door on all hope of reconciliation. In August 1775 he formally proclaimed the colonies in rebellion; the skirmishes were now out-and-out treason, a hanging crime. -
Hiring Hessians
The next month he widened the chasm when he sealed arrangements for hiring thousands of German troops to help crush his rebellious subjects.
Because most of these soldiers-for-hire came from the German principality of Hesse, the Americans called all the European mercenaries Hessians.
Seduced by American promises of land, hundreds of them finally deserted and remained in America to become respected citizens. -
The Abortive Conquest of Canada
In October 1775, on the eve of a cruel winter, the British burned Falmouth (Portland), Maine.
To invade Canada, American leaders believed, erroneously, that the conquered French were explosively restive under the British yoke. A successful assault on Canada would add a fourteenth colony, while depriving Britain of a valuable base for striking at the colonies in revolt. This was contradicted the claim of the colonists that they were merely fighting defensively for a redress of grievances. -
British Burned Falmouth
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Publication of Common Sense
He began his incendiary tract with a treatise on the nature of government and eloquently anticipated Thomas Jeffer-son’s declaration that the only lawful states were those that derive “their just powers from the consent of the governed.”
Common Sense became a whirlwind best seller. Within a few months the astonishing total of 120,000 copies were sold.Paine could thus be said to have drafted the foundational document not only of American independence, but of American foreign policy as well. -
Model Treaty
The Continental Congress in the summer of 1776 had accordingly drafted a Model Treaty to guide the American commissioners it was about to dispatch to the French court. One of the treaty’s chief authors, John Adams, described its basic principles: “1. No political connec-tion. . . . 2. No military connection. . . . 3. Only a commercial connection.” -
British Burned Norfolk
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On June 7, 1776, fiery Richard Henry Lee of Virginia moved that “these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states.”
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the Declaration of Independence
Shortly after Lee made his memorable motion on June 7, Congress appointed a committee to prepare a more formal statement of separation. -
Battle of Long Island
An awe-inspiring British fleet appeared off New York in July 1776. It consisted of some five hundred ships and thirty-five thousand men—the largest armed force to be seen in America until the Civil War. Washington escaped to Manhattan Island. The Patriot cause was at low ebb when the rebel remnants fled across the river after collecting all available boats to forestall pursuit. -
Fateful 1777
Indian allies of George III, hoping to protect their land, were busy with torch and tomahawk; they were egged on by British agents branded as “hair buyers” because they paid bounties for American scalps. Fateful 1777 was known as “the bloody year” on the frontier. -
Winning of Saratoga
Saratoga ranks high among the decisive battles of both American and world history. The victory immensely revived the faltering colonial cause. Even more important, it made possible the urgently needed foreign aid from France, which in turn helped ensure American independence. -
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Georgia Was Overrun
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On February 6, 1778, France offered the Americans a treaty of alliance.
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Armed Neutrality
In 1780 the imperious Catherine the Great of Russia took the lead in organizing the Armed Neutrality, a lineup of almost all the remaining European neutrals in an attitude of passive hostility toward Britain.
The war was now being fought not only in Europe and North America, but also in South America, the Caribbean, and Asia. -
General Benedict Arnold Turned Traitor
Improving American morale was staggered later in 1780 when General Benedict Arnold turned traitor. A leader of undoubted dash and brilliance, he was ambitious, greedy, unscrupulous, and suffering from a well-grounded but petulant feeling that his valuable services were not fully appreciated.
The British meanwhile had devised a plan to roll up the colonies, beginning with the South, where the Loyalists were numerous -
Charleston & South Carolina Fell
Warfare now intensified in the Carolinas, where Patriots bitterly fought their Loyalist neighbors. -
Treaty of Fort Stanwix
In 1784 the pro-British Iroquois were forced to sign the Treaty of Fort Stan-wix, the first treaty between the United States and an Indian nation. Under its terms the Indians ceded most of their land.