1. The War for Independence BY: MARCOS VILLALPANDO, RAY YANEZ, OMAR ESPINOZA, JOHN OCHOA

2. QUESTION: Explain how political and military strategy, support for the patriot cause, and American alliances with France and Spain led to an American victory in the war for independence.

3. From Lexington and Concord to Bunker Hill – Revolt Becomes War Intolerable Acts of 1775- Parliament passed laws, which restricted colonists' rights as a result of the colonists committing the Boston Tea Party. British general Thomas Gage who controlled the British army in the colonies had wanted to conciliate with the irate colonists, but Parliament had wanted him to enforce the intolerable acts by stopping trade to Massachusetts. This made colonists even more enraged and revolts more prevalent.

4. The Battles of Lexington and Concord, April 1775 In Concord and Worcester colonists were gathering arms. General Gage was aware of this. General Gage with this knowledge, he had gathered his troops to rid the colonists of these arms as they marched to Lexington. This turned from a weapons raid into a battle that had started the American Revolution The 1 st shots of the battle of Lexington started on April 19 when the British and the colonial militia men started a shoot out.

5. …continued The militia men had retreated after losing 8 men, and the British had continued their march to Concord. When the British arrived they found few arms and marched back to Boston, but on their way they were ambushed by hiding colonists militia. At the end of the day the casualties were 2723 British and 95 militia. This was a surprising feat for the militia since they were just farmers and other civilian with guns. Word of the battle spread quickly and swiftly, the colonists were divided into patriots of the revolutionary cause and loyalists of England.

6. From the Battle of Bunker Hill to The Formation of The Colonial Army After the Lexington and Concord battle Massachusetts and Connecticut militia dug forts into the hills surrounding British–occupied Boston. These hill forts were named Dorchester Heights, in the south and Bunker Hill and Breed’s Hill, in the north. Once again General Gage had attacked one of these forts winning a costly victory for the British. This battle came to be known as the Battle of Bunker Hill in which the British attacked Breed’s Hill and won over the militias but lost 226 soldiers with 800 wounded as opposed to the militia loss of 140 and 271 wounded. This battle became significant in that it was evident that ill-organized militia were against well trained English soldiers. This had prompted the 13 colonies to finally act united and enforce American forces through better organization.

7. African-Americans in the Armies of Both Sides Outbreak of war offered the opportunity for possible freedom for African slaves. In 1775 the British Governor of Virginia offered any slave who would support the British army, their freedom. This caused a major disadvantage for the colonists since 800+ slaves joined them however in the winter of 1777, though hesitant, General George Washington of the colonial militia had agreed to offer black slaves their freedom. This promise was kept in 1783 when the surviving African participants of the war were given their freedom.

8. Moving Toward Independence The delegates of the continental congress had agreed that they needed to manage the war so they needed a continental army. Washington was appointed main commander of the colonial militia. He had made the army better coordinated Even with the building of the continental army and preparation for battle, congress was still undecided what they wanted from war if another alliance with England or separation from it.

9. Declaring Independence 1776 Richard Henry Lee one of the delegates of Virginia was the first person that proposed full independence. This motion was supported by the Virginian delegates and John Adams. Eventually all of the delegates of the continental congress had supported this motion of absolute independence form England. With this congress had agreed to appointing the committee of 5 to making the declaration of independence.

10. This committee consisted of: Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Roger Sherman, and Robert Livingston. The Declaration of Independence had ideas adopted from John Locke and Thomas Paine. In 1777 congress had also created the Articles of Confederation which had established a form of weak government. With both the Declaration of Independence and Articles of Confederation, the 13 colonies were able to gain independence and become unified. …continued

11. Washington and his Victorious Patchwork Army The colonial army at first consisted of simple civilians later came to be full of indentured servants and criminals that were promised freedom. Even though these soldiers were ill prepared, Washington and his officers had created discipline that gave way for a more effective army. The colonial army was sufficiently trained to fend off enemy British forces, but nevertheless tried avoiding all battles possible and only defend when forced to battle or resort to indirect strategies. They did this since Washington knew that his troops could not hope to win a direct battle with the British.

