History and Geography

The American
Revolution
Reader

George Washington

Paul Revere’s ride

Crispus Attucks

Stamp Act Crisis

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The American
Revolution
Reader
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 The American
Revolution
Table of Contents
Chapter 1 Meet the Colonists. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Chapter 2 If You Had Lived in the Colonies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Chapter 3 The Rights of Englishmen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Chapter 4 Learning Hard Lessons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Chapter 5 The French and Indian War. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Chapter 6 The Quarrel with Britain Begins. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Chapter 7 The Stamp Act Crisis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Chapter 8 Parliament Stumbles Again. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Chapter 9 A Change in Thinking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Chapter 10 A Tea Party in Boston. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Chapter 11 The Colonies Resist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Chapter 12 The Fighting Begins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Chapter 13 Preparing for War. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Chapter 14 The Great Declaration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Chapter 15 A Discouraging Start . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Chapter 16 Raising America’s Spirits. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Chapter 17 Saratoga. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Chapter 18 Valley Forge. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Chapter 19 Fighting Shifts to the South. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Chapter 20 The World Turned Upside Down. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Maps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
 The American Revolution
Reader
Core Knowledge Sequence History and Geography 4
Chapter 1
Meet the Colonists
Coming to Pennsylvania On a
The Big Question
pleasant summer day in 1750, a ship
carrying four hundred Germans In what ways did the
colonies change over
arrived at the docks in Philadelphia. time?
These newcomers were about to
begin their new lives in a new place.

Even a hundred years earlier, the arrival

Vocabulary
of four hundred immigrants was not big
immigrant, n. a
person from one news. Back then, many people wanted to
country who moves to start a new life in an English colony. At the
another country to live
time there were five English colonies in
colony, n. an area, North America.
region, or country
that is controlled and
By 1750, there were thirteen English colonies
settled by people
from another country on the East Coast of what became the United
States. All of them were strong and growing.
Almost every week, a ship arrived with more immigrants. The
population of the colonies had already passed one million and was
quickly climbing toward two million. Settlements had spread from
the Atlantic Ocean to as far west as the Appalachian Mountains.

2
Immigrants by the hundreds arrived in the American colonies in the 1700s.

3
Why had so many people come to the British colonies in North
America? Why were so many still coming in 1750? The answer is simply
opportunity: the opportunity to own land of their own, the opportunity
to work in the growing towns and cities, the opportunity to worship as
they pleased, the opportunity to escape the past and start a new life.

Who were these colonists? Where were they from? They were
mainly ordinary people—farmers and people from small towns.
Most colonists were from England, but a large number—almost
a third—came from Germany. Many others came from Scotland,
Ireland, Wales, Sweden, and the Netherlands.

Not all of those who migrated to the

Vocabulary
colonies traveled willingly. About one
migrate, v. to move
person in five was enslaved, having been from one place to
forcefully removed from his or her home in another to live

Africa. Most eventually found themselves in

the South, but there were enslaved people in the North, too. Almost
none of the people who came from Africa were free.

Life in the Colonies

More than nine out of ten colonial families lived on farms. They
farmed their land by themselves. Every member of the family had
a job to do. As a result, they produced nearly everything they
needed to survive. They raised their own food. They made their
own clothes and their own tools. They made their own furniture.
Most of them even built the houses that they lived in. When the
weather and the harvest were good, farmers sometimes had
enough food left over to sell.

4
Colonists made almost everything they needed for themselves.

In the mid-1700s, there were still only four or five cities in all of
the colonies, and just a handful of towns. These cities were small
by today’s standards, but they were growing quickly. In just a few
short years, Philadelphia would become the second-largest city in
the whole British Empire next to London, England.

What sparked this growth of towns and cities? Trade within the
colonies and with other countries was the driving factor. From
the docks of the cities on the East Coast,
Vocabulary
merchants sent lumber, fur, salted fish,
trade, n. the
flour, rice, indigo, and tobacco to many exchange or sale of
parts of the world. To those docks, ships goods or services.

returned with glass, paint, tea, wine, merchant, n. a

and other goods the colonists needed person who sells or
trades goods
or wanted.

5
Trade also meant jobs. Men loaded and unloaded ships. They built
boats. They made sails, rope, and barrels for shipping goods. The
cities and towns offered other kinds of work, too. Men, and some
women, ran stores and shops. Skilled workers baked bread and
made pots and pans. Others printed newspapers or made fine
shoes and clothes for other city dwellers.

Staying Apart and Coming Together

When immigrants arrived in the colonies, they preferred to settle

near people who were from the same country. This made them
feel more comfortable in a strange, new land. They could speak
their own language and follow their own traditional ways of life.
They wore the same kinds of clothing they had worn in their
homeland and built the same kinds of houses.

In time, however, something interesting and

Vocabulary
important happened. Immigrant groups
custom, n. a
began to borrow ideas and customs from traditional way of
each other. For example, consider the log acting or doing
something
cabin. Swedes had built log cabins in their
homeland. In the colonies, they found plenty frontier, n. where
newly settled areas
of trees that could be used to build homes. adjoin unsettled areas
or the wilderness
A log cabin was easy to build. Two strong
settlers with axes could build one in a couple
of weeks. Other groups came to North America with their own ideas
of how to build a house. When they saw the log cabins built by
Swedish settlers, they realized that these homes were perfect for life
on the frontier. Soon settlers from many different countries built log
cabins like the ones built by the Swedes.
6
A log cabin could make a snug home for a frontier family.

This borrowing of ideas and customs among immigrant groups

even changed the way colonists spoke. Most colonists spoke
English, but English speakers began to borrow words from the
other languages spoken in the colonies. They borrowed the words
noodle and pretzel from German. They borrowed the words waffle,
cookie, and sleigh from Dutch. The words pecan, moccasin, skunk,
and squash came from Native American languages. Words such as
yams, banjo, and tote came from African languages.

The use of words borrowed from other languages created a

new form of English that would eventually be called American
English. Little by little, this new American English became the
language of the children and grandchildren of immigrants from
other lands.

7
Better Roads

By the 1750s, the colonists were also being brought together by

improved roads. These roads were not very good compared to our
own. They were narrow, often muddy, and filled with tree stumps.
Still, they were better than the roads of fifty or a hundred years
earlier. These roads made it easier to travel through the colonies.
Easier travel led to increased trade among the colonies.

Better roads also improved communications by speeding up the

exchange of information. In the mid-1750s, mail delivery between
Philadelphia and Boston increased to once a week instead of every
two weeks. That meant that newspapers printed in the cities could
be delivered to colonists in the countryside more easily. Colonists
could now read the same news and stay informed about the
same things.

In all these ways, colonists of many different backgrounds were

starting to come together. They were beginning—just beginning,
of course—to have more things in common. This coming together
soon became very important.

8
The Thirteen English Colonies of North America

NEW FRANCE

Québec
St. Lawrence
River
Montréal MASSACHUSETTS

NEW
HAMPSHIRE
Boston
NEW YORK MASSACHUSETTS
RHODE
New York City ISLAND
NEW JERSEY CONNECTICUT
PENNSYLVANIA Philadelphia

Ohio River MARYLAND

Valley DELAWARE

VIRGINIA Yorktown

NORTH CAROLINA

SOUTH CAROLINA

GEORGIA Key
New England colonies
Middle Atlantic colonies
Southern colonies

By the mid-1700s, English colonies covered much of eastern North America.

9
Chapter 2
If You Had Lived in the
Colonies
Growing Up What would it have
The Big Question
been like to grow up in the colonies?
What was daily life
Let’s spend a little time finding out. like for free colonial
We’ll begin by imagining that you children growing
are a colonist, and what your family up on a farm, in
comparison to
and daily life look like. Your family enslaved children?
probably lives on a farm. Nine out of
ten colonial families live on farms.
Chances are, your house is pretty crowded. That’s because colonists
have large families. You have lots of brothers and sisters.

What are the chances that you have your own bedroom? Just about
zero. You not only don’t have your own bedroom; you don’t even
have your own bed. You share a bed or a straw mattress on the floor
with other children in the family.

10
Many colonial children had lots of brothers and sisters.

11
While the house is crowded, you are grateful to have so many
kids in the family. You don’t have neighborhood friends, because
you don’t have a neighborhood. Only people living in villages
and towns have neighbors, so your brothers and sisters are your
“built-in” playmates.

Of course everyone has regular chores to do. That includes you.

Everyone’s day begins at dawn, if not before.

If you are a boy, your first job is to bring in firewood and build the
fire. Matches don’t exist yet, so you hope there is still a burning
coal in the fireplace from the night before. If not, you have to start
a new fire.

After breakfast and morning prayers, you head out to the fields with
your father. You plant and hoe and clear away brush from new land
that’s to be planted next year. You even help repair a fence or two.

Colonial children worked hard.

12
If you are a girl, you help your mother make candles and preserve
foods, starting right after breakfast. Your chores probably also
include feeding the animals. The rest of your morning is spent
helping cook the noon meal. In the afternoon, you sew, knit,
weave, or spin yarn.

Did you notice there is no time in your day’s schedule for school?
That’s because you probably don’t go to school. Perhaps you did
last year and the year before, but you can read and write now.
Most colonial parents feel that once you can do that, you don’t
need any more school.

Chances are though, you learn to read and write at home. An

older brother or sister or maybe a parent teaches you when you
are five or six. If no one in your family can read, then you might be
sent to learn at another farmhouse where someone else can. It is
considered important to learn how to read.

Children of Enslaved People

If you are a child in an enslaved family on

Vocabulary
a plantation, your life is different. When
enslaved, adj. forced
you are quite young—say five or six—there to become a slave
is plenty of time for play. In fact, some of
plantation, n. a
your playmates are probably the children large farm where
cash crops are grown
of the plantation owner. You may fish, pick
by the person who
berries, and freely explore the plantation owns the land
fields together.

13
Then, when you reach seven or eight years old, you start to take
care of younger brothers and sisters. Also, the plantation owner
begins to give you jobs like sweeping the yard, feeding the
chickens, and collecting the eggs. Even at this age, however, you
start to understand that you do not have the same freedoms as
the plantation owner’s children.

Enslaved people working in the fields.

14
The big change in your life comes when you are about ten years
old. Now you begin life as an enslaved worker. You work in the
fields doing the same hard work as the adults. You plant, plow,
and pick cotton from sunup to sundown.

Unlike the plantation owner’s children, you probably can’t read.

Depending on the colony you live in, the law may actually forbid
anyone from teaching you to read.

Sickness and Cures

Sickness is a serious problem in every

Vocabulary
colonial home. Many children die from
disease, n. sickness
disease. Little is really known about why
people get sick or how they can get well herb, n. a plant used
to give food flavor or
and stay well. as medicine

A lot of people think they know, though.

They make their own medicines from plants called herbs and
also from the roots and bark of trees. Do you have a cut that
isn’t healing? Swelling that won’t go down? A bad cold, perhaps?
There’s sure to be an herb or a root that will cure you.

Some of these herbs have been used for hundreds of years and
really do seem to help. Others, though, are not so helpful.

There are also some special tricks that are supposed to help you
get better. For example, to bring down a fever, your parents
might cut your toenails, put the clippings in a small linen bag,
and tie the bag around the neck of an eel, before putting the eel
in a tub of water. When the eel dies, your fever supposedly goes

15
down. One of the best-educated men in the Massachusetts colony
recommends that cure.

Even if you are just feeling tired, there’s a special recipe to help.
You roast a toad and grind it up. Then you add boiling water to
make a kind of tea. Drink it and you’ll be feeling lively in no time.
For a cold or sore throat, sprinkle pepper on a piece of meat and
wrap it around your throat.

COLONIAL CURES

1. Feed your children only plain foods and not so much

sugar, spice, or salt. No eating between meals, except
for dry bread.

2. Keep them away from candy.

3. See that they sleep on a hard bed. No soft feathers.

4. Bathe them in cold water, even in the winter.

5. Give them very thin shoes that will leak and let in
water. (A famous man got this idea by noting that
poor people often went barefoot and didn’t seem to
get sick from that.)

6. Strawberries, cherries, and gooseberries are good

for children. Melons, peaches, plums, and grapes are
not, even though they are tasty. Don’t give them any.

16
Of course, you could go to a doctor. There are a few doctors in the
colonies, but visiting one probably won’t do much good. There
are no special schools for training doctors in the colonies. Doctors
don’t know much more than most others about making people
well. Doctors do have a favorite cure for almost any illness, though.
It’s called bleeding the patient. To do this, doctors cut a vein in the
patient’s arm to let blood come out. Of course, the best thing to
do is to stay well.

17
Chapter 3
The Rights of
Englishmen
Part of the Empire If the colonists
The Big Question
had bumper stickers, one of them
What were some of
surely would have said, “Proud to be the rights granted
British.” That’s how most colonists to the citizens of the
felt in the middle of the 1700s. British Empire?

