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Stefanie Masten
Revolutionary War
5th Grade Social Studies
5.1.9: Analyze the causes of the American Revolution as outlined in the Declaration of
Independence.
A) Preamble (LANGUAGE ARTS)
1) Written by Thomas Jefferson, the preamble basically states that any group of people
have certain rights, the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. If any person or
group of people tries to interfere with those rights, beyond what can be dealt with, then those
people can separate from the mother country.
2) People in America believed that they had suffered long enough under King George
III’s rule, and they took it into their own hands to change their government by writing a list of
grievances against the King.
B) Complaints
1) The Declaration of Independence is basically a list of complaints against the king of
things that the American people could no longer tolerate.
He refused to allow the Americans pass any laws, even if it was for their own
good. If a law did get passed, then King George wouldn’t sign them, making
them useless because they weren’t in effect. He also tried to force men to give
up their right to make the new laws.
When a new law needs to be made, he calls men together at the most
inconvenient of times so that no one can really discuss them because they don’t
know when and where to meet.
He refused to allow new settlers to come to America, while at the same time not
allowing the colonists that are already over to take new land from the Native
Americans.
He chooses all of the judges himself so that they will be on his side, and he
refuses to let us choose our own judges.
To govern our colonies, he sent his own officials that the American people didn’t
want, and then made them pay their wages.
He sent English soldiers to America despite that fact that a war wasn’t going on,
and he gave them the right to stay in colonists houses, whether they were
welcome or not. Also, those soldiers were allowed to whatever they wanted,
despite the laws or rules.
King George didn’t let settlers by and sell things from their place of choosing,
but rather they could only buy things from England.
He made the colonists pay taxes without asking and basically for no reason.
This was called taxation without representation.
If someone were on trial for a committing a crime, instead of being tried in
America, he would make him or her go back to England to be tried.
He tried to get people to revolt and the Indians to attack the new colonists.
5.1.10: Identify major British and American leaders and describe their roles in key events of
the war for independence.
A) Famous American Leaders (LANGUAGE ARTS)
1) George Washington
a) 1732-1799
b) He did several things before the war.
He liked to hunt, ride horseback, and do math.
o He was a surveyor, which is a person who marks off property and
makes maps. He became good at this at the age of only 16.
o He was chosen to be the leader of American army when they were
fighting the French because he knew the woods so well. This was
called the “Seven Years War,” or “The French and Indian war.”
 The English wanted Americans to pay for this war, but
Americans refused.
c) He played an extremely active role in Revolutionary War.
The Second Continental Congress formed the Continental Army.
o George Washington was appointed the general of the army.
o He trained 14,000 men to start with.
o His first battle was the Battle of Lexington and Concord in
Massachusetts when war broke out between Great Britain and the
colonies.
 He thought that his troops should fight defensively,
meaning that they wouldn’t fight unless they had to or had
a perfect chance.
o He was trusted immensely by all of his men.
 He raised morale by doing things like waving his hat at the
men.
 The men fought hard and won battles because they were
on their own soil and knew the land well.
o He was surrounded in New York, but somehow managed to
escape at night without loosing any of the army materials.
 At this time, they didn’t have enough weapons, firepower,
or even food to waste any, so this is known as a great feat.
o After suffering many defeats in New York, he was able to rally
back and push the British back to New York by fighting
intelligently.
o He led troops in numerous battles, all the way until the end of the
war.
 His contributions were great; however, he lost more
battles than he actually won. His strategy did seem to be
successful though, because he managed to keep the army
intact, avoid unnecessary decisive battles, and control the
majority of the population.
d) His life after the war
He became President of the Constitutional Convention, & he let all of his
slaves go.
Because of his great leadership during the Revolution, he was elected the
first President of the United States
2) Benjamin Franklin
a) 1706-1790
b) He had many jobs before the war.
He owned his own print shop and produced a paper called The
Pennsylvania Gazette. He also wrote Poor Richard’s Almanac.
He founded the first public library, first volunteer fire company, first
postal system, and the first college in Pennsylvania.
Throughout his life he was politician, write, musician, scientist, and
inventor.
c) His role in the American Revolution.
He helped stop the Stamp Act by telling British that Americans wouldn’t
ever pay their taxes.
He joined the Continental Congress in an effort to decide what should be
done in the war.
He helped write the Declaration of Independence in 1776.
In his newspaper, he wrote articles and printed pictures supporting the
colonies.
o He had a snake cartoon that became famous as a symbol of
American unity and independence.
He convinced the French to help Americans by convincing them that if
Britain won the war, they would be too powerful.
o In return, the French sent supplies to spies and Franklin in order
to support them.