12. The British Evacuate Boston The British had taken control of Boston after the Battle of Bunker Hill. On March 1, Washington had assigned a Boston bookseller made colonel named Henry Knox the task of moving a large amount of guns from colonial controlled Fort Ticonderoga to Boston so that a colonial troops could run out the British from Boston. Unlike the typical indirect tactics being used in most battles. The battle for Boston was a direct bombardment that ran out the British on March 17. This was one of the only outright victories on part of the Patriots.

13. The War in North-Manhattan, Trenton, and Valley Forge. British general Thomas Gage was replaced as commanding officer, by Sir William Howe. The English had started to recruit German soldiers called Hessians who were mercenaries, most of which had no interest in the British cause. They recruited as many as 30,000 Hessians making up a quarter of the British forces. Howe had sent 30,000 troops to Manhattan, and as a result Washington had fortifications built to defend Brooklyn and Manhattan.

14. Continued On August 30 Howe’s well trained forced attacked Brooklyn and Washington and his 9,000 troops immediately abandoned the area as to not lose troops. Same thing Had happened in Manhattan and New Jersey. 1776 Christmas night Washington’s luck had turned when he and 2,400 troops had managed to daringly capture British controlled Trenton, New Jersey and successfully attacked a British force in Princeton and giving the colonists full control of southern New Jersey.

15. Another success for the colonists came when British general John Burgoyne forced his troops and the Hessians into exhaustion causing some to abandon him and join the American cause. Later he and his remaining troops battled against troops under command of Horatio Gates and failed to penetrate the colonial defense line with both sides sustaining heavy casualties. Eventually the colonists had managed to isolate the enemies and take all 5,800 of them prisoners, effectively eliminating a major force of the British army. The colonist’s success in this battle had proven to foreign countries (most importantly France and Spain) that they were able to withstand the force of Britain’s toughest troops. Colonials can withstand Britain’s Forces

16. General Clinton’s new strategy The British wanted to defeat Washington’s forces, and to capture the congress delegates that had approved the Declaration of Independence. In order to do this the British had attacked Philadelphia with the motive of capturing the congress men. However, the delegates had fled Philadelphia beforehand. In 1778, replacing General Howe, General Henry Clinton put into action a new attack strategy. Clinton encouraged Britain’s Indian allies and his own troops to attack frontier settlements. After 1778, he caused most of the battles of the Revolution to occur in the western and southern regions.

17. The Importance of France and Spain In the American Revolution, both French and Spanish allied with American troops against Britain for their own personal benefits. Both France and Spain wanted access to North American trade. In 1775, Spain supplied the colonists with essentials and weaponry. In February 1778, when the French allied with the colonists, they were the first to acknowledge The United States of America as it’s own country. In 1779, when France and Spain declared war on Britain, the American Revolution became a world war.

18. The Iroquois and the British At the begging of the war, most Iroquois Indians remained neutral, but seeing Britain as their key to independence, sided with them. As Iroquois attacked farms and threatened food supplies, Washington considered them a threat to the colonies, so he sent a third of the entire continental army to completely lay waste to their settlements and annihilate them as a threat.

19. Woman’s Support For Washington’s Army In 1780, Esther De Berdt Reed and Sarah Franklin Bache asked patriot woman to contribute in funding for the Continental Army. The women helped by sewing clothes for the ill-clad troops and helping farmers, who were taking part in the war. They also cultivated land where the male farmers weren’t present providing food for the soldiers and preventing economic ruin for the farmers that were in the war.

20. War in the South May 12, 1780 the attack and control Charleston, South Carolina making it clear that British motive was to separate the Carolinas and Georgia from the other colonies. Washington had appointed Nathaniel Greene as general so that he could deal with this problem. The British commander in charge of attacking the south was Lord Cornwallis. One of the last major battles of the war took place as a conflict of the armies of both of these men in Cowpens South Carolina when the Americans remained victorious against the British capturing 800 soldiers. Cornwallis realized his law and brought his remaining troops to York Town where he was surrounded by both Washington’s and Greene’s troops and restrained from fleeing by sea by the French navy. Cornwallis was forced to surrender in October 17, 1781.

21. The Treaty of Paris The surrender of Cornwallis didn’t end the war, but it made many in Parliament tired of it. In 1780, Congress had sent John Jay to join Benjamin Franklin and John Adams to negotiate peace. The Treaty of Paris was signed on September 3, 1783, marking the end of the war and the colonies independence.