They were members of what became the greatest empire in the

world—the British Empire. They even modeled their own governing
bodies on the British system. How did a small island nation create
the British Empire? Beginning in the 1500s, what was then the
English Crown gave permission for people to set up colonies in North
America. Over time, England’s colonies in North America grew. In
1707, England, Wales, and Scotland united
Vocabulary under the name of Great Britain. Great Britain
empire, n. a group later set up other colonies in places like
of countries or Africa and India. Within a few hundred years,
territories ruled
by an all-powerful Great Britain became a powerful nation with
authority such as a colonies all over the world. In other words, it
monarch
created an empire.

18
The colonists were inspired by the parliamentary system. The English Parliament
has two houses, the House of Lords and the House of Commons. This is a House of
Commons meeting during the eighteenth century.

19
 As members of the British Empire, the
Vocabulary
colonists had special trade agreements
self-government, n.
the ability of people with other parts of the empire. On the
to rule themselves oceans, their ships were protected by
and make their own
laws the British navy, the greatest navy in the
world. Most important, the colonists in
English Parliament,
n. the original law- North America enjoyed a great deal of
making branch
self-government. That is, the colonists
of the English
government that had a say in choosing their own laws. How
is made up of the
House of Lords
did that happen?
and the House of
Commons Self-government started in England
several hundred years earlier. At that time,
certain wealthy and important English landowners elected people
to represent them in the English Parliament. Parliament is a
law-making body, much like our Congress.

At first, Parliament had little power. The

Vocabulary
king had most of it. Over time, members
Congress, n. the
of Parliament insisted that only they, not law-making branch
the king, should make decisions about of the American
government
taxes and spending. They said that that is made up
of the House of
Parliament should have a say in other
Representatives and
decisions, too. the Senate

English kings disagreed. For a few tax, n. money that

people are required
hundred years, the kings and Parliament to pay to support
struggled over this issue. In 1689, the workings of the
government
Parliament finally won.

20
When the English first settled in North
Vocabulary
America, they brought with them the idea
representative, n.
of self-government. Pretty soon, colonists a person who is
were electing representatives to their chosen or elected to
speak on the behalf
own law-making bodies. These bodies of other people
were usually called assemblies. But not
assembly, n. a group
everyone in the colonies could vote. of representatives
who gather to make
Women, African Americans, and Native
laws
Americans could not vote. Only white men
who owned enough property could vote. This meant that a large
part of the colonial population could not vote.

Soon colonists insisted that only their elected assemblies could

make laws for their colonies. They knew it was Parliament’s job

Colonists wanted their own elected assemblies.

21
to run the whole British Empire. It was up to Parliament to pass
laws about trade among different parts of the empire. Only
Parliament could decide the rules for trade between the empire
and other parts of the world. The American colonists didn’t argue
with that.

When it came to everyday life in their own colonies, however,

the colonists began to think that only they knew what was best
for them.

Claiming British Rights

As you have discovered, England had joined with Scotland

and Wales to form the nation of Great Britain. The people of
Great Britain—the English, the Scots, and the Welsh—had
self-government. They also had other rights and liberties. As
members of the British Empire, colonists in North America felt
they should have the same rights.

Most of these rights and liberties were meant to protect the

people against unfair actions by their own government. For
example, the government could not just take away a person’s
house or land or ship or other property. If the government said
it needed that property for a very important purpose, it had to
prove that to a judge. If the judge agreed with the government,
the government had to pay the owner for whatever it was taking.

Similarly, government officers could not search your home or

business whenever they felt like it. They first had to explain to a

22
judge why they believed you were hiding something illegal. The
judge then had to give permission for the officers to conduct a
search. Otherwise no search was allowed.

According to the law, British citizens could

Vocabulary
not be put in jail unless they were accused
citizen, n. a person
of breaking a law. If they were accused, who is legally
they could not be kept in jail indefinitely. recognized as a
member or subject
They had the right to a trial before a jury of of a country or state
fellow citizens.

There were other rights, too. If citizens wanted to gather

peacefully to talk about a problem or to protest something, the
government could not stop them. If they wanted to petition their
government, they had that right, too. To petition the government
is to ask the government to change a law, or to do something, or
even to stop doing something.

Do these rights seem very special to you? Maybe not. We have

them in the United States today, and sometimes we take them for
granted. Even today, many people in the world do not enjoy these
rights. In the middle of the 1700s, very few people outside of the
British Empire did. The people of Great Britain were proud to have
“the rights of Englishmen.” So were the colonists.

No wonder the colonists felt they were among the most fortunate
people on earth. They lived in a land blessed by nature. They
enjoyed rights and liberties equal to anyone, anywhere in the
world. They were proud and happy to be a part of the empire

23
of Great Britain. The idea of separating from the British Empire
probably never entered the minds of most colonists. Many years
later, Benjamin Franklin said, “I never heard in any conversation
from any person . . . the least [desire] for separation from England.”

Franklin was remembering how the

Vocabulary
colonists felt around 1763. But thirteen
independence, n.
years later the American colonies freedom from the
separated from Britain and declared their control of a person
or group of people
independence. What happened to make
the colonists change their minds?

24
Life was better than it had been in Europe for many colonists.

25
Chapter 4
Learning Hard Lessons
Whose Land Is It? Traveling
The Big Question
hundreds of miles through the
What were some of
wilderness was a long way to go the mistakes young
to deliver a message. It must have George Washington
made when dealing
seemed especially long to the with the French
twenty-one-year-old military officer army?
from Virginia who delivered the
message. All he got for his troubles was a big “No.”

The young officer and his party of six were

Vocabulary
from the British colony of Virginia. They
militia, n. a group
of armed citizens were members of the Virginia militia, a sort
prepared for military of volunteer citizen’s army. The year was
service at any time
1753. France had just built a string of forts
fort, n. a protected along the Ohio River in what is now western
building or place
that is generally used Pennsylvania. The young officer’s mission
by the military as a was to carry a message from the governor
stronghold
of Virginia to the French general in charge of
governor, n. a person
those forts.
appointed by the king
to oversee a region or
colony

26
The French and the British built forts in North America.

27
For weeks the Virginians traveled by horseback and canoe until
they finally met up with the French general. The young officer
handed him the message. The main idea of the message was
simple: Your forts are on Virginia’s land. Get out!

The French general was polite but firm. “No,” he replied. “My
troops will not get out. This land belongs to France. French fur
trappers have lived on this land for a hundred years. French
colonists have settled here. We will not leave.”

On the return journey to Virginia, the group’s horses gave out,

forcing the officer and his men to walk. Along the way, a Native
American fired at the officer. The shot barely missed him.
Then while crossing an ice-filled river on a raft, the officer was
accidentally knocked overboard. He nearly drowned before his
men got him out.

The men finally returned to Virginia, and the officer gave the
governor the bad news. The French were determined to stay.

The young officer’s unsuccessful journey would soon lead to war.

The war led to events that brought about the birth of the United
States of America.

Who was the twenty-one-year-old officer from the Virginia colony?

His name was George Washington. He would have a lot to do with
the birth of the United States of America.

Washington’s Mistakes

The governor of the Virginia colony was determined to make the

French leave the land near the Ohio River. If they could achieve

28
this, Virginia would
have more control of
the Ohio River and
the smaller rivers that
flowed from and fed
into the larger river.
One year later, in
1754, he sent George
Washington to the
west again. This time
Washington led a force
of 150 men.

The British had built a

small fort in western
Pennsylvania on the George Washington was proud to be an officer in the
Virginia militia.
site of present-day
Pittsburgh. The fort sat where two rivers come together to form
the Ohio River. Washington was to join forces with the British
soldiers at the fort. Before he arrived, Washington learned that the
French had already captured the British fort and renamed it Fort
Duquesne (/doo*kayn/).

In time, George Washington would

Vocabulary
become a great general, but in 1754, he
general, n. the main
was young and inexperienced. He made a leader of an army
number of mistakes. Washington did not
have enough men to drive the French out of the fort. The wisest
thing to do would have been to return to Virginia. Instead, he
continued on with his small force.
29
Along the way, Washington’s troops
Vocabulary
surprised and defeated a group of thirty
ally, n. a nation that
French soldiers, killing ten of them. The promises to help
French at Fort Duquesne had many more another nation in
wartime
men than Washington had, and they had
Shawnee and Delaware Native American allies as well. They
were sure to send out a larger force from the fort to deal with
Washington’s Virginians.

Realizing this, Washington built a makeshift camp southeast of

the French stronghold. His men called the camp “Fort Necessity.”
The spot Washington chose for Fort Necessity was a low piece of
ground. Soon after the French attacked, it began to rain heavily.
Before long, Washington’s men, their guns, and their gunpowder
were soaked with the rain that collected in the low area where the
fort was built. The Virginians fought bravely, but after nine hours,
Washington was forced to surrender.

The French commander instructed an assistant to prepare a

statement explaining why the fighting had taken place. The
statement said, “We, the Virginians, are the ones who started
the fighting. It was all our fault.” The French commander
read the statement and handed it to Washington. “Sign,”
he said. “Sign, or I will not allow the prisoners to return
to Virginia.” Washington signed, and the men were released.

When the men returned to Virginia, British officials were

very angry. They were angry with the French and angry with

30
Washington. They blamed him for his unwise decisions. They also
blamed him for signing the statement. Washington resigned from
the Virginia militia. That could have been the end of his military
career. If it had been, you might be saluting the British flag today
instead of the Stars and Stripes.

31
Chapter 5
The French and
Indian War
A War in the Colonies Washington’s
The Big Question
small battle against the French
How did the British
started the French and Indian War. defeat the French in
On one side was France, their French the French and Indian
colonists in North America, and their War?
Native American allies. On the other
side was Great Britain, their British colonists in North
America, and their Native American allies.
Great Britain and France had been fighting each other on and off for
nearly a hundred years. No one was surprised that they were at war
again. The two European countries had colonies all over the world.
Both wanted to control the other’s colonies. It was no surprise when
the war that began in North America spread to two other continents
and the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans. In Europe and Asia, the
war was called the Seven Years’ War. In North America, it was called
the French and Indian War.

32
George Washington’s small battle helped trigger another war between
Great Britain and France.

33
Fighting in the Woods
Vocabulary
The British were determined to take Fort colonel, n. a
high-ranking military
Duquesne and drive the French out of the official
Ohio River Valley. In 1755, they sent General
parade, n. a public
Edward Braddock with 2,200 soldiers from display of people
the British army to do the job. Eager to join moving in a long line

Braddock’s army and return to Fort Duquesne, advance, v. to move

forward
George Washington offered his services
to the British general. Braddock appointed
the eager young Virginian to the position of colonel (/ker*null/).
Washington was put in charge of 450 colonial soldiers.

Braddock was an experienced general. He knew how to fight wars in

Europe, where armies battled on great open fields. He knew very little
about fighting a war in the woods of North America. Even worse, he
was too stubborn to listen to anyone who did.

The first thing Braddock did was order his men to cut a hundred-
mile-long road through the woods toward Fort Duquesne. His
army would march on the road—almost as if they were on parade.

Colonel Washington knew that building the road was unwise. He and
his colonists knew about the woods. They warned Braddock that his
soldiers should advance with great caution. An attack could come
at any moment from anywhere. Braddock ignored their advice. They
were only colonists. What did they know about the art of war?

A few miles from Fort Duquesne, French soldiers and their Native
American allies attacked Braddock’s army without warning. They
fired from hiding places in the thick woods. The British didn’t

34
 Both sides had Native American allies. The Huron fought with the
French; the Iroquois sided with the British.

know what hit them. Their bright red coats made them easy
targets. They panicked and ran. General Braddock was killed.

Fortunately for the British, George Washington had joined them.

Courageously exposing himself to danger, Washington led the
remaining British soldiers to safety.
Vocabulary
Victory for the British prime minister, n.
the head of the
government in some
For a time, the French and Indian War countries
went badly for the British elsewhere too.
Things began to turn around when William Pitt became the British
prime minister. As prime minister, Pitt was in charge of Great Britain’s
foreign affairs. This included foreign wars and dealing with the colonies.

It was true that the war was being fought around the world, not
just in North America. But Pitt knew the American colonies were
valuable to Great Britain. He decided that Great Britain must
win the war and keep control of its North American lands. If that
35
meant sending more soldiers to North America, Pitt would do it.
Waging a war on many continents was expensive, but Pitt was
ready to spend whatever was necessary to win.

Pitt wanted to win control of two rivers: the St. Lawrence River and
the Niagara River. The French used these rivers to send supplies
to their soldiers near the Great Lakes and in the Ohio River Valley,
including those at Fort Duquesne. If the British could prevent the
French from using these rivers, they would soon run out of supplies.

Aided by their Native American allies and the American colonists,

the British did what Pitt wanted. In addition, British and American
forces captured Fort Duquesne. They renamed it Fort Pitt. That
is how the city of Pittsburgh eventually got its name. They also
captured the French fortress at Louisbourg in Canada.