3) Patrick Henry
a) 1736-1799
b) Growing up, Patrick Henry was tutored by his father, and learned how to
speak Latin. He ended up owning his own business for a while, but it soon went bankrupt.
Shortly after, he decided to study law on his own and passed the bar exam.
c) Throughout the war, his political ranking actually played a part, unlike many
other attorneys and politicians of the time.
He was a charismatic speaker that is most famous for his speech in
Virginia at the House of Burgess in which he argued for mobilization of
troops when the rest of the house was undecided.
He became the Colonel of the 1st Virginia Regiment, and led militia
against Governor Lord Dunmore.
He served as the first post-colonial Governor of Virginia and ended up
presiding over several invasions of the Cherokee Indian lands.
4) Thomas Jefferson
a) 1743-1826
b) Jefferson’s role in revolution was with the more advanced Patriots, even from
the beginning of the war.
He had a vast knowledge of English history and political philosophy.
o He wrote a pamphlet called A Summary View of Rights of British
America which showcased natural rights of people, unfairness of
parliamentary authority over colonies, and a disconnect at the
fact that the only tie Britain was through the king.
He was a member of the Continental Congress and he was chose to draft
the Declaration of Independence in 1776.
o He presented the world the case of the colonists’ complaints
against the king.
 Only some of the complaints had to be modified; however,
there was elegance to how he wrote which made it more
persuasive.
B) Famous British Leaders
1) General Charles Cornwallis
a) He was a General for the British and also a colonial Governor.
b) He aided in the victory of the battle of Long Island, despite the fact that he
was sympathetic towards Americans. He took his Major General post sincerely.
c) He was also largely responsible for the win at Brandywine because he was
able to beat Washington’s troops.
d) In the Battle of Yorktown, his troops were pretty depleted from fighting in
other battles, and he was surrounded by American and French troops. He surrendered, and
this basically ended the war.
2) General William Howe
a) Howe arrived in Boston leading 4,000 British troops.
b) He was daring, aggressive leader, and thought that because the Americans
were outnumbered, they would surrender; however, this proved to not the be the case.
c) At the battle of Bunker Hill, he planned to beat the American position by
forming a frontal assault. He personally led the right wing of the attack.
Howe’s decision ended up successful, but it did cause the most
bloodshed of any battle
d) He replaced Lieutenant General Thomas Gage as Commander-in-Chief of the
British Army.
e) He defeated Washington at the battle of Long Island, and didn’t allow his men
to continue attack at Brooklyn Heights when he knew the Americans were already
worn down and surrendering.
This attack could very well have ended the war by taking out all of
Washington’s troops, but his failure to do so is generally known as one
the most missed opportunities of the war.
3) Lieutenant General Thomas Gage
a) 1719-1787
b) He was a British General who is best known for his role in the early part of
the American Revolution.
In Concord, Gage ordered 700 British men to march from Boston to
Concord to take the military supplies.
o This search was largely unsuccessful, and they ended up running
into militia forcing them all the way to Charlestown.
o They ended up with 273 casualties.
After Lexington-Concord, Gage had 4,000 troops in Boston clogging up
the city. He received 4,5000 new troops and several new Generals to
help fight the Americans.
o He was ultimately the one that sent men to conquer Bunker Hill,
under the command of General Howe.
4) King George III
a) 1738-1820
b) George III is most often accused to trying to keep Great Britain at war the
America during the Revolutionary War.
It has been said that he thought the Americans would never be
independent and the war would be eternal, and it was also been said that
he wasn’t nearly are ruthless as some other European monarchs.
c) Upon entering the war, the King was doing all of the things stated in the
constitution, which caused the war in the first place.
d) At the end of the war, he accepted the British defeat, and allowed for
independence in the United States.
e) He may have been the last person to consent to the separation, but he did
want there to be friendship between the countries.
C) Battles (MATHEMATICS)
1)Lexington-Concord
The first military engagement of the war.
o They started April 19, 1775 in Providence Bay Massachusetts.
British General Thomas Gage sent about 700 British men were given orders to
invade a colonial militia base that supposedly was storing firearms.
o Americans heard that the British knew about their storage of weapons,
so they moved the location.
The first shots were fired in Lexington, and the colonists initially forced back.
The British continued on, until they met a group of militia men that defeated the
companies of the King’s men.
Americans, called minutemen were hidden everywhere throughout this battle,
and killed many British soldiers because they couldn’t be spotted, and were able
to be there very quickly.
Paul Revere played a major role in this battle because he was able to
communicate when the British were coming by hanging two lights up in an old
church steeple.
o He also rode to Lexington to alert Samuel Adams and John Hancock that
the British were coming, and they were able to get away.
This turned out this be a moral victory for the Americans, despite the fact that
several Americans were killed, because they viewed it as a great start to the war
since they were able to push back the British troops.
