Independence

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Independence

• Vigorous Declaration, Precarious Maintenance, 1776

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Battle of Bunker Hill17 June 1775
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Israel Putnam, 1718-1790
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So what about Bunker Hill

• Both Thomas Gage and William Howe insisted on a
  direct assault, overrruling the advice of Henry
  Clinton to launch an amphibious assault on the
  rear.
• Colonial forces largely fought wellno cowardly
  rabble here.
• Pyrrhic victoryBritish losses were the largest
  of entire war 247 killed, 818 woundedBritish
  tended to prefer maneuver afterward.

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Why the move to Independence

• Shooting at Lexington, Concord, and Bunker Hill.
• George III declared colonies in Rebellion, August
  23, 1775.
• George III viewed as enemy of parliamentary
  reform efforts.
• Publication of Common Sense

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Common Sense1st published 10 January 1776

• Summary of Paines arguments
• It was ridiculous for an island to rule a
  continent.
• America was not a "British nation" it was
  composed of influences and peoples from all of
  Europe.
• Even if Britain was the "mother country" of
  America, that made her actions all the more
  horrendous, for no mother would harm her children
  so brutally.
• Being a part of Britain would drag America into
  unnecessary European wars, and keep it from the
  international commerce at which America excelled.
• The distance between the two nations made
  governing the colonies from England unwieldy. If
  some wrong were to be petitioned to Parliament,
  it would take a year before the colonies received
  a response.
• The New World was discovered shortly after the
  Reformation. The Puritans believed that God
  wanted to give them a safe haven from the
  persecution of British rule.
• Britain ruled the colonies for its own benefit,
  and did not consider the best interests of the
  colonists in governing them.

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Declaring Independence

• Lee ResolutionJune 7, 1776 Resolved, That these
  United Colonies are, and of right ought to be,
  free and independent States, that they are
  absolved from all allegiance to the British
  Crown, and that all political connection between
  them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought
  to be, totally dissolved.
• Resolution passed on July 2, 1776
• Declaration of Independence adopted on July 4,
  1776no one signed it on this day.
• All colonies had approved it by July 9
• Most signed on August 2

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LEE RESOLUTION
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"We must all hang together, or most assuredly we
shall all hang separately."

• Declaring Independence was not the same thing as
  securing it.
• Britain was most powerful sovereignty on the
  planet.
• U. S. possessed a couple of advantages vast
  territory in a pre-industrial age strategic
  objectiveBritain had to conquer, U. S. only to
  survive.

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British Invade Long Island

• Creation of Continental Army under George
  Washington
• Capture of Ft. Ticonderoga, Dorchester Heights,
  British Evacuation of Boston
• British land on Staten Island in July 1776 with a
  force of 34,000
• August 27, 1776Battle of Long Island (Brooklyn)
• Washington evacuates Long Island under cover of
  fog on Aug. 29-30.
• Lord Howes Peace ConferenceSept. 11, 1776.
• Sept. 13Kipps Bay assault
• Oct. 12Throgs Neck
• Oct. 28Battle for White Plains

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