Another part of Pitt’s plan was to capture Quebec. The city of Quebec
sits atop steep cliffs alongside the St. Lawrence River. The cliffs
protected the city from attack. At least, that’s what the French thought.
One night in September 1759, British soldiers, led by General James
Wolfe, climbed to the top of the cliffs. When dawn broke, the French
found the British assembled on a flat area, called the Plains of Abraham,
ready for battle. The British defeated the French forces and took the
city of Quebec. Both Wolfe and the French
general, Louis Montcalm, died in the battle. Vocabulary
“peace treaty,”
The British now controlled the St. Lawrence (phrase), an agreement
River, and the French had lost. The French between two or
more groups to bring
and Indian War ended when Great Britain an end to fighting,
and France signed the Treaty of Paris in 1763. conflict, or war
between themselves
As a part of the peace treaty, France gave all
36
of Canada to Great Britain. France also gave the land it had claimed
between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River to
Britain. The land west of the Mississippi River was given to Spain, one of
France’s allies in the war. Spain was, however, forced to give up Florida.

How complete was Great Britain’s victory? Britain was now the main
colonial power in North America.
Colonial North America After the French and Indian War

Québec
St. Lawrence
River
Niagara
River
s
ian
ch
pala
Ap
ver
pi Ri

Key
issip

Spanish Territory
Miss

Territory ceded to Britain

(Treaty of Paris, 1763)

Thirteen Colonies
N
Acquired from Spain

W E
British Territory in Canada

This map shows the lands gained at the end of the French and Indian War. Spain had
joined the war on the side of France. It had to give up land, too.
37
Chapter 6
The Quarrel with
Britain Begins
Colonists Claim New Land What’s
The Big Question
the point of winning land in a war
What were the
if you’re not allowed to use it? Even reasons why
before the French and Indian War, George III would not
some colonists had moved onto allow the colonists to
move west into the
the lands west of the Appalachian Ohio River Valley?
Mountains.

38
The colonists wanted to move onto land in the Ohio River Valley and set up farms.

39
Now that France had given up its claim to land in the Ohio River
Valley and beyond, many colonists looked forward to using
the land themselves. The British government saw the matter
differently. Many groups of Native Americans lived on that land.
Some of them had fought with the British in the war against
France. Having just ended one war with France, the British did not
want to start a new one with Native Americans. They would surely
have one, though, if colonists kept pushing onto Native American
lands. In fact, one conflict did break out among Native Americans,
settlers, and British soldiers. This conflict was called Pontiac’s War.
During this rebellion, Native Americans in the Great Lakes area
tried to drive settlers off of their land.

Great Britain believed that it would be

Vocabulary
best to keep colonists away from Native
proclamation, n.
American lands—for now, at least. On a map an important official
of North America, the British king, George III, announcement that
is usually made to
drew a line running along the Appalachian the public
Mountains from New York all the way south
to Georgia. He then issued a proclamation. Until further notice, no
more colonists were allowed to settle west of that line.

The Proclamation of 1763 angered the colonists. They had

not fought the French to win land for Native Americans. They
expected to keep it for themselves. Now their own king was telling
them they couldn’t settle there. The king also said that thousands
of British soldiers would stay along the frontier to enforce the
proclamation. The presence of British soldiers meant colonists
couldn’t move west of George III’s line.

40
Native Americans did not want the colonists to move onto their land.

The Quarrel Grows

Soon the colonists had an even bigger disagreement with Great

Britain. This new quarrel also grew from the war with France.

Britain spent a lot of money to win the French and Indian War. In
fact, it spent more money than the British government really had.
The government had borrowed what it needed to pay for the war.
Now it had to pay back the borrowed money. It also needed to pay
for the soldiers on the North American frontier.

Where was this money going to come from? Parliament thought

the colonists should pay—maybe not all of the money, but
certainly a fair share. The colonists had been helped by Britain’s
victory over France. They should help pay for it.

41
First, Parliament said colonists needed
Vocabulary
to start paying the taxes they should
import, v. to
have been paying all along. For example, bring in goods to
colonists were supposed to pay taxes on one country from
another country
certain imported goods. Instead, they had
tax collector, n. a
been smuggling—bringing in the goods
person appointed
secretly—to avoid the tax collectors. by the government
who is responsible
The British government sent more officials for collecting taxes
from citizens
to the colonies to make sure the colonists
paid their taxes. The officials were molasses, n. thick,
dark, sticky syrup
especially interested in new taxes on sugar made from sugar
and molasses. These officials could enter
and search colonists’ homes and businesses without the owners’
permission. They could search for smuggled goods or anything
else that showed colonists had broken the law.

Remember the “rights of Englishmen”? One of those rights said

that government officials could not just search a home or business
whenever they felt like it. How could the British government take
this right away from its colonists?

Parliament found another way to make colonists pay. When the

French and Indian War ended, there were thousands of British
soldiers in the colonies. The British government wanted to keep
them there. To help pay for this, Parliament passed the Quartering
Act. The act required colonial governments to supply quarters for
the British soldiers. Quarters were places to live.

42
The colonists did not like the Quartering Act. Why did the British
government want to keep soldiers in the colonies? If it was for
the colonists’ protection, whom were they being protected
from? Were the soldiers staying in the colonies to make sure that
colonists obeyed British laws, even the unfair ones?

Many colonists did not like having to quarter British soldiers in their homes.

43
Chapter 7
The Stamp Act Crisis
A Tax on Paper The British also
The Big Question
created new taxes to collect
Why did the Stamp
money from the colonists. In 1765, Act cause so much
Parliament passed the Stamp Act. anger in the colonies?
This law made colonists pay a tax on
just about every kind of printed paper. The tax applied
to about fifty different items in all.

44
People began to protest against the Stamp Act.

45
Under the Stamp Act, colonists had to buy special tax stamps from
a tax collector. They would put a stamp on each of the taxed items
they used. Every time they bought such things as a newspaper, a
calendar, a marriage license, or any kind of legal or business paper,
they had to pay a tax. They even had to pay a tax on playing cards.
This made many of the colonists very angry.

Do you see why the colonists were so outraged? Had their own
colonial assemblies passed this tax law? No, they had not. It was
the British Parliament in faraway London, England.

Sure, British subjects living in Great Britain Vocabulary

were already paying a stamp tax. But those “taxation without
subjects were represented in Parliament. representation,”
(phrase), the idea
The colonists were not. They could not that American
elect members of Parliament. They had no colonists did not
have a say in the
voice and no representatives in Parliament. English Parliament,
What right did Parliament have to pass a which enacted taxes
without their consent
law taxing them? None. Absolutely none. To
the colonists, this was “taxation without representation.” It was
completely unjust!

A Leader Emerges

One colonist who strongly protested the Stamp Act was a

twenty-nine-year old Virginian named Patrick Henry. Patrick Henry
was a member of the Virginia assembly, known as the Virginia House
of Burgesses. He gave a powerful speech against the new tax. He
warned that the Stamp Act would take away the colonists’ liberty.

46
Patrick Henry spoke out against the Stamp Act.

Patrick Henry’s speech was printed in newspapers throughout

the colonies. The speech made people think. In New York, Boston,
Newport, and other places throughout the colonies, people
protested, debated, and formed groups called the Sons of Liberty.
These groups threatened the stamp tax collectors. Many stamp tax
collectors decided that the best thing to do was get out of town
and forget about selling tax stamps.
Vocabulary
The Colonies Protest boycott, n. a form of
organized protest in
The Sons of Liberty did more than threaten which people refuse
to buy goods or have
tax collectors. They also organized anything to do with
a boycott of British goods. People a particular group or
country

47
throughout the colonies agreed not to buy
Vocabulary
goods from Great Britain as long as the
Patriot, n. a person
Stamp Act remained a law. who supported
the cause of the
Like the Sons of Liberty, women’s groups colonists during the
called the Daughters of Liberty helped American Revolution

support the boycott. One of the most “course of action,”

(phrase), a plan
important goods purchased from British
to respond to a
merchants was cloth. To make up for the situation
growing shortage in the colonies, the
Daughters of Liberty wove their own cloth.

The Sons of Liberty, Daughters of Liberty, and the many other

people who supported the colonists’ cause also gave themselves
another name. They
called themselves
Patriots.

Colonial leaders knew

they could do more
to put pressure on
Parliament. Colonial
leaders called for a
special meeting of all
the colonies to decide
on a course of action.
In October 1765, nine
colonies sent delegates,
or representatives,
Patrick Henry’s newspaper article influenced many
to the meeting held people in the colonies.

48
in New York. Delegates at the Stamp
Vocabulary
Act Congress agreed on a number of
repeal, v. to cancel
statements that confirmed the rights of or do away with
colonists as British subjects. They also asked something, such as
a law
Parliament to repeal the hated law.
resistance, n. an
These actions by the colonists shocked the effort to stop a law
or policy from taking
leaders of the British government. They
effect
were especially worried by the meeting
of the Stamp Act Congress. Never before had the colonies acted
together against the British government. British leaders did not
want this to become a habit. British merchants weren’t happy
either. The boycott was causing them to lose a lot of money.

In 1766, after one year, Parliament repealed the Stamp Act. When
the news reached America, the colonists celebrated. Through their
resistance, they had brought an end to the hated Stamp Act. Of
course, they still loved their king. No one was talking about leaving
the British Empire. The Stamp Act had really been nothing more
than a conflict between members of the same family.

49
Chapter 8
Parliament
Stumbles Again
Who Is in Charge? You might think
The Big Question
Parliament would get the message:
Why did the British
no taxation without representation. government repeal
The colonists had drawn the line the Townshend Acts?
there, but the British government still
needed money, and it needed to show who was boss. And
so in 1767—just one year after repealing the Stamp Act—
Parliament tried again. This time, as part of the Townshend
Acts, it placed taxes on glass, paint, lead, paper, and a
number of other goods that colonists imported.

50
The British government taxed imported goods that the colonists needed.

51
This was Parliament’s thinking: the colonists
Vocabulary
need these goods, so when ships deliver
harbor, n. a part of
them to colonial harbors, our officials will a body of water that
be there to collect the tax. Parliament made is next to land and
provides a safe place
things worse by saying that whomever was for ships to anchor
arrested for not paying the tax would be
manufacturer, n. a
tried without a jury. person or company
that makes or
Taxation without representation again? produces an item to
be sold
And this time, trial without a jury? So much
for the “rights of Englishmen”! Once again,
the Sons of Liberty swung into action. They organized another
boycott of all British goods. This boycott was as successful as the
first one. The colonists didn’t stop at making their own cloth. They
also made their own paint, lead, glass, and paper. The quality of
the homemade items was not as good as those purchased from
Britain, and it may have cost more to make them, but the colonists
would make do to get their point across!

The boycott lasted for nearly three years. Once again, the
colonists succeeded. British merchants and manufacturers lost
so much money because of the boycott that they demanded that
Parliament repeal the new taxes.

It was one thing for the colonists to demand that Parliament

repeal a tax. Parliament could ignore them if it wished. But
Parliament could hardly ignore the powerful businessmen of their
own country.

So in 1770, Parliament repealed all but one of the taxes. The British
government kept the tax on tea as a symbol of their right to pass
52
laws and tax the colonies. The colonists responded accordingly.
They ended their boycott of all goods from Britain, except for one.
Can you guess which item they continued to boycott?

Parliament had left the tax on tea to show that it had the right to
tax the colonists. The colonists continued the boycott on tea to
show that Parliament did not have the right to tax them. Each side
was willing to leave it at that for the time being. The colonists, who
were big tea drinkers, didn’t give up tea completely. They simply
bought their tea from Dutch merchants who smuggled it into
the colonies.

The Boston Massacre

Meanwhile, more British troops arrived in the colonies. The

colonists grew alarmed. For them, the presence of British soldiers
represented a threat to their freedom. The British said the soldiers
were needed to defend the colonists against Native American
attacks. If that were true, then why weren’t the soldiers on the
frontier, where the Native Americans were? Why were so many
troops located in eastern cities, like Philadelphia, New York, and
Boston? In Boston in particular, troops seemed to be everywhere—
on the street corners, in front of buildings, in the parks.

The citizens of Boston jeered at the soldiers. They made fun

of them. They tried to make their lives miserable. Because
British soldiers sometimes had regular jobs, tensions grew over
employment opportunities, too. In several cities, fights broke out
between colonists and soldiers.

53
Those fights were not nearly as bad, though, as what happened
in Boston on the evening of March 5, 1770. There, a crowd of men
and boys gathered around a lone British soldier on guard duty.
They shouted insults and threw snowballs at him. Some of the
snowballs had rocks inside of them.

The frightened soldier called for help. More British soldiers arrived.
The crowd grew larger. The shouts, the dares, and the insults grew
louder and angrier.

Then, for reasons that are unclear, the soldiers turned their
guns on the angry crowd and shot. When the smoke cleared,
five colonists lay dead or wounded. Their blood stained the
snow-covered street. One of them was Crispus Attucks, who had
once been enslaved and now worked as a sailor. Crispus Attucks

Crispus Attucks was the first African American to die for the Patriot cause.

54
was the first African American to die for the cause of American
liberty. He was not the last.