2) The Battle of Long Island
Both General Washington and the British knew that New York was an important
place to capture because it allowed the British to communicate easily between
the northern and southern colonies.
On August 22, 1776, the British landed at Long Island, where General William
Howe defeated General Charles Lee.
o The British lost about 63 men and had 337 injured or missing, while the
Americans lost about 970 men and had 1,079 injured or missing.
o Washington seemed to stay and calm and worked on the construction of
a new Brooklyn Heights. Fortunately for Americans, General Howe
didn’t pursue the American troops, instead he ordered his men to have
their guns ready if militia came near.
o Washington knew that he was trapped, so he split his men between Long
Island and Manhattan. Again, fortunate for the Americans, the weather
conditions were bad which held of the British attacks.
o Finally Washington realized that there was nothing he could do with the
position of his men, so he withdrew. He did so quietly in the night, and
through great discipline and extreme quietness, got past the British.
 When the British attacked the next morning, they found empty
trenches!
3) The Battle of Bunker Hill
Started on June 15, 1775 when the Americans heard that the British were
planning on taking control of the Charlestown Peninsula. Bunker and Breed’s
Hill overlook this place, which made them critical vantage points for the war.
General Prescott took 1,200 of his men to Bunker Hill; however, the British
found these troops on Breed’s Hill, meaning that Prescott took control of the
wrong hill, and the British sent 2,300 troops to take control. This basically
means that the Battle of Bunker Hill actually took place on Breed’s Hill.
The fighting started right when the day did with the British firing at the
colonists. Gage ordered men to start taking over the hill later in the day.
The British expected to just be able to march up the hill and take it over once
they had established themselves at the base.
o The Americans didn’t start shooting immediately, even though they saw
the rows of red coats coming at them. Once the British were close
enough, Americans started shooting causing soldiers to rapidly fall.
o The British were taken back twice, but on the third push, the British
were able to conquer the Americans and took the hill
This was one the deadliest battle of the Revolutionary War. Technically the
British won because they conquered the hill; however, suffered tremendous
losses, even more than the colonists.
4) Ticonderoga
The battle was fought September 11, 1777 on the Brandywine Creek.
George Washington tried to stop the British Troops, who were being led by
Generals William Howe and Charles Cornwallis from getting to Philadelphia.
o Philadelphia was the capital of America at the time.
Howe had 18,000 men, while the Americans only had 11,000. Howe’s sheer
numbers were more than enough for Americans.
o Americans ended up backtracking to Chester, which left Philadelphia
exposed and vulnerable.
The British occupied Philadelphia and then moved on to Germantown.
5) Germantown
In early October, Washington had 11,000 troops spread north of Germantown,
Pennsylvania. There were 4 roads leading to a specific village, so people
thought that Washington had a great battle plan.
o His troops, led by different Generals could merge down these roads and
attack at central point.
Unfortunately, during the night, one of the Generals seemed to have lost his
way, which delayed the ambush.
One group of militia attacked on the west first, and pushed General Howe’s
troops back, but since there were no men coming from the east as planned, the
British were able to begin pushing back.
Washington held a brief conference to see what should be done.
o They decided that since an enemy should continue being pursued if they
are moving forward, that they should continue on. This gave General
Greene’s troops from the east time to catch up.
Major General Adam Stephen led his troops, without orders, back to battle.
o This caused major panic, which affected other brigades and terrified
them. Despite Washington’s efforts to rally the troops, the attack
eventually fell apart.
General Cornwallis appeared to reinforce the British; however, he did not
pursue American troops after they fled, and the battle was over.
6) Battle of Yorktown
Occurred in Yorktown, Virginia on October 19, 1781.
o In a surprising turn of events, General Cornwallis signed orders
surrendering his British troops to the American and French armies.
 Washington and French General Comte de Rochambeau joined
forces on the Chesapeake Bay because they saw a brief
opportunity to pin the British in Virginia
 They raced towards New York in order to meet up with more
Frenchmen.
 Offshore, the French fleet blocked any source of aid to Cornwallis
while onshore, the Americans and French were controlling the
grounds with guns.
 Eventually Cornwallis surrender after an awful campaign to the
south. His plan backfired as loyalist and Patriot forces in the
south fought Indians. The Patriots were the only ones that came
out without feeling the pressure.
 This crippled the British army so much that they had no choice
but to surrender bringing an end to Revolutionary War after six
and half years of fighting.
5.1.11: Describe foreign aid to the colonies during the American Revolution. (LANGUAGE
ARTS)
A) The French
1) France was the first country to aid the United States.
Their motive wasn’t to help Americans, but rather it was to tear down Britain,
who had taken away their chances in America already. Also, as country they felt
uneasy, and had a slight desire to help the struggling Americans.
