Lord William Howe

Lord William Howe was a British commander that wanted to prove that his British army was invincible. He was born on was born August 10, 1729. His grandmother had been the mistress of King George I. As a result, Howe and his 3 brothers were the uncles of King George III. On January 4, 1756, Howe was appointed major of the newly formed 60th Regiment, and traveled with the unit to North America for operations against the French.

On March 1776, British army decides to attack New York City. After several nights Lord Howe took over New York City on September 15, 1776 with 30,000 British and German soldiers. They almost entirely crushed the poorly trained Continental Army. Washington decided to get revenge and attacked a group of German soldiers that belonged with the British army at midnight on December 26, 1776. They were in a garrison stationed near a place called Trenton. As a result, Howe pulled back many of his outposts.

Howe defeated Washington at the Battle of Brandywine on September 11. Outnumbering the Americans, Howe captured the city(New York City) without a fight eleven days later. In the fall of 1777, Lord Howe won over Washington and got Philadelphia. Later on June 1778, they evacuate Philadelphia into New York City. On the way to New York City they fought with George Washington's army on Monmouth. British are attacked by the Continental Army, so they turn their attention to the south colonies.

Thomas Paine

  

       Thomas Paine was born in Thetford, England on January 29, 1737 and died on June 8, 1809. He was an influential writer of essays and pamphlets. His father was a quaker and he had an anglican mother. Thomas received a not so formal educate, but he did learn how to read and write. When he was 13 years old, he began working with his father as a corset maker and later on started working as an officer, hunting smugglers and collecting tobacco and liquor taxes. He did not succeed in this work and his life in England was very much full of failures.

       Around 1760, his wife and child both died at childbirth, and his company of corset making didn't go too well and went down. In 1772,  he published "The Case of The Officers of Excise" this was an article in defense of a higher pay for all excise officers. This was his first political work, and in 1774, he got fired from the excise office. Luckily for him, he met Benjamin Franklin who advised him to move to America, and so he did. He arrived in Philadelphia in 1774, the job he got when he first got there, was helping to edit the Pennsylvania Magazine. At this time he had already started writing and publishing several articles. 

       Five months after his arrival in America, the most important event on the most famous work he did would occur. After the battles in Lexington and Concord in 1775, which were the first military engagements of the American Revolutionary war Paine argued that America shouldn't just revolt against taxation, but what they should do is demand their Independence from Britain completely. He mentioned this in a pamphlet called "Common Sense" which was printed on January 10, 1776. This pamphlet was very powerful, it changed people's ideas and pushed them towards wanting Independence. He mentioned three important things in this pamphlet and those were; declare Independence from Great Britain, to become a Republican State Government and to Unite the States.

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Continental Army

The Continental Army was a group of soldiers under the command of George Washington. This army was different from the state militias. the Continental Army stood around 230,000 strong, while the state militias could count around 164,000 men, although only 20,000 men were actively fighting at any one time. Washington commanded the Continental Army from June 1775 to the end of the war in 1783.



Washington had gained plenty of military experience during the French and Indian War. The original Continental Army was made up of the New England army. The Second Congressional Congress co-opted this force as the new U.S. army and ordered that 10 companies of riflemen be recruited from other states. This would provide for the larger force that developed as the war continued. Many of the soldiers came from agricultural backgrounds and were poorly trained, poorly paid, not used to military discipline and refused to leave their farms for extended periods.



Washington developed tactics to take advantage of the opportunities available to his armies. He tried to maintain a strong army and avoid situations where his soldiers were outnumbered and could be trapped and captured or killed. His men would not hesitate to retreat if that was the best option open to them. He also used small mobile forces to harass, confuse and distract the British.

Olive Branch Petition

      On May 1775, The Second Continental Congress met to discuss some problems that have been going on between Britain and the colonies. After forming the Continental Army and putting George Washington as commander, they tried their best effort to avoid war. So, on July 1775 Congress sent an "Olive Branch