A few days later, more than half of the

Vocabulary
population of Boston turned out for a
massacre, n. the
funeral march for the dead men. Shops violent killing of
were closed. Church bells rang. Angry defenseless people

Bostonians called the killing a massacre— silversmith, n. a

a needless killing of defenseless people. person who makes
things out of silver
The event became known as the Boston
engraving, n. a
Massacre.
design or pattern
that is cut into the
A Boston silversmith named Paul Revere
surface of an object
made a copper engraving that showed
soldiers firing on a group of perfectly peaceful, innocent citizens.
Many paper copies can be printed from a single engraving. That is
exactly what Revere did.

No one knows for sure whether Revere actually saw the shooting.
Some of the things shown in the engraving are not true. But Paul
Revere was a Son of Liberty. He made that engraving because he
wanted to make people angry at the British. Sure, the citizens who
were shot had been asking for trouble. But they certainly did not
deserve to die.

The British soldiers who fired on the crowd were tried by a

local court. It found six soldiers innocent and two guilty of
manslaughter. The lawyer who defended them was John Adams.

55
Chapter 9
A Change in Thinking
Calm Before the Storm In time,
The Big Question
the anger over the Boston Massacre
What was the
died down. The British government Committee of
didn’t do anything new to upset Correspondence?
the American colonists. For the
most part, American colonists tried not to upset the
British government. Therefore the next three years were
mostly calm.

56
In the early 1770s, colonists’ feelings toward London and Britain itself were changing.

57
Still, the way many colonists thought about Britain was changing.
A country that sets up colonies in other lands is often called the
mother country. That’s what most colonists had always called
England, or Britain. Even those who had never been there called
Britain home.

The British described their relationship with the colonies the same
way. Prime Minister William Pitt once said, “This is the mother
country, they are the children. They must obey, and we prescribe
[set the rules].”

But children grow up. They learn to do things for themselves. They
gain confidence. They need to do things their own way. Eventually,
they live on their own. Independently.

After the Boston Massacre, some colonists wondered whether

that time had come. This change in thinking happened slowly. At
first only a few felt that way. Most colonists wanted to stay in the
British Empire. They were loyal to their king. They just thought
it was time for the British government to stop making rules
for them.

A small number of colonists talked about going further. They

believed that they could only keep their liberties by breaking
away from Britain. The colonies, they believed, must become
independent.

Sam Adams

Sam Adams of Boston was one of the colonists who believed in

independence. Adams came from an important Boston family.

58
Sam Adams wanted the colonies to be independent of Great Britain.

In 1765, at the time of the Stamp Act, Adams helped to organize

the Sons of Liberty. He was one of the leaders in the boycotts
against British goods.

From that time forward, Adams worked to convince others that

it was time to separate from Great Britain. In newspaper articles

59
he told colonists to stand up against Britain for their rights. “The
liberties of our country . . . are worth defending at all risks,” he
wrote. It would be a “disgrace” to allow our freedoms to be taken
away “from us by violence, without a struggle, or be cheated out
of them by tricks . . .”
Vocabulary
After the Boston Massacre, Adams
committee, n. a
and others in Boston created a way to group of people
alert colonists if (or when) the British selected to do a
certain task
government threatened their liberties
quill pen, n. a pen
again. In 1772, they set up a Committee of
made from the
Correspondence. feather of a bird

Correspondence means “an exchange of

letters.” If the British again took away any “rights of Englishmen,”
committee members would immediately send letters across
Massachusetts with the news.

The idea spread quickly to other colonies. Soon there was a

great network of Committees of Correspondence. They could
get news out quickly within each colony and from one colony
to another.

Of course these committees didn’t put away their quill pens and
paper and wait for the next conflict. They wrote to each other
often. Little by little, the idea of independence spread throughout
the colonies. Those who wanted independence were still in
the minority. But what would happen if the British government
threatened their liberties once again?

60
 Rising Tensions

1772
Committees of
Correspondence
are formed
1770
Boston Massacre
occurs

1765
Stamp Act
is passed
1763
King George III issues
Proclamation

1754
French and
Indian War begins

1750
Colonial population
grows

Over time, relations became strained between Great Britain and the colonies.

61
Chapter 10
A Tea Party in Boston
Parliament Makes Another
The Big Question
Mistake Have you ever heard the
What were the events
expression, “He was too clever that led to the Boston
for his own good”? It means that Tea Party?
sometimes a person thinks he has a
smart solution to a problem. Instead,
his solution makes things worse.

Few sayings better describe what the British government did next.
Parliament had left the tax on tea just to show the colonists that it
had the right to tax them. Meanwhile the colonists had maintained
the boycott on tea just to show Parliament that it didn’t.

Parliament decided its plan had not worked. British tea merchants
had lost their colonial customers. The colonists were buying tea
smuggled in by Dutch merchants. As a result, the government hadn’t
collected more than a few pennies in taxes. So in 1773, Parliament
came up with another plan. It passed the Tea Act.

Parliament’s new plan was clever but tricky. Parliament lowered the
price of the tea itself. But it also kept the tax on the tea. When the
new price of the tea was added to the tax, the total cost was less than
what the colonists paid for tea from the Dutch.
62
Tea was a popular drink in the colonies.

63
Parliament thought the colonists would now buy British tea again.
When they did, they would be paying the tea tax! Soon two
thousand chests of tea were loaded aboard British ships bound
for the American colonies. Once there, the tea would be sold by
certain colonial merchants.

Unfortunately, Parliament was “too clever for its own good.” The
Tea Act of 1773 showed how poorly Parliament understood the
colonists. The colonists did not care about the price of tea. They
cared about “taxation without representation.” They were not
going to pay that tea tax, no matter what British tea cost.

News Travels Fast

As British tea ships headed for the colonies, Committees of

Correspondence went to work. The news spread through the
colonies. The Sons of Liberty prevented the tea ships from being
unloaded in several ports. In Philadelphia, for example, the Sons of
Liberty sent a letter to the captain of a ship waiting in the harbor
to unload its chests of tea. “I wouldn’t try to land that tea if I were
you,” said the letter. “Your ship may just happen to be set on
fire . . .” The captain got the idea and decided not to dock.

Colonists in other colonial port cities responded the same way. Some
captains had their ships wait in the harbor. Others turned their ships
around and headed home. That is not what happened in Boston.

Time for Tea

Early in December 1773, three tea ships entered Boston Harbor.

Citizens gathered at a town meeting. They demanded that the
64
No one was fooled by the costumes worn by the colonists when they tossed the
tea into Boston Harbor.

governor of the colony order the ships to leave. The governor did
not like Sam Adams or the Sons of Liberty. He refused.

Colonists took matters into their own hands. On the night of

December 16, 1773, a group of colonists dressed as Native
Americans as a symbol of independence. Then they rowed out
to the ships in the harbor. They boarded the ships and dumped
every chest of tea into the water. Exactly 342 chests went into the
harbor. All of this was done in a quiet, businesslike way. When they
were through, the “Native Americans” swept the deck and put
everything back in its proper place. This event became known as
the Boston Tea Party.

65
The Intolerable Acts

When Parliament and the king heard about the Boston Tea Party,
they were outraged. Parliament passed laws to punish the people
of Boston and the whole Massachusetts colony. One law closed
the Port of Boston until the colonists paid for the wasted tea.
For a city that depended on trading and fishing, this was a harsh
punishment. Parliament hoped that Boston’s merchants and
fishermen would turn in the guilty persons. Maybe they would
even pay for the tea themselves. They did neither.

A second law took away most of the Massachusetts colony’s

self-government. The British also appointed an army general
to be the governor of Massachusetts. The new governor came
with thousands of British soldiers. The
Quartering Act forced the colonists to Vocabulary
house and feed the soldiers. intolerable, adj.
unbearable
These laws became known as the
Intolerable Acts because the colonists oppose, v. to be
against something
would not tolerate or accept them.

Making Enemies

The British government failed to understand the effects of its

actions. The new laws caused it to lose friends and make enemies.
Even colonists who were loyal to Britain, who opposed the Sons of
Liberty, who wanted to buy British tea and pay the tea tax felt the
new laws were too harsh.

66
Tax collectors were unpopular. This tax collector has been painted with
melted tar and covered with feathers.

Once again, the Committees of

Vocabulary
Correspondence spread the news. The
resist, v. to go against
colonies decided to stand with the people
of Boston to resist the Intolerable Acts.
67
Chapter 11
The Colonies Resist
Help from Other Colonies
The Big Question
Parliament was right about one
thing: the Intolerable Acts made How did colonists’
attitudes and view of
the people of Boston and the rest themselves begin to
of Massachusetts suffer. However, change?
Parliament didn’t expect the other
colonies to come to their aid.

Pennsylvania sent barrels of flour to the people of Massachusetts.

New York sent sheep. South Carolina sent sacks of rice. Connecticut
sent money. Virginia sent corn and wheat.

Virginia’s leaders even went a step further. They set aside a day of
fasting and prayer for the people of Boston. They also declared that
the Intolerable Acts were a threat to liberty in every colony. If the king
and Parliament could do these things to Massachusetts, what would
stop them from doing the same to other colonies?

68
Throughout the colonies, there was a determination to help the people of Boston.

69
The Virginians took a bold step. They called for delegates from all of
the colonies to meet and discuss what to do next. This would be the
second time delegates met to resist an act of Parliament. The first
time, the Stamp Act Congress, had been successful. This time, though,
the British government seemed determined not to back down.

The First Continental Congress

In September 1774, fifty-six colonial leaders met in Philadelphia.

They represented twelve of the thirteen British colonies in North
America. Only Georgia did not send delegates. The colonists
thought this meeting was important. We can tell by the delegates
they chose. George Washington, Patrick Henry, and Thomas
Jefferson represented Virginia. Sam
Adams and his cousin John represented Vocabulary
Massachusetts. New York sent John Jay. Supreme Court, n.
Jay later served on the Supreme Court of the highest court in
the land
the United States. John Adams wrote in his
diary, “There is in the Congress a collection declaration, n. a
formal statement
of the greatest men upon this continent.”

This meeting became known as the First Continental Congress.

The delegates discussed their common problems. They shared
their anger at the British government. They issued a Declaration
of Rights. The declaration said that as British colonists, they were
entitled to all the “rights of Englishmen.” They listed the ways
Parliament had taken their rights away since the French and Indian
War. They also told King George III that the colonists were still loyal
to him. They asked him to consider their complaints.

70
George Washington (left) and Thomas Jefferson (right) attended the First Continental Congress.

The First Continental Congress did two more things. It voted

to stop all trade with the British until Parliament repealed the
Intolerable Acts. Until Parliament removed the laws, colonists
would buy nothing from Britain and sell nothing to Britain. The
Congress also agreed to meet again in May 1775 if Parliament still
had not given back their rights.

A New Identity

The First Continental Congress and the Declaration of Rights

were the most defiant actions the colonies had ever taken. But
something more than defiance had happened. This “something”
had no exact name. There is no exact date
when it started. Still, it was as important as Vocabulary
any of the resolutions passed by the First defiant, adj. breaking
the rules on purpose
Continental Congress. Maybe it started
with those shipments of flour and rice and resolution, n. a
final decision usually
money to Boston from the other colonies. meant to solve a
Maybe it began with the Stamp Act problem or create a
course of action
Congress. Maybe it had been happening all
71
along, before anyone was aware of it. That “something” was that
the colonies were coming together as never before.

Before this, each colony had thought of itself as separate from

the others. The colonists thought of themselves as Virginians or
New Yorkers or Georgians. When they thought of an attachment
to any other place, it was to Great Britain. That was partly
because each colony had more to do with Britain than it did
with other colonies. It was also due to the fact that the colonists
thought of themselves as British citizens, with all the “rights of
Englishmen.”

The colonists began to think of themselves as Americans, not as members of thirteen

separate colonies.

72
By the end of the First Continental Congress, many colonists were
thinking of themselves as part of one country, not as people
living in thirteen different ones. They were more aware of the
things they had in common. They were more aware that they
needed each other. Patrick Henry summed up the new awareness
perfectly. He told the First Continental Congress, “The distinctions
[differences] between Virginians, Pennsylvanians, New Yorkers,
and New Englanders, are no more. I am not a Virginian but
an American.”

73
Chapter 12
The Fighting Begins
Maybe This and Maybe That
The Big Question
Maybe if King George III had paid
attention to the colonists’ pleas . . . What was Patrick
Henry’s point of view?

Maybe if the British government had taken its

troops out of the colonies . . .

Maybe if many things had happened, war might have been prevented.

Or maybe not. Maybe by that time, the colonists had gone too far
down the road toward independence to turn back. No one knows for
sure what might have happened.

We do know what did happen. By the start of 1775, more and more
colonists expected the quarrels with the mother country to lead
to war. By spring, the militias in many colonies were preparing to
fight. Each militia was made up of citizens who volunteered to be
part-time soldiers.

In March, members of the Virginia General Assembly debated

whether their colony should prepare for war as well. Some opposed
the idea, but Patrick Henry believed the time had come for action.
Everyone at the meeting knew Henry was a great speaker.

74
Patrick Henry was a very persuasive speaker. Virginians responded to Patrick Henry’s “give
me liberty or give me death!” speech.

75
When he stood to address the members, a
Vocabulary
hush fell over the room. Some of the earlier
brethren, n.
speakers had said that maybe Britain would members of the
still change its mind. Patrick Henry responded: same group or family

Shall we try argument? Sir, we have been trying

that for the last ten years. . . . We must fight!

