Transcript (why?) Declaration of Independence

4.2 Ideas Help Start a
Revolution
OBJECTIVE:
•Learn about the Continental Congress and increasing tensions
between Britain and her Colonies.
•Understand why Americans declared independence from
Britain.
Causes
Ideas
Declaration of Independence
Results
First and second Cont. Congress
• September 1774
•
•
•
•
• GA. Present this time
– Discuss Int. Acts
• Shots fired (lex
concord)
No Georgia or Canada
• Olive branch
Produce a
“Declaration of Rights • Washington to lead
and Grievances”
• Franklin to France
Agree to meet again in
May of 1775
• Separation from
England on the table
Rights as Englishmen
Second Continental Congress
Independence
vs.
• John Adams
• Appoints General
Washington head of
Continental Congress
• Prints currency
• Sends Benjamin Franklin
to France
• Battle of Bunker Hill
Reconciliation
• William Franklin
• John Dickinson
• “Olive Branch Petition”
 Rejected by George III,
who ordered a blockade of
the colonies
CASUALTIES:
British: out of 2,200 troops, 268 British soldiers and officers KIA, 828 WIA.
Americans: 115 KIA, 305 WIA (NPS)
George Washington owned
his own copy!!
•Written by Thomas Paine
•47 page essay attacking the King
and Parliament
“I find
Common
Sense is
working a
powerful
change in
the minds
of many
men.”
- G.W.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
“Common Sense”
The nearer any government approaches to a republic
the less business there is for a king. It is somewhat
difficult to find a proper name for the government of
England. Sir William Meredith calls it a republic;
but in its present state it is unworthy of the name,
because the corrupt influence of the crown, by
having all the places in its disposal, hath so
effectively swallowed up the power, and eaten out
the virtue of the house of commons that the
government of England is nearly as monarchical as
that of France or Spain.
Common Sense
“As
to government matters, it is not in the power of
Britain to do this continent justice: The business of it
will soon be too weighty, and intricate, to be managed
with any tolerable degree of convenience, by a power
so distant from us, and so very ignorant of us; for if
they cannot conquer us, they cannot govern us. To be
always running three or four thousand miles with a
tale or a petition, waiting four or five months for an
answer, which when obtained requires five or six
more to explain it in, will in a few years be looked
upon as folly and childishness--There was a time
when it was proper, and there is a proper time for it to
cease”
Ideas of Revolution
“Common Sense” by
Thomas Paine
• Originally an
anonymous work
• Firmly introduces call
for independence
• Calls for an end to
monarchy and the
beginning of a
republic
Declaration of Independence
• Continental Congress
appoints a committee to
prepare a declaration
• Thomas Jefferson chosen to
express declaration
• Draws on philosophy of the
Enlightenment
• Ideas of John Locke, “natural
rights”
• Right to resist tyranny
– Specific to George III (why?)
Declaration of Independence
It should be noted…
1. Power is derived from the consent of the governed = people
2. King’s power is not a “divine right.” Rather, the people have
unalienable rights.
3. Original draft was rejected by South Carolina and Georgia
because it attacked the slave trade.
4. The call for Equality was not originally meant to include
women or minorities.
5. Second Continental Congress called for independence on
July 2, 1776, and adopted the Declaration on July 4th.
Declaration of Independence
• For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world:
• For imposing taxes on us without our consent:
• For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of trial by
jury:
• For transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pretended
offenses:
• For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us
• He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burned our
towns, and destroyed the lives of our people
• He has kept among us, in times of peace, standing armies
without the consent of our legislature.
• He has affected to render the military independent of and
superior to civil power.
Road to Independence
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
• 1775 – Second Continental Congress appoints G.
Washington commander of Boston troops
• Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold capture Ft.
Ticonderoga in upper NY
June 1775, Battle of Bunker Hill
July 1775, Olive Branch Petition
Aug. 1775, George III , hires Hessians
Oct, 1775 Falmouth burned by British
Jan 1776 Norfolk burned by British
March 1776 British Evacuate Boston
1776 Common Sense published, end of “shilly-shallying”
Loyalists vs. Patriots
Maybe 1/3 of colonists were
loyalists
Perhaps 1/3 to 1/2 of the
colonists were patriots =
calling for independence.
Loyalists were stronger in the
South
Patriots tended to come from
those who wanted more
economic independence.
Loyalists included members of
King’s govt. in colonies, such
as judges, governors, etc.
AND many ordinary
colonists.
*Many Americans tried to stay
neutral, esp. Quakers.
African-Americans fought on
both sides.
Native Americans tended to
side with the British.