Ch:6 The American Revolution “Washington Crossing the Deleware”. IMAGE. Encyclopedia Britannica. Web 13 Oct. 2015 <http://media1.school.eb.com/eb-media/09/118409-004-8EECA00B.jpg>
6:3 The War Widens
“Washington Crossing the Deleware”. IMAGE. Encyclopedia Britannica. Web 13 Oct. 2015 <http://media1.school.eb.com/eb-media/09/118409-004-8EECA00B.jpg>
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Objectives
•  Discover the role that African Americans played in the
American Revolution. •  Find out how the war affected women and other civilians.
•  Learn about the progress of the fighting on the western
frontier and at sea.
Terms and People
•  enlist – sign up for duty •  civilian – person not in the military
•  continental – paper money printed by the Continental
Congress •  George Rogers Clark – Virginian who led
American troops against the British on the
western frontier
Matthew Harris Jouette; Public Domain
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Terms and People (continued)
•  Bernardo de Gálvez – governor of Louisiana
who played a major role in Spanish attacks
against the British
PUBLIC DOMAIN
•  John Paul Jones – American naval
commander who won a key battle against
the British
Jones, John Paul. IMAGE. Encyclopedia
Britannica.Web. 13 Oct. 2015. <http://
media1.school.eb.com/eb-media/
17/62617-004-OFC7CO9B.jpg>
•  privateer – armed civilian ship given its government’s
permission to attack enemy ships and keep their goods How did the effects of the war widen? While Continental soldiers faced battle in the thirteen
colonies, many people in other places also felt the
war’s effects.
American Revolution
Native
Americans
Western
settlers
Women
African
Americans
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African Americans fought on both sides during the
American Revolution.
Patriots
African Americans
British
Free African Americans fought for the Patriots
from the beginning, seeing action at several key
battles.
• Lexington and Concord
• Bunker Hill
• Saratoga
Some enslaved people also supported the Americans
after escaping from their owners.
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If they fought for the British, however, enslaved
people were offered something of immense value.
Freedom
To gain their freedom, thousands of enslaved
Americans fled their owners and joined the British.
At first, George Washington refused to accept African
American soldiers. Washington reversed his policy, however, after so many
African Americans began to join the British forces.
By the end of the war, more than 7,000 African
Americans had fought for the Patriots.
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Women, too, were affected by the war, often taking
on new responsibilities. Men who enlisted were
away for at
least one year
At home, women:
•  planted crops
•  tended livestock
•  ran businesses
Some women followed their husbands into battle.
They provided
supplies, food,
and water. They
cared for the
wounded.
Some, like Molly
Pitcher, stepped
in to fight when
her husband fell.
Pitcher, Molly.IMAGE.Encyclopedia Britannica.Web.13Oct.2015.<http://media1.school.eb.com/ebmedia/57/121657=004-D4C89D80.jpg
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Soldiers and civilians alike were affected by the
financial burdens of paying for the war.
Amount printed
• Congress printed
continentals to pay
expenses, but the
money soon lost its
value.
Continental
Continental
Value
• Congress had no
power to tax, and
the states had little
money.
Continental
Continental
Those on the western frontier also felt the war’s
effects. Native Americans
British
Most Native Americans sided with the British, fearing
an American victory would bring more settlers onto their
lands. 7
Many Indian groups, however, were bitterly divided
about which side to support. Some split into
warring factions.
A deadly epidemic added to the crushing effects of war.
Infighting
Smallpox
Western
raids
Native Americans
George Rogers Clark pushed west to strike British
forts on the frontier. Clark won key battles
against the British and
their Native American
allies.
These victories allowed
settlers to remain on
the frontier.
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Clark and other Americans were given help by the
Spanish, who declared war on Britain in 1779. Spanish
Patriots
Bernardo de Gálvez, the governor of Louisiana,
played a key role in Spanish attacks that captured
British forts along the Mississippi and the Gulf of
Mexico.
British
Spanish
Gálvez also gave refuge to American ships in New
Orleans harbor. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBszCrVoBoE
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Spanish troops
storm the
British positions
at the Siege of
Pensacola en:Image:Spanish troops at Pensacola.jpg by en:User:Albrecht Public Domain
The Americans needed the help. Their small navy
was no match for the British fleet, which dominated
the seas. Thirteen
colonies
British ships
blockaded most
American ports
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A much-needed naval victory
was won off the English coast
when John Paul Jones
refused to give up a long and
difficult fight, forcing a British
ship to surrender.
Richard Paton, Public Domain
Privateers also helped the Americans,
seizing supplies and goods from British
merchant ships.
Edgar S. Maclay, Public Domain
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