Gentlemen may cry peace, peace—but there is no

peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that
sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the
clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already
in the field. Why stand we here idle? What is it the
gentlemen wish? What would they have: Is life so
dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the
price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, almighty God!

Then Patrick Henry stood tall. He raised his arms high. His voice
clear as a bell, he finished with the words that have stirred lovers
of liberty ever since:

I know not what course others may take; but as

for me, give me liberty, or give me death!

76
Patrick Henry was wrong when he said
Vocabulary
that the war had begun. Three weeks after
Minutemen, n.
his speech, the real fighting began. For people who
several months, militias in Massachusetts volunteered to serve
in the American
had been training to fight. These farmers militia and were
and townspeople called themselves ready to fight at a
moment’s notice
Minutemen because they could be ready
to fight on a minute’s notice. To prepare for battle, the Minutemen
had been collecting guns, gunpowder, and other supplies. They
hid these supplies in the village of Concord, about fifteen miles
northwest of Boston.

Remember that the British sent an army general to serve as the

governor of Massachusetts? The new governor was General
Thomas Gage. General Gage learned about those hidden supplies
in Concord. He also learned that two Sons of Liberty, Sam Adams
and John Hancock, were hiding in the town of Lexington.

Lexington was on the way to Concord.

Vocabulary
General Gage figured he could kill two
“kill two birds with
birds with one stone. He would send one stone,” (idiom),
his soldiers to Lexington first to capture to accomplish two
different things at
Adams and Hancock. The soldiers would the same time
then continue on to Concord and take the
Minutemen’s hidden supplies.

General Gage planned for his soldiers to leave Boston in the

dead of night. That way no one would notice. They could take
Lexington by surprise. But the Sons of Liberty found out about
his plan. Two Sons of Liberty, Paul Revere and William Dawes, got

77
ready to ride ahead of the British soldiers and warn citizens along
the way.

Paul Revere’s Ride

There were two routes to Lexington. Which

Vocabulary
one would the redcoats take? The first route
redcoat, n. a
was longer, but it was entirely over land. The nickname given
shorter route required that the troops first to British soldiers
because of the color
cross the Charles River by rowboat before of their uniforms
starting their overland march.

William Dawes started out along the long route to Lexington. As

he went, he called out to Patriot homes that the redcoats were on
their way.

Paul Revere hung back, in case the British decided to cross the
Charles River. He had already arranged for a young man to signal
to the Sons of Liberty waiting on the opposite shore. From the
tower of the Old North Church in Boston, the young man would
hang one lantern if the British were traveling by land. He would
hang two lanterns if they were traveling by water.

When Paul Revere realized the British were planning to row across
the river, he passed along the information to the signaler. That
night, two lanterns burned brightly in the tower of the Old North
Church. The British would be coming by water!

Paul Revere and two friends hurried to a hidden rowboat. They

rowed across the water ahead of the British troops. Once on
shore, Revere borrowed a horse from another Son of Liberty. He
then galloped off to carry the warning to Lexington and Concord.
78
Paul Revere warned colonists that the British were on the way.

Stopping at every village and farm, he pounded on doors and

sounded the alarm. Many people believe that Paul Revere shouted,
“The British are coming!” or “The redcoats are coming!” It is more
likely, though, that his warning cry was, “The Regulars are coming!” A
Regular was another name for a British soldier. Revere never made it
to Concord, but he was able to warn Sam Adams and John Hancock
in Lexington. The two men escaped before the British arrived.

The Battle at Lexington

British troops arrived in Lexington at

Vocabulary
dawn, expecting to see no one. Instead,
“village green,”
they saw seventy Minutemen facing them (phrase), an open
on the village green. The leader of the grassy area in a
village or town
Minutemen, Captain John Parker, told his

79
men, “Stand your ground. Don’t fire unless fired upon.” Then he
added, “But if they mean to have war, let it begin here.”

There they stood. On the one side were six hundred to seven
hundred well-trained, well-armed soldiers in handsome uniforms;
on the other was a much smaller group in rough dress and with
fewer weapons. The British officer ordered the Minutemen to leave.

Suddenly, someone opened fire. Both sides started shooting. Within

minutes, eight Minutemen were dead. Another ten lay wounded.

The British caught both William Dawes and Paul Revere before
they could get to Concord. However, another Patriot named
Dr. Samuel Prescott rode off with the
warning of a British attack.
Vocabulary
The British troops next pushed on to stockpile, n. a
large amount of
Concord. They expected to find the something being
hidden stockpile of weapons. However, stored for future use
the colonists had moved most of their unfurl, v. to unroll and
supplies. This did not stop the British from spread out like a piece
of fabric or a flag
destroying what little they did find.

By the rude bridge that arched the flood,

Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled,
Here once the embattled farmers stood,
And fired the shot heard round the world.

Concord Hymn

Many years later, Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote a poem to be read at a

memorial ceremony celebrating the Battle of Concord. This is the first stanza.

80
Once again, the British were surprised to find Minutemen waiting
for them. This time there were nearly four hundred of them
gathered at the North Bridge, near the Concord village green.

Soldiers at the bridge opened fire. Minutemen fired back. After

five minutes of fighting, the British decided to return to Boston.

That long march back to Boston became a nightmare for the

British soldiers. Paul Revere had alerted all of the people living
along the route. They had watched the British march toward
Lexington in the early morning hours. Now they waited behind
stone fences, barns, and trees for the British to return. In their
bright red uniforms, the soldiers were easy targets. Shots rang
out all along the route. Before the British got back to Boston that
night, the Minutemen killed seventy-three soldiers and wounded
another two hundred. That was nearly half of the number of
soldiers who had set out for Lexington and Concord earlier that
day. The colonists suffered losses too—nearly fifty men died.
The Americans did not know it at the time, but the War for
Independence had officially begun.

81
Chapter 13
Preparing for War
May 10, 1775 Once again the
The Big Question
leading men from every American
colony gathered in Philadelphia for a Why was George
Washington chosen
Continental Congress. This time, though, to be the leader of the
was different. This time, there had been Continental Army?
fighting. This time, men had died.

Most of the delegates to the Second Continental Congress weren’t

sure what to do next. They hated the thought of separating from
Great Britain and their king. Couldn’t the Continental Congress try
again to solve their issues with the mother country? At the same time,
they could not ignore the fact that fighting had started. Shouldn’t
they prepare for more fighting, just in case?

The Second Continental Congress did both.

Vocabulary
Delegates wrote a petition to King George III.
petition, n. a formal
written request for A petition is like a request. They told the king
change signed by they were still loyal to him. There was no talk
several people
of independence. They said they didn’t want
policy, n. an official to break up the British Empire. They only asked
course of action
the king to make his government change its
bad policies and restore the colonists’ rights.
82
The colonists’ petition is delivered to King George III.

83
At the same time, the Congress prepared for more fighting. John
Adams of Massachusetts took the lead. Adams believed that the
local militias were fine for fighting here and there. To fight a war,
though, they needed to create a real American army—an “Army of
the United Colonies.”

At the time, members of the Massachusetts militia were camped

outside of Boston, near the British troops. Those militiamen, said
Adams, were ready to be the first soldiers in the new army.

But who would lead Adams’s “Army of the United Colonies”? How
fortunate the Congress was, Adams continued, to have the right
man for the job in that very room! He was a man of “great talents
and excellent character.” He was an experienced military leader
from Virginia. As Adams
continued to speak, all
eyes turned to the tall man
dressed in an old militia
uniform, standing in the
back of the room. The
man quickly turned and
walked out. He wanted
the delegates to be free to
discuss him without him
being present. That man
was George Washington.

Adams was right, and the

other delegates agreed.
George Washington was chosen to lead the
Washington was the perfect Continental Army.

84
man to lead the Continental Army, as it came to be called. He had
gained his military experience in the French and Indian War. After
that, he returned to Mount Vernon, Virginia, to run his plantation. He
was a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses and a supporter of
the Patriot cause. He was also among the best-known and wealthiest
men in the colonies. Everyone admired him for his devotion to duty,
his cool head, and strong will.

It was settled. Washington would command the Continental Army,

and its first troops would be the Massachusetts militiamen
camped around Boston. They might be needed for action soon.
More British soldiers were arriving in the colonies.

Washington headed to Massachusetts to take charge of the militia.

Before his arrival, though, the American soldiers fought an important
battle near Boston.

Two hills overlook

the city of Boston:
Bunker Hill and Breed’s
Hill. Every general
knows that it’s a great
advantage to control
the high ground.
From the top of a hill,
you can fire down at
the enemy below—
especially if you have
cannons. Meanwhile,
On July 3, 1775, George Washington took command of
the enemy has to fight the Continental Army.

85
its way uphill. The British understood this idea, but they were
not very worried about the untrained Massachusetts militiamen.
They did not bother to guard the two hills. On the night of
June 16, 1775, the militia suddenly marched to Breed’s Hill and
climbed it. They were supposed to take up positions on Bunker
Hill, but moved onto the wrong hill.
Vocabulary
All night they dug trenches, piling the trench, n. a narrow
earth into walls six feet high for their ditch dug into the
ground
protection. When the morning came, the
British were surprised to see the colonial ammunition, n.
bullets or shells
militia in control of the hill.

General Gage was now worried that the militia would be able to
fire on his troops below. They could even use cannons to fire upon
the British ships in the harbor. Gage needed to drive the militia
off the hill. Gage didn’t know that the Massachusetts militia didn’t
have any cannons.

The next day, British soldiers marched up Breed’s Hill. The colonists
had only a small amount of ammunition. They couldn’t afford to
waste any. They stood shoulder to shoulder behind their earthen
walls. When the British got close, the militiamen opened fire.
Hundreds of redcoats fell. The rest fled back down the hill.

Once more the British marched up the hill. Once more they
were driven back by a hail of bullets. After the second charge,
the colonists began to run out of ammunition. When the British
marched up the hill a third time, the militia retreated.

86
Bunker Hill proved to be a very costly victory for the British.

The British won the hill but at a terrible cost. More than a thousand
soldiers were killed or wounded. Just as during their march back
from Concord, the British lost about half their men. A British officer
said that his army couldn’t stand many more “victories” like this.
Even though the battle took place on Breed’s Hill, it is known as the
Battle of Bunker Hill. The Battle of Bunker Hill was very important to
the colonists. They lost the hill, but they won new confidence. They
were beginning to believe these citizen-soldiers could hold their
own against one of the world’s greatest armies—the British army.

Soon after, the colonists learned King George III’s answer to their
petition. He had no intention of backing down. Instead, he was
eager for a fight.

87
Chapter 14
The Great Declaration
Coming to a Decision By the start
The Big Question
of 1776, the argument with Great
Britain had lasted more than ten What was the
Declaration of
years. The fighting had gone on Independence?
for almost one. Still, many colonists
weren’t sure whether they really wanted independence.

A number of colonists opposed independence.

Vocabulary
These people were called Loyalists. Loyalists
Loyalist, n. a person
living in the colonies belonged to different religions and came from
who did not support different social classes. They had different
the American cause
and remained loyal reasons for their loyalty. Some Loyalists made
to Great Britain their decision for economic reasons. Some
chose the British side for political reasons.
Others followed religious or personal values. But all Loyalists agreed
on one thing: the need to stay faithful to the king and to Great Britain.

No colony had ever broken away from a mother country. Giving up a

place in the world’s greatest empire and all the advantages of being
part of it—was that really a smart idea? On the other hand, Patriots

88
Thomas Paine, a twenty-nine-year-old English
immigrant, helped to persuade many colonists
that the time for independence had arrived.

89
argued, shouldn’t the colonists defend their rights and liberties? It
was a very tough decision.

The decision became easier after Thomas

Vocabulary
Paine wrote a pamphlet called Common
pamphlet, n. a small
Sense. Paine had a great and rare skill. booklet that includes
He could write about important ideas in information or ideas
about a single topic
everyday language. If you could read at all,
you could understand Common Sense. Paine’s pamphlet was read
throughout the colonies. People talked about it in their homes, on
street corners, and in taverns and inns.

A lot of what Paine wrote was, in fact, plain common sense. He

got readers to think about his ideas not just by telling them what
he thought but also by asking what they thought. Did it make any
sense for America to be ruled by a small nation three thousand
miles away? Did it make sense for people to be ruled by one man,
a king, just because he was born into a certain family? Wouldn’t it
be better if the colonists chose their own rulers?

Paine said that it was common sense for Americans to cut all
ties to Great Britain. It was common sense for Americans to be
independent and create a government of their own. Americans
didn’t need a king. They could live in a land where “the law is
king.” The more they thought about it, the more Americans
agreed. They didn’t need the Parliament and the king to rule them.
They had plenty of experience in choosing their own leaders and
ruling themselves. Perhaps it really was time, then, to separate and
go their own way.

90
The Declaration of Independence

In June 1776, the Second Continental Congress took up the

question of independence. Congress agreed that the time had
come to separate from Great Britain. The Congress chose a
committee to write a declaration, or statement. The purpose

The Declaration of Independence formally announced the colonists’ separation from

Great Britain.
91
of the declaration was to explain why the colonies were breaking
away from Great Britain.

