The American War of Independence
Causes







Colonies are taxed to pay for the British conquest of Canada.
Stamp Act passed 1765
Townshend Acts places duties (taxes) on imports.
Boston massacre 1770. 5 killed. Duties removed except for tea.
The Boston Tea party 1773. Imported tea dumped into the harbour.
‘Intolerable acts’ passed closing the port. The Congress meets to organise resistence.
Lexington – the first battle of the war 1775
How did they win?



George Washington became commander in chief
It was hard for Britain to provide food, guns and ammunition.
France joined the side of the Americas in 1778.
George Washington





His father owned a plantation with many slaves.
In 1753 inheirited the plantation from his older brother who died.
Served with the British army between 1752-1758, fighting against the French & the
Indians.
After marrying a rich widow, Martha Dandridge, he was one of the wealthiest men in
Virginnia. He settled down as a farmer and was elected to the Virginnia Assembly.
He was chosen to be commander in chief because of his army background and he spoke
a lot of common sense at the delegation.
Thomas Paine and Common Sense




A pamphlet written by Thomas Paine in 1776.
In plain and easy English he encouraged Americans to gain Independence and become a
republic.
150,000 were sold. Americans decided they wanted Independence.
“all political connection between them and the State of Great Britian is, and ought to be,
dissolved.”
The Declaration of Independence




Issued by the Congress on 4th of July 1776 in Philadelphia.
Written by Thomas Jefferson, a delegate from Virginnia.
It claimed King George had failed
“A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant, is
unfit to be a ruler of a Free People.”
Revolutionary ideas




All men are created equal
A person has certain God given rights
A government is morally obliged to protect these rights
The power to rule comes from the people and not from God.
War of Independence







In 1776 and 1777 the war went badly for Washington. The British captured New York
and Philadelphia.
Washington and his soldiers had to spend the winter of 1777-78 in the remote valley
Forge. There was little food and the army nearly starved.
But Washington won the loyalty of his men by staying with them and sharing their
hardships.
Early in 1778 Washington heard that the King of France had decided to help the
Americans.
The French navy made it difficult for the British to bring fresh soldiers and more guns
across the Atlantic.
In 1781 Washington’s army trapped a British army at Yorktown in Virginia. A French fleet
stopped the British from escaping and they had to surrender.
This was the end for the British. In the Treaty of Versailles in 1782 they recognised the
independence of the American colonies.
America’s First President




In 1789 the Americans produced a Constitution which lasts today.
It said the USA was a Republic with an elected President, a Congress (parliament) and a
Supreme Court.
It also guaranteed human rights to its citizens (though not to its black slaves)
Americans asked Washington to be their first President. He held the job for eight years.
Then he retired to his plantation in Virginia where he died in 1799.
Results of American Revolution



In Europe, people admired the rights and freedoms the Americans had won for
themselves and wanted to imitate them.
The American Revolution encouraged similar revolutions in France and Ireland.
People admired American ideas of equality and democracy and the fact that they now
elected their government.