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Road To
Independence
A Call To Arms
p.141
The Continental Congress
• Colonial leaders realized they needed the
colonies to act together in their opposition
to British policies.
• In Sept. 17744, 55 men arrived in
Philadelphia to establish a political body to
represent American interests and challenge
British control.
• The men were sent as delegates from all the
colonies except Georgia.
• This new organization was the Continental
Congress.
Delegates to Congress
• Major political leaders attended:
–MA: Sam Adams and John
Adams
–NY: John Jay
–VA: Richard Henry Lee, Patrick
Henry and George Washington.
Decisions of the Congress
• First, they drafted a statement of grievances
calling for the repeal of 13 acts of Parliament
passed since 1763.
• They declared these laws violated the
colonists’ rights.
• They voted to boycott all British goods and
trade.
• They endorsed the Suffolk Resolves –
resolutions put together by people of Suffolk
County, MA.
The First Battles
• Towns formed militia’s to fight
against the British.
• Minutemen boasted they would be
ready to fight in a minute.
Britain Sends Troops
• King George announced to Parliament that New
England colonies were “in a state of rebellion”
and “blows must decide” who would control
America.
• Sir Thomas Gage had instructions to take away
the weapons of the MA militia and arrest the
leaders.
• Gage learned that the militia was storing arms
and ammunition at Concord, near Boston.
• He ordered sent 700 troops under Francis Smith
to Concord.
Alerting the troops
• Paul Revere and William Dawes were
alerted by 2 lights in the steeple of the
North Chapel in Boston that troops
were forming rank and beginning to
march in Boston Common.
• They rode to Lexington to warn Sam
Adams alerting minutemen along the
way.
Fighting at Lexington and Concord
• After marching all night, the redcoats
reach Lexington at dawn.
• At the center of town they found 70
minutemen ready to fight.
• A shot was fired, and then both sides let
loose with an exchange of bullets.
• This was declared as the “shot heard
‘round the world” by poet Ralph Waldo
Emerson in The Concord Hymn.
• In the end, 8 minutemen died.
Fighting at Lexington and Concord
• The British troops continued marching to
Concord.
• When they arrived, they discovered most
ammo and gunpowder had already been
removed, but they destroyed the remainder.
• The minutemen were waiting at the North
Bridge.
• In the end, at least 174 redcoats were
wounded and 73 died.
More Military Action
• After the battles at Lexington and Concord,
Benedict Arnold raised a force of 400 to seize
Fort Ticonderoga on Lake Champlain.
• Fort Ticonderoga was rich with military supplies.
• Arnold joined with Ethan Allen’s forces, the
Green Mountain boys, and caught the British by
surprise. The British surrendered.
• Later Arnold later conspired to surrender West
Point to the British. Arnold became an officer in
the British army.
Building Forces
• After the battles of Lexington and
Concord, calls for volunteers to join
the militia were sent out.
• Both the American and British troops
waited nervously for several weeks for
the other to make the next move.
The Battle of Bunker Hill
• In June 1775, about 1,200 militia men set up
fortifications at Bunker Hill and nearby Breed’s
Hill, across the Boston harbor.
• This was a strategic location because it was a
high point overlooking the water.
• The British knew they must drive the American
forces from their.
• The British forces charged up the hill.
• American colonel, William Prescott, knowing
the American army was low on ammunition,
ordered, “Don’t fire until you see the whites of
their eyes.”
The Battle of Bunker Hill
• When the Americans opened fire, the
British retreated.
• The British charged 2 more times, and the
American army was forced to surrender
when they ran out of ammunition.
• British won, but over 1,000 redcoats were
dead or wounded.
• Britain realized defeating the
Americans would not be easy.
Choosing Sides
• With the battle, people needed to
make a decision on which side to take.
• Loyalist – Colonists who remained
loyal to England.
• Patriot – Colonists who fought against
Britain for independence.