The committee chosen to write the declaration included

John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson. Which
committee member should do the main writing? Benjamin
Franklin and George Washington were probably the two most
famous Americans alive. John Adams was one of the first leaders
to speak out in favor of independence. Thomas Jefferson,
however, was known as a fine writer. Franklin and Adams chose
him to write the declaration.

What Jefferson produced became the most famous document not

only in American history, but also in the history of the entire world.
Jefferson wanted the world to know all the bad things this king
had done and all the rights he had taken
away. So he listed each of them. He also Vocabulary
explained why the king’s actions made endow, v. to give
it right for the colonists to break away someone something
valuable
from Britain.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are

created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator
with certain unalienable rights, that among these are
life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

92
Jefferson also stated, “That to secure these
Vocabulary
rights, governments are instituted
institute, v. to
[created] . . .” In other words, the reason we establish or start
have governments is to protect our rights. something

revolution, n. the
What if a government doesn’t protect those
act of overthrowing
rights? What if it takes them away? Then, a government
with the hopes of
said Jefferson, people have the right to
starting a new and
create new governments for themselves. different one
That’s what the people of the thirteen
colonies were now doing.

On July 4, 1776, Congress adopted this Declaration of

Independence. On that day the American colonies became
independent states. Together, they made up the United
States of America. Today, Americans celebrate July 4th as their
Independence Day.

During the next month, in towns and cities across the states,
crowds gathered to hear the Declaration of Independence read
aloud. Everywhere in the new United States of America, church
bells rang out. Soldiers fired cannons and shot off guns. Citizens lit
great bonfires in celebration.

Meanwhile, back in Philadelphia, the delegates to the Second

Continental Congress were more serious. The fifty-six men who
signed the Declaration knew that if their revolution failed,
the king would probably put them to death. Benjamin Franklin
explained the need for all of the new states to work together.
“Gentlemen,” he said, “we must all hang together, [or] else we shall
all hang separately.”
93
Chapter 15
A Discouraging Start
Patriot Problems When you look at
The Big Question
some of the problems the Americans
faced, you can see that their chances What challenges did
George Washington
of winning a war against Great face when raising an
Britain were not that great. army?

For one thing, the thirteen new states may have been united against
Great Britain, but their people certainly were not. While some
Loyalists stayed quiet, others helped the British. Some wrote letters
of support for the British cause. Some worked as spies. About fifty
thousand Loyalists actually fought in the war on the side of Great
Britain. Many of them moved to Great Britain or Canada after the
Revolution.

Great Britain had one of the largest armies in the world. In addition
to having fifty thousand Loyalist soldiers, the British hired about
thirty thousand professional soldiers from other countries. Soldiers
for hire are called mercenaries. Counting
Vocabulary
the mercenaries, Great Britain’s army was
mercenary, n. a
soldier from one five times larger than the Continental army.
country paid to fight The British could also count on their Native
for another country
American allies in the West.
94
The British army had many more trained soldiers than the Continental Army.

95
The British soldiers were well-trained fighters. Commanders could
count on having their soldiers for a certain number of years. They
had time to train their soldiers for battle.

General Washington had to build an army from scratch. His army

was made up mainly of farmers, not professional soldiers.

Washington also never knew how many soldiers he could count on

at any one time. Some joined the Continental army for a three-year
term. Most volunteered to serve for less than a year. Some signed
up for only three months. Others joined the Continental Army
when the fighting got near their villages or farms. Then they would
leave the army once the British troops moved on. Soldiers would
often return to their farms at planting and harvesting time. With all
these comings and goings, training an army was nearly impossible.

Posters like this one were used to find soldiers for the Continental Army.
96
Most soldiers in the Continental Army were farmers who volunteered to fight.

In addition to having a powerful army, Great Britain was one of the

wealthiest nations in the world. The British could supply their army with
whatever it needed. The Continental army was often short on cannons,
gunpowder, food, and other supplies. It didn’t even have enough
uniforms. Throughout the war, most American soldiers fought in their
own clothes. Several times during the war, General Washington wrote to
the Continental Congress. If it didn’t come up with money for supplies
and pay the soldiers soon, “the army must absolutely break up.”

As for a navy, the British had the greatest in the world. They had a
hundred times as many warships as the Americans had.

None of that looked very good for the Americans.

The Americans did have a few things going for them, though.
For one, they were fighting on their own land. Fresh soldiers
97
and supplies were often available nearby. The British had to ship
everything—including soldiers—from three thousand miles away.
The Americans were also fighting to defend their homes, families,
and freedom. Many soldiers on the British side were just fighting
for money. That made a difference.

The size of the country was another advantage for the American
side. If the British won in one part of the country, American armies
could move to another. Thomas Paine wrote that the American plan
would be like a game of checkers: “We can move out of one square
to let you come in,” he said to the British, “in order that we may
afterwards take two or three for one.” Since the Americans could
keep moving around, he said, “we can always prevent a total defeat.”

Support from Women and African Americans

The British could count on its professional soldiers, mercenaries,

and Loyalists—including African Americans. In fact, most African
Americans at this time supported the British cause. The British actively
sought help from the African American community. They promised
freedom to any enslaved person who fought for the king.

The Patriots had their own

sources of help. The Patriot side
also had support from African
Americans. It had important
support from women, too.

Women played many roles

in the American Revolution.
Women played an important part in
supporting the Patriot cause.
Working in army camps,
98
they washed, cooked, sewed, made gunpowder, and nursed the
wounded. Sometimes women went into battle, even though they
weren’t supposed to. In one battle, Mary Ludwig Hays brought her
husband’s cannon crew water from a nearby stream. Pitcher carriers
brought water to cool off the cannons, which would overheat in
battle. She carried so many pitchers that they called her Molly Pitcher.

According to legend, Molly’s husband became ill during the battle. The
other members of his cannon crew had been killed. Molly loaded and
fired the cannon by herself until other soldiers arrived to take over.

Another woman who helped the Patriot cause was Deborah

Sampson. Sampson dressed in men’s clothing and joined the army.
She was a talented soldier. It was only when she was wounded
that doctors found out she was a woman. A number of other
women served as messengers and spies.

Of course, women didn’t have to be on a battlefield to help the

Patriot cause. One of their greatest contributions was at home. In
addition to doing their usual work, they also did the work of the
men who had gone off to fight. There were many women who
kept the family farm going or the family business running.

As you have learned, in addition to women, African Americans also

played a role in the American Revolution. About five thousand
African Americans fought on the American side of the Revolutionary
War. Most of them were free men from the northern states. They
took part in nearly every battle, starting
with the very first at Bunker Hill. Several Vocabulary
African American regiments came from regiment, n. a unit in
the army
New England states.
99
Chapter 16
Raising America’s Spirits
An Early British Victory Things
went badly for the Continental Army The Big Question
during the early part of the war. What is meant by
the statement,
Hardly three months after Americans “Washington’s plan
celebrated the Declaration of for winning the war
required patience”?
Independence, a large British army
assembled in New York City to do
battle with Washington’s still untrained army.

The British defeated the Continental Army easily. It almost trapped

them. That might have ended the war then and there. Led by
Washington, however, some of the American forces escaped.

It was during that battle for New York City that a twenty-four-year-old
Connecticut schoolteacher named Nathan Hale became famous.
Hale was caught serving as a spy for the Americans and was hanged
by the British. His last words were, “I only
Vocabulary
regret that I have but one life to lose for my
inspire, v. to cause
someone to think or country.” His words inspired the Patriots. His
behave in a certain way
words are still quoted today.

100
Nathan Hale was executed by the British for spying for the Americans.

101
After the Continental Army’s narrow escape from New York, the
Americans retreated across New Jersey and into Pennsylvania.
The British stayed close behind. Luckily, it was getting late in
the year. Winter was a hard time to fight battles. The British
were satisfied to take control of New York and New Jersey, and
settle in for the winter. They could finish off the Americans in
the spring. It was at this moment that Washington’s leadership
began to pay off. Other generals might have panicked after such
a setback, but not Washington. Whether he won a battle or lost,
he remained steady. Soldiers admired him and were willing to
follow him into battle.

Battle, however, was not what Washington wanted. He knew

his untrained troops were no match for the experienced British
army head-on in a battle. Washington’s plan for winning the
war required patience. Instead of taking on the British directly,
Washington’s strategy was like Thomas Paine’s checkerboard.
He would keep the Continental Army moving. They would stop
and fight the British now and then, but they would not get into a
major battle. This way, Washington could buy time to build and
train his army.

Washington’s plan meant the Continental Army would not win

many battles. They wouldn’t lose many battles either. Meanwhile,
as the war went on, the British people might tire of paying for it.
After a few big American victories, who knew? Maybe the British
would stop supporting the war altogether!

102
A Surprise Attack

Washington realized that the American people could tire of

the war too. So could his army, if it kept suffering defeats.
Washington needed a quick victory, or two, to raise the spirits
of his soldiers and of the rest of the nation.

Washington planned a surprise attack

Vocabulary
on British mercenaries, the soldiers the
“German state,”
British hired from other countries. The (phrase), one of
mercenaries were called Hessians, because several small,
independent states
many came from the German state that eventually made
of Hesse. The Hessians were camped up the present-day
country of Germany
in Trenton, New Jersey, just across the
Delaware River from Pennsylvania.

Washington planned to take the Hessians by surprise. After all,

who would suspect the Continental Army to row across the
ice-filled Delaware River in the dead of winter? On Christmas
Night, 1776, shivering American soldiers stepped into the
rowboats that would carry them across the river. By four o’clock
in the morning, all 2,400 of Washington’s men were on the New
Jersey side of the river.

The Continental Army marched the nine miles to Trenton hidden

by the darkness of night. As day broke, they attacked the sleeping
Hessians. Caught off guard, the Hessians were surprised and
confused. After a short fight, nine hundred Hessians surrendered.

103
This famous painting by Emmanuel Leutze of Washington crossing the Delaware River was
painted many years after the event.

The Continental Army captured not only the enemy soldiers, but
also their weapons and supplies.

Eight days later, Washington won another victory. Again, he used

the element of surprise, this time to defeat British soldiers in
104
Princeton, New Jersey. Just as Washington hoped, the victories at
Trenton and Princeton raised American spirits, especially for the
men fighting in the Continental Army.

105
Chapter 17
Saratoga
Britain’s Master Plan American
The Big Question
spirits wouldn’t stay high for very
What mistake did
long. Not if the British could help it. the British make that
In fact, British generals had a plan to brought France into
knock the Americans out of the war the war, making an
American victory
before the year was over. possible?

106
The Hudson River Valley was an important part of Britain’s plan for victory.

107
 The Hudson River runs north and south in
Vocabulary
New York State. The British aimed to win
rebels, n. people who
resist the government control of the entire Hudson River Valley.
with force If the British controlled the Hudson, they
could cut off New England from the other
states, dividing the Americans in two. The British would then be
able to defeat the rebels one part at a time. They would defeat
New England first and then the rest of the states.

That summer, General John Burgoyne (/bur*goyn/) led a large

British army southward from Canada into New York State. The plan
was for the main British army in New York City to start moving
north soon after Burgoyne entered New York State. At about
the same time, a third, smaller British force in western New York
State would move east. The three British armies would meet near
Albany, on the Hudson River. At that point, it would be all over for
the upstart Americans.

That never happened. General William Howe was in charge of

the main British army in New York. Howe wanted to capture
Philadelphia first before moving north along the Hudson.
Philadelphia was America’s largest city. It was the meeting place of
the Continental Congress. What a blow to American spirits if the
British were to take it!

Howe was sure he could capture Philadelphia and still have

time to meet Burgoyne. He was wrong. By the time he captured
Philadelphia, there was no time left to get back to New York. Howe
didn’t even try.

108
Meanwhile, the third British force—the one moving eastward
across New York State—ran into Continental Army soldiers along
the way. This British force, which included a large number of
Native American allies, never made it to Albany either.

That left Burgoyne and his army alone, moving south in New
York State. The only ones there to meet him were General Gates
and thousands of soldiers of the Continental Army. In October
1777, the British and Americans fought at Saratoga, north of
Albany. The Americans won. Six thousand of Great Britain’s best
soldiers surrendered.

It was a great moment when General Gates accepted General Burgoyne’s surrender after
the Battle of Saratoga.

109
New Allies

The victory at Saratoga was a great turning point of the war. Not
just because it was a great victory but also because it brought the
Americans a new ally—France. Remember how the French and the
English had been fighting for a hundred years? Remember how
the French lost all their North American colonies to Great Britain
in the French and Indian War? Well, ever since, they had been
burning for revenge.

One way for France to get revenge on Great Britain was to help the
American colonies break away. Soon after the colonies declared
their independence, France secretly started sending them money
and supplies.

The money and supplies helped, but the Americans hoped for
more. They wanted France to jump into the war with both feet.
Every time they asked the French to join in the fight, however,
they got the same answer. France would not enter the war unless
the Americans proved that they had a real chance of defeating
the British.