They entered after the Battle of Saratoga, in which Britain lost a lot of it’s
manpower and machine power, and became stretched quite thin. Also, the
colonists had new found power and confidence after defeating the British.
French vessels brought over 200 heavy guns, four thousand tents, a large supply
or arms (weapons) and enough clothing for 30,000 men.
o This was done secretly through spies and Benjamin Franklin.
Their investment of manpower and money left little gain for the country at the
end of the war, which eventually led to the French Revolution.
2) There were a few famous Frenchman who came over and volunteered to fight for
America.
Marquise de Lafayette
o When Lafayette heard of the struggles that Americans were having, he
convinced several French officers to join in him in coming to America to
assist the Americans as a volunteer.
o Because of his high French rank, he ended up becoming a Major for
America and joined forces with George Washington, who he later worked
with more closely.
o He fought in the Battle of Brandywine, Yorktown, the Battle of Rhode
Island, and several others, all the while supporting Washington and his
efforts to lead his troops.
B) The Spanish
1) Spain entered the war as an ally to France.
Before Spain had officially entered the war, they had been providing weapons
through a New Orleans port.
Spain’s presence was mostly naval, and they tried to get back several of their
small countries that had been taken over by the British.
While their entry into the revolution was risky, and depended upon the
vulnerability of Great Britain, it ended up being quite a success for Spain.
While the French lost tons of machinery and men, the Spanish got easier
because they hadn’t invested quite so much and were able to take care or their
debts more easily.
2) There were some notable Spaniards that contributed to war.
a) Bernardo de Galvez
Galvez led the Spanish Army during the Revolutionary war against the
British at Pensecola, which in turn won Florida for Spain.
He also captured the Naval bases in the Bahamas and New Providence.
His conquests left Britain with no bases in the south, except for in
Jamaica.
5.1.12: Identify contributions of women and minorities during the American Revolution.
A) Minorities
1) There were almost 200,000 Native Americans east of the Mississippi, and a great
majority of those Indians didn’t trust the colonists and therefore supported the British.
The British provided money and guns to the Indians to attack American
outposts.
Some Indians tried to remain neutral, while others supported the American
cause.
2) Indians raided settlements from the Carolinas to New York.
The most famous Indian was Joseph Brant, who led 300 Indian warriors and
100 white men in small attacks on settlements in New York and Pennsylvania.
3) While the Indians could send up to 100 men at time, they couldn’t send troops of
thousands like the Americans and British could.
Because of this, Americans sent armies to invade the Cherokees.
There was little combat, but several villages were burned, destroying bushels of
corn, which left little food supply for the winter.
o This caused the Indians to flee to Canada because they faced starvation.
The British fed them, but abandoned their allies, and the Americans took
control of the land west of Mississippi and north of Florida.
B) Women
1) Several different types of women made contributions to American Revolution.
Some participated of both sides of the war just like men did.
Some women participated in boycotting household items, causing them to
return to spinning and weaving because they gave up the luxury of buying
cloth.
Women spied on the British, sometimes following or cooking for the soldiers
then delivering messages.
Most importantly, women kept up with the agricultural work at home which
fed the fighting men and their families.
2) Abigail Adams
She was married to John Adams, and had a great mind for writing and learning
French.
o She would write to her friends about liberty and freedom.
She stayed at home on the farm when John left for the Continental Congress in
Philadelphia.
o She wrote to him while he was away, and much of what was in the letter
found its way into our founding documents.
o One major thing she wrote was to remind him to take care of women,
because they wouldn’t be bound to laws when they had no say in what
was happening.
3) Martha Washington
Martha was torn between the loyalists and those who wanted independence.
When her husband was appointed Commander-in-Chief, she went to his aid
whenever she could.
o She brought the men food and provided medical assistance when she
could.
o Her role in the war wasn’t necessarily active, but she did take care of
many of Washington’s men.
4) Deborah Sampson
She enlisted in the 4th Massachusetts Regiment as a man under the name Robert
Shurtliffe.
o She cut her hair and wrapped her chest disguising herself quite well.
o She was wounded in battle several times; however, every time she got
medical attention, she wasn’t revealed for being a woman.
o During the summer 1783, she came down with a fever and ended up
having to a doctor who discovered that she was woman.
 Rather than betray her, he took her to his house where his family
treated her.
o Once she recovered, Sampson returned to the army; however, a peace
treaty was signed and the soldiers were sent home.
o Her general, John Patterson, discovered she was a woman because the
doctor ended up sending a note.
 He never said a word about it, but rather gave her an honorable
discharge from the army and some money to bear her expenses.
 She spent a year and half in the army.