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Around 700 British soldier started to march to Concord, but only went as far as Lexington when 70 minutemen with muskets and pitchforks met them on Lexington Green. Shots were fired, 10 colonists were wounded and 8 were left dead. Soon, as the British continued to Concord, 3 redcoats and 2 minutemen were killed in a brief battle.
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The Second Continental Congress met together on this date to appoint a military commander and to raise an army. The congress chose George Washington to build the army.
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Ethan Allen ans his followers joined forces with Benedict Arnold and his band of 400 soldiers from Boston. Together, they attacked Fort Ticonderoga, a British outpost on New York's Lake Champlain.
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On one side, 2,000 British soldiers stood on Breed's Hill. On the other side, 1,200 American soldiers. The Americans knew that every shot would count. The British fell by the hundreds in 2 attacks. On the 3rd, the Americans ran out of gunpowder so they retreated. More than 1,000 British were killed and the Americans suffered around 400 casualties.
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The Second Continental Congress sent the king an Olive Branch Petition hoping he would act to protect his American subjects and remove British troops from American soil.This petition begging the king to stop the war and make peace. Their efforts failed and King George III declared the Americans to be rebels.
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In January of 1776, A man named Thomas Paine published Commom Sense, a pamphlet that declared that the American colonies received no benefits from their "mother country".
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Washington placed cannons from Fort Ticonderoga on DOrchester Heights and aimed them at the city. British General William Howe realized he couldn't force the Americans to leave. Two weeks later, the entire British army and 1,500 Loyalists left Boston by ship. Leaving Boston under American control.
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The supporters of Richard Lee formed a committee to prepare a formal form of the declaration of independence. The members of the committee were Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Frankin, John Adams, Robert Livingston, and Roger Sherman. On July 4th, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was officially signed and approved by the delegates. John Hancock was the first to sign the document.
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After the Declaration of Independence, the British flag lost its meaning as a part of the United States flag. Thus, the Continental Congress designed the first Stars and Stripes. For Americans, the color red symbolizes courage, white purity of ideals, and blue, strength and unity of the states.
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General John Burgoyne, a British general, was forced to surrender, reporting the first major defeat of the British army. The Americans took at least 6,000 British soldiers as prisoners.
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Before French aid reached America, Washington's army had to endure the harsh winter of 1777-78 in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. The American soldiers had minimum protection from the freezing temperatures. They huddled together, with no shoes and rags for clothes, inside flimsy tents until they could build small log huts.
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Until the American victory in Saratoga. none of the other countries had been willing to support the Americans. That victory made it clear this the Americans did have the strength to succeed. So, King Louis XVI signed the Treaty of Alliance, assuring the Americans of the support the desperately needed.
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An American warship, the Bonhomme Richard, won a surprising victory in one of the war's most famous sea battles. The conflict began when the ship's captian, John Paul Jones, sailed into the coast of Great Britain and attacked the British warship Serapis in the North Sea.
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The armies and the French navy trapped Cornwallis. Every route of escape be land and sea had been blocked. British forces tried to rescue Cornwallis's army but could not penetrate the French and American lines. So, Cornwallis wrote to General Washington, requesting a cease-fire. Two days later the British officially surrendered.
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The British and Americans both signed this treaty. This treaty stated that Great Britain would acknowledge the independence of the colonists and remove its troops from American soil immediately. In addition, the treaty set new boundaries for the United States.
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Washington addressed his troops in a final farewell at Fraunces Tavern in New York City. After. Washington returned to his home in Mount Vernon, Virginia, where he planned to live quietly with his family.