The victory at Saratoga showed

Vocabulary
France that America could win. Several
“naval fleet,” (phrase),
a large group of war months after the Battle of Saratoga,
ships that belong to the French entered the war on the side
the navy
of the Americans. France sent money,
equipment, and soldiers. Most importantly, France also sent
a large naval fleet to help the Americans. It’s quite possible

110
that without help from the French, the
Vocabulary
Americans would not have won the war.
“turn of events,”
Eventually, Spain and the Netherlands also (phrase), a new
development or
declared war against the British. This turn action that changes
of events happened because three British the way future events
happen
armies failed to meet as planned in Albany.

111
Chapter 18
Valley Forge
A Hard Winter The winter of
The Big Question
1777–1778 was the worst time of
the war for the Continental Army. What were some of
the challenges the
The British had taken Philadelphia. Continental Army
faced during the
Twice, General Washington had sent his winter at Valley Forge?

soldiers into battle near Philadelphia. Twice

the British had defeated them. With cold weather coming on,
Washington had to choose a place to camp for the winter. The place
he chose was called Valley Forge, an open field about twenty-five
miles northeast of Philadelphia.

Snow was already on the ground when the soldiers arrived in Valley
Forge. They put up their tents and began building huts with whatever
wood they could find. Before long, they had built two thousand of
them. The huts were drafty, dirty, and cold but they at least put a roof
over the soldiers’ heads. Each hut had a fireplace but no windows. The
smoke from the fires made men cough as if their lungs would burst.

Vocabulary The winter in Valley Forge was terrible.

scarce, adj. in short Supplies did not arrive. Blankets were scarce.
supply; not having
There was not enough food. With no boots or
enough
shoes, the men wrapped their feet in rags.
112
The winter at Valley Forge could have broken the spirit of the Continental Army.

113
General Washington later said, “You might
Vocabulary
have tracked the army to Valley Forge by
forage, n. food or
the blood of their feet.” An officer from other items found
Connecticut explained how bad conditions in a search

were in his journal: exposure, n. harm

caused by cold
It snows. I’m sick. Eat nothing. . . . No forage. or other extreme
weather conditions
Lord, Lord, Lord . . . cold and uncomfortable.
I am sick, discontented, and out of humor. Poor character, n. the
qualities that make up
food. Hard lodging. Cold weather. Fatigue. Nasty a person
clothes. Nasty cookery. . . . Smoked out of my
senses. . . . I can’t endure it. Why are we sent here to starve and freeze?
At least 2,500 soldiers died of disease or from exposure at Valley
Forge that winter. That means that every single day, soldiers had to
bury twenty-five or thirty of their comrades. Some men deserted,
which means they simply sneaked out of camp and went home. At the
start of winter, Washington’s army numbered about seven thousand
men. By the end of winter, there were only about four thousand left.

A Man of Character

What did people mean when they said that George Washington was
a man of great character? They meant he was honest. They meant
that he cared for his men, and that he was fair with them. They
meant that people always knew where Washington stood and that
he kept his word. They meant that he respected others. They meant
that Washington was someone you would want on your side.

Washington also knew enough to put able men in charge of

important tasks. For example, in February, when things were at
114
their worst, a balding, red-faced man appeared at Washington’s
headquarters to offer his services. His name was Baron Frederick
von Steuben (/stoo*bun/). Washington could tell that von Steuben
knew how to train men to be soldiers. That was exactly what
Washington needed. He hired von Steuben. The German officer
taught the men about soldiering. He drilled them over and over.
By spring, General Washington had a well-trained army for the
very first time.

Von Steuben was only one of a number of

Vocabulary
Europeans inspired to help the American
drill, v. to train or
cause. Another was a nineteen-year-old practice by repeating
Frenchman named the Marquis (/mar*key/) movements or tasks

de Lafayette. As soon as he heard that aide, n. a trusted

fighting had begun in America, Lafayette assistant

joined the Americans. “I am persuaded,”

he said, “that the human race was created to be free, and that I am
born to serve that cause.” Washington took a liking to this daring
Frenchman. Lafayette quickly became one of his most trusted aides.

Baron von Steuben helped train American troops.

115
Chapter 19
Fighting Shifts
to the South
Another Plan While the Continental
The Big Question
Army regrouped at Valley Forge,
Why did the British
the British generals made another shift the fighting to
plan to win the war. For three years, the South?
the British had been fighting the
Americans in the North. They had won nearly all of the
battles, so they weren’t losing the war. But that didn’t
mean they were winning it either.
To win, the British would have to beat down the rebellion. They
would have to really defeat the Continental Army. Every time the
British had a chance to do that, though, General Washington and
his army managed to slip away.

116
British military leaders were frustrated in their efforts to defeat the Continental Army.

117
The British generals thought: Suppose we shift the battle to the
South? That would give us several advantages. For one thing,
most of the Continental Army is in the North. We will catch them
off guard. Also, there are many Loyalists in the South, including
enslaved African Americans. They will help us with food and
supplies. After we take the South, we’ll have the Continental Army
squeezed between our forces there and our forces in the North.

The plan was pretty successful for a while. The British navy
brought soldiers from their base in New York to Savannah,
Georgia. The soldiers quickly captured the city. Within a year, they
controlled the whole state of Georgia. Soon after, the British took
Charleston, South Carolina, and handed the Americans their worst
defeat of the war. From there, British troops successfully went on
to control a large part of the South.

However, the British were still not able

Vocabulary
to crush their enemy. American military
swamp, n. a wet,
commanders in the South followed marshy area where
George Washington’s strategy. Small water collects

battles, yes. Big battles, no. Never risk the

whole army in one big fight. Also, Southerners knew their land
better than the British did. They set up secret bases in the swamps
of South Carolina. They came out of the swamps to attack small
groups of British soldiers. Then, as suddenly as they had appeared,
they were gone. Even though there were no large-scale battles,
the fighting was at times fierce, with many casualties and some
acts of cruelty.

118
This kind of hit-and-run fighting is called
Vocabulary
guerrilla warfare. A general named
“guerrilla warfare,”
Francis Marion was so successful at it that (phrase), fighting in
he became known as the Swamp Fox. The small groups making
small, repeated attacks
British armies won many small battles, but
they could never catch up to the American tributary, n. a stream
or river that flows into
forces to defeat them in a big one. In time, a larger stream, a river,
or a lake
the Americans began to win their share of
the battles. company, n. a unit in
the military made up
of anywhere from 80
War in the West to 250 soldiers

Meanwhile, in the West, a young Virginian named George Rogers

Clark attacked several British forts that had been built near
tributaries of the Ohio River. The British had used their presence
and their interest in trade in the West to gain support from Native
Americans. However, American settlers saw the British and the
Native Americans as a threat.

On July 4, 1778, Clark and a company of 175 Virginia militiamen

captured the first of the British forts without firing a single shot.
Later, Clark captured two more. His victories drove the British out
of part of the land between the Appalachian Mountains and the
Mississippi River.

A Victory at Sea

The tiny American navy, of course, was no match for the great British
fleet. Still, American warships put up a good fight when they met

119
one British ship at a time. John Paul Jones was the commander of
the American ship Bonhomme (/bahn*um/) Richard when it came
upon the British warship Serapis off the coast of Great Britain. The
two ships opened fire. Soon the deck of the American ship was
in flames. The British commander then demanded that Jones
surrender. Jones replied, “I have not yet begun to fight!”

And fight he did. His own ship, the

Bonhomme Richard, sank, but not before
Vocabulary
Jones and his men climbed aboard the
“naval battle,”
Serapis and took it over. This became (phrase), a military
one of the most famous naval battles in battle fought on
water using warships
United States history.

The sea battle between the Bonhomme Richard and the Serapis took over four hours.

120
Benedict Arnold

During this time, George Washington suffered one of his greatest

disappointments. It was not a defeat on the battlefield. It was a
defeat of the spirit. One of the Patriots’ bravest and finest generals,
and one of Washington’s favorites, went over to the enemy.

His name was Benedict Arnold. Arnold had helped win the
Battle of Saratoga. He had been promoted to general. His future
in the American army was bright. In 1780, General Washington
placed Benedict Arnold in command of West Point, a fort on the
Hudson River.

Despite his success, Benedict Arnold did not feel appreciated

enough. He also liked to spend more money than he could
afford on luxuries. So in exchange for a large sum of money,
Arnold agreed to turn over West Point to the British.

The plot was discovered in time, but Vocabulary

Arnold himself escaped and joined the treason, n. disloyalty
British forces. Americans were shocked to to a country by
helping an enemy
learn of Benedict Arnold’s treason.

121
Chapter 20
The World Turned
Upside Down
A British Mistake Then Great Britain
The Big Question
made a mistake that cost it the war.
How does the
The general in charge of the British chapter title explain
armies in the South was Lord Charles the outcome of the
American Revolution?
Cornwallis. Cornwallis spent a year
chasing the Continental Army in
the South.

Then came the battle of Kings Mountain, along the North and South
Carolina border. At Kings Mountain, the Continental Army defeated a
large Loyalist force. Cornwallis realized the British plan for the South
would not work. He decided to move his army to Virginia. If he could
defeat the Continental Army in Virginia, he would crush the rebellion.

In the summer of 1781, Cornwallis chose a small Virginia town

called Yorktown for his base. Yorktown is located on the York River,
which flows into the sea. At Yorktown, the British navy could bring
Cornwallis troops and supplies.

122
Map of the Battle of Yorktown

123
Normally, it’s not a good idea to set up a base with a river behind
you. If you have to retreat, you have no place to go. But Cornwallis
felt safe there. He had one third of all the British soldiers in
America with him. The British navy would bring him even more,
if he needed them.

Washington Responds

While Cornwallis set up his base at Yorktown, George Washington

was meeting with a French general in Rhode Island. The French
general, Rochambeau (/row*sham*bow/), had brought an army to
help the Americans. A large French fleet was on its way.

Washington and Rochambeau planned to attack the British armies

in New York City. Then the news about Yorktown arrived.

Washington immediately saw Cornwallis’s mistake. Forget about

attacking New York, he said. The American and French armies
should hurry to Virginia. Together, they had enough men to trap
Cornwallis. If the French fleet could get there in time, it could keep
the British navy from helping Cornwallis. Then Cornwallis would
have to surrender. In one single victory, Washington might end the
war! Yorktown was five hundred miles away. George Washington
started his military career with a four-hundred-mile journey. That
first journey ended in disappointment. This second opportunity
could be the victory of a lifetime.

It took more than a month for the American and French armies to
reach Yorktown. It took a few more days to dig a great half ring
of trenches around the town. On October 9, at five o’clock in the

124
afternoon, the first cannon was fired. The Battle of Yorktown had
begun. For once, General Washington had the most guns and
cannons. For once, General Washington had the most men.

Cornwallis looked to the sea for help. None came. The French
fleet had driven off the British fleet. Cornwallis’s army was on
its own.

Each day, Washington moved his army closer, tightening the half
ring around Yorktown. Washington rode among his men, despite
the risk that a bullet might strike him. His soldiers cheered and
pressed on.

Cornwallis was trapped. For several more days, American cannons

roared. Finally, the British general saw that it was useless to
continue. On October 17, 1781, Cornwallis surrendered.

G4S-U7-C15-02
FPO

The American Revolution ended soon after the surrender at Yorktown.

125
Two days later the American and French armies formed two long
lines. The defeated British forces marched between them and left
the town. As they did, a British army band played the tune of a
nursery rhyme. A strange tune to play at a time like this, but the
words made sense to the British:

If buttercups buzzed after the bee,

If boats were on land, churches on sea,

If ponies rode men, and if grass ate the corn

And cats should be chased into holes by the mouse,

If the mammas sold babies for half a crown,

If summer were spring, and the other way ‘round,

Then all the world would be upside down.

A group of citizen-soldiers had defeated

Vocabulary
one of the world’s greatest armies. A group
half a crown, n. a unit
of colonies had won independence from a of money used by
mother country for the first time in history. the British during the
time of the American
The United States of America had been Revolution
created. The great British Empire had been
humbled. In the peace treaty that followed, Britain agreed that the
colonies were now “free and independent states.”

A Final Word

The American Revolution produced many heroes such as

John Paul Jones and Francis Marion. George Washington, the
famous general, became known as the “Father of Our Country”
126
for his leadership during the war and after. Most of the heroes,
though, were ordinary people. Their names are not written in the
history books. They were the Minutemen on Lexington Green.
They were the soldiers who shivered at Valley Forge. They were
the men who dashed out of their swamp hideouts to strike at the
British army.

They were also the women who brought food and water to
the men in battle. They were the women who took care of the
wounded and the sick. They were the women who kept farms
and shops running. They were the farm families who shared their
food with American soldiers and the townspeople who gave them
housing. They were the women, children, and old men who made
weapons and gunpowder for the Continental Army. They were
the children who helped produce the food and clothing that the
American soldiers needed to survive.

When the war was over, people everywhere asked, “How could
the American colonies have won a war against one of the greatest
military powers in the world?” The answer was not difficult to
find. The Revolutionary War was won because ordinary Americans
refused to lose it.

127
Maps

The Thirteen English Colonies of North America

NEW FRANCE

Québec
St. Lawrence
River
Montréal MASSACHUSETTS

NEW
HAMPSHIRE
Boston
NEW YORK MASSACHUSETTS
RHODE
New York City ISLAND
NEW JERSEY CONNECTICUT
PENNSYLVANIA Philadelphia

Ohio River MARYLAND

Valley DELAWARE

VIRGINIA Yorktown

NORTH CAROLINA

SOUTH CAROLINA

GEORGIA Key
New England colonies
Middle Atlantic colonies
Southern colonies

128
Maps

Colonial North America After the French and Indian War

Québec
St. Lawrence
River
Niagara
River
s
ian
ch
pala
Ap
ver
pi Ri

Key
issip

Spanish Territory
Miss

Territory ceded to Britain

(Treaty of Paris, 1763)

Thirteen Colonies
N
Acquired from Spain

W E
British Territory in Canada

129
Maps

Revolutionary War Battles

NEW FRANCE

Québec
Fort Ticonderoga St. Lawrence
River
Saratoga Montréal MASSACHUSETTS
Albany
Hudson River Concord
NEW Lexington
West Point
HAMPSHIRE Breed’s Hill
New York City
Boston
Boston
NEW YORK MASSACHUSETTS Charles
River
RHODE
New York City ISLAND
NEW JERSEY CONNECTICUT
PENNSYLVANIA Philadelphia

Ohio River MARYLAND

Valley DELAWARE Trenton

Valley Forge
VIRGINIA
Yorktown Germantown

Philadelphia

Brandywine Delaware
NORTH CAROLINA River

SOUTH CAROLINA N
ATLANTIC
GEORGIA OCEAN W E

130
Glossary
A D
advance, v. to move forward  (34) declaration, n. a formal statement  (70)
aide, n. a trusted assistant  (115) defiant, adj. breaking the rules on purpose  (71)
ally, n. a nation that promises to help another disease, n. sickness  (15)
nation in wartime  (30)
drill, v. to train or practice by repeating
ammunition, n. bullets or shells  (86) movements or tasks  (115)
assembly, n. a group of representatives who
gather to make laws  (21) E
empire, n. a group of countries or territories,
B ruled by an all-powerful authority such as
a monarch  (18)
boycott, n. a form of organized protest in
which people refuse to buy goods or have endow, v. to give someone something
anything to do with a particular group valuable  (92)
or country  (47)
English Parliament, n. the original law-
brethren, n. members of the same group making branch of the English government
or family  (76) that is made up of the House of Lords and
the House of Commons  (20)
C engraving, n. a design or pattern that is cut
character, n. the qualities that make up a into the surface of an object  (55)
person  (114)
enslaved, adj. forced to become a slave  (13)
citizen, n. a person who is legally recognized
exposure, n. harm caused by cold or other
as a member or subject of a country or
extreme weather conditions  (114)
state  (23)
colonel, n. a high-ranking military official  (34) F
colony, n. an area, region, or country that forage, n. food or other items found in a
is controlled and settled by people from search  (114)
another country (2)
fort, n. a protected building or place that
committee, n. a group of people selected to is generally used by the military as a
do a certain task  (60) stronghold  (26)
company, n. a unit in the military made up of frontier, n. where newly settled areas adjoin
anywhere from 80 to 250 soldiers  (119) unsettled areas or the wilderness  (6)
Congress, n. the law-making branch of the
American government that is made up G
of the House of Representatives and the general, n. the main leader of an army  (29)
Senate  (20)
“German state,” (phrase), one of several
“course of action,” (phrase), a plan to small, independent states that eventually
respond to a situation  (48) made up the present-day country of
Germany  (103)
custom, n. a traditional way of acting or doing
something  (6)

131
governor, n. a person appointed by the king mercenary, n. a soldier from one country paid
to oversee a region or colony  (26) to fight for another country  (94)
“guerrilla warfare,” (phrase), fighting merchant, n. a person who sells or trades
in small groups making small, repeated goods  (5)
attacks  (119)
migrate, v. to move from one place to another
to live  (4)
H
militia, n. a group of armed citizens prepared
half a crown, n. a unit of money used by the
for military service at any time  (26)
British during the time of the American
Revolution  (126) Minutemen, n. people who volunteered to
serve in the American militia and were
harbor, n. a part of a body of water that is next
ready to fight at a moment’s notice  (77)
to land and provides a safe place for ships
to anchor  (52) molasses, n. thick, dark, sticky syrup made
from sugar  (42)
herb, n. a plant used to give food flavor or as
medicine  (15)
N
I “naval battle,” (phrase), a military battle
fought on water using warships  (120)
immigrant, n. a person from one country who
moves to another country to live  (2) “naval fleet,” (phrase), a large group of war
ships that belong to the navy  (110)
import, v. to bring in goods to one country
from another country  (42)
O
independence, n. freedom from the control
of a person or group of people  (24) oppose, v. to be against something  (66)

inspire, v. to cause someone to think or P

behave in a certain way  (100)
pamphlet, n. a small booklet that includes
institute, v. to establish or start something  (93) information or ideas about a single
topic  (90)
intolerable, adj. unbearable  (66)
parade, n. a public display of people moving
K in a long line  (34)
“kill two birds with one stone,” (idiom), t o Patriot, n. a person who supported the
accomplish two different things at the cause of the colonists during the American
same time  (77) Revolution  (48)
“peace treaty,” (phrase), an agreement
L between two or more groups to bring an
Loyalist, n. a person living in the colonies who end to fighting, conflict, or war between
did not support the American cause and themselves  (36)
remained loyal to Great Britain  (88)
petition, n. a formal written request for
change signed by several people  (82)
M
plantation, n. a large farm where cash crops
manufacturer, n. a person or company that are grown by the person who owns the
makes or produces an item to be sold  (52) land  (13)
massacre, n. the violent killing of defenseless policy, n. an official course of action  (82)
people  (55)

132
prime minister, n. the head of the government stockpile, n. a large amount of something
in some countries  (35) being stored for future use  (80)
proclamation, n. an important official Supreme Court, n. the highest court in the
announcement that is usually made to the land  (70)
public  (40)
swamp, n. a wet, marshy area where water
collects  (118)
Q
quill pen, n. a pen made from the feather of a T
bird  (60)
tax, n. money that people are required
to pay to support the workings of the
R government  (20)
rebels, n. people who resist the government
tax collector, n. a person appointed by
with force  (108)
the government who is responsible for
redcoat, n. a nickname given to British soldiers collecting taxes from citizens  (42)
because of the color of their uniforms  (78)
“taxation without representation,” (phrase),
regiment, n. a unit in the army  (99) the idea that American colonists did not
have a say in the English Parliament, which
repeal, v. to cancel or do away with enacted taxes without their consent  (46)
something, such as a law  (49)
trade, n. the exchange or sale of goods or
representative, n. a person who is chosen services.  (5)
or elected to speak on the behalf of other
people  (21) treason, n. disloyalty to a country by helping
an enemy  (121)
resist, v. to go against  (67)
trench, n. a narrow ditch dug into the
resistance, n. an effort to stop a law or policy ground  (86)
from taking effect  (49)
tributary, n. a stream or river that flows into
resolution, n. a final decision usually meant a larger stream, a river, or a lake  (119)
to solve a problem or create a course of
action  (71) “turn of events,” (phrase), a new
development or action that changes the
revolution, n. the act of overthrowing a way future events happen  (111)
government with the hopes of starting a
new and different one  (93)
U
S unfurl, v. to unroll and spread out like a piece
of fabric or a flag  (80)
scarce, adj. in short supply; not having
enough  (112)
V
self-government, n. the ability of people “village green,” (phrase), an open grassy
to rule themselves and make their own area in a village or town  (79)
laws  (20)
silversmith, n. a person who makes things out
of silver  (55)

133
Series Editor-In-Chief
E. D. Hirsch, Jr.
Subject Matter Expert
J. Chris Arndt, PhD, Department of History, James Madison University
Illustration and Photo Credits
ACME Imagery / ACME Imagery / Superstock: 59
A General View of the City of London next to the River Thames, c.1780 (engraving), English School, 18th c/ Private Collection / Bridgeman
Images: 56–57
Bryan Beus: 3
Bunker’s Hill, 1775, c.1900 (w/c on paper) by Richard Simkin (1840–1926) / National Army Museum, London / Bridgeman Images: 87
Daniel Hughes: 21, 63, 82–83
David Sheldon: 48
Declaration of Independence, 1776, 1st January 1823 (facsimile on vellum) by William James Stone (1798–1865) / Gilder Lehrman
Collection, New York, USA / Bridgeman Images: 91
Durga Benhard: 14, 50–51
Everett Collection / Everett / Superstock: 89B
General George Washington (1732–99) at Yorktown, Virginia by James Peale (1749–1831) / Private Collection / Peter Newark American
Pictures / Bridgeman Images: Cover B, 84
George Washington in the uniform of a Colonel of the Virginia Militia during the French & Indian War (1755–63) by Charles Willson Peale
(1741–1827) / Private Collection / Peter Newark American Pictures / Bridgeman Images: 29
Gideon Kendall: 11, 25, 69
Jacob Wyatt: 33
Jed Henry: 72, 79
Last Words of Captain Nathan Hale…, pub. 1858 (hand coloured engraving) by Alexander Hay Ritchie (1822–1895) / Private Collection / The
Stapleton Collection / Bridgeman Images: 101
Map of the Siege of York in 1781, from ‘Guerre de l’Amerique’, 1782 (colour engraving) by F. Dubourg (fl.1780–82) / Service Historique de la
Marine, Vincennes, France / Bridgeman Images: 122–123
Michelle Weaver: 12
Patrick Henry speaking to Virginia delegates in 1775 by Louis S.Glanzman (b.1922) / National Geographic Creative / Bridgeman Images: 75
Red Coat Soldiers Toasting The Ladies Of The House by Howard Pyle/WikiArt: 43
Retribution: Tarring and Feathering, or The Patriot’s Revenge, published by Hannah Humphrey in 1795 (hand–coloured etching) by James
Gillray (1757–1815) / © Courtesy of the Warden and Scholars of New College, Oxford / Bridgeman Images: 67
Scott Hammond: Cover A, Cover C, Cover D, i, ii, 1, 26–27, 35, 41, 44–45, 47, 54, 65, 71, 71, 85, 95, 97, 98
Sharae Peterson: 38–39
Shari Griffiths: 7
SuperStock / SuperStock: 106–107, 109, 112–113, 115
Surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown, 19 October 1781 by John Trumbull (1756–1843) / Private Collection / Peter Newark American Pictures /
Bridgeman Images: 125
Take Notice’, American Revolutionary War recruitment poster, American School,18th c/ Private Collection / Peter Newark Military Pictures /
Bridgeman Images: 96
The House of Commons in Session, 1710 (oil on canvas) by Peter Tillemans (1684–1734) / Houses of Parliament, Westminster, London,
UK / Bridgeman Images: 19
Thomas Paine (oil on canvas) by Bass Otis (1784–1861) / Huntington Library and Art Gallery, San Marino, CA, USA / ©The Huntington
Library, Art Collections & Botanical Gardens / Bridgeman Images: 89A
Tyler Pack: 5
Universal Images Group / Superstock: 117, 120
Washington Crossing the Delaware River, 25th December 1776, 1851 (oil on canvas) (copy of an original painted in 1848) by Emanuel
Gottlieb Leutze (1816–68) / Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA / Bridgeman Images: 104–105
 Core Knowledge Curriculum Series™
Series Editor-in-Chief
E. D. Hirsch, Jr.

CK HG™
Core Knowledge History and Geography

The American Revolution

Core Knowledge Sequence History and Geography 4

What is the Core Knowledge Sequence?

The Core Knowledge Sequence is a detailed guide to specific
content and skills to be taught in grades K-8 in language arts,
history, geography, mathematics, science, and the fine arts. In the
domains of world and American history and geography, the Core
Knowledge Sequence outlines topics that build chronologically or
thematically grade by grade.

For which grade levels is this book intended?

In general, the content and presentation are appropriate for
readers from the upper elementary grades through middle school.
For teachers and schools following the Core Knowledge Sequence,
this book is intended for Grade 4 and is part of a series of
Core Knowledge HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY units of study.

For a complete listing of resources in the

Core Knowledge HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY series,
visit www.coreknowledge.org.
 CK HG™
Core Knowledge History and Geography
A comprehensive program in world and American history
and geography, integrating topics in civics and the arts,
exploring civilizations, cultures, and concepts specified in the
Core Knowledge Sequence (content and skill guidelines for grades K-8).

Core Knowledge History and Geography

units at this level include:

Using Maps
World Mountains
Medieval Europe
Medieval Islamic Empires
Early/Medieval African Kingdoms
Dynasties of China
The American Revolution
The United States Constitution
Early Presidents
American Reformers

www.coreknowledge.org

Core Knowledge Curriculum Series™

Series Editor-in-Chief
E. D. Hirsch, Jr.

ISBN: 978-1-68380-021-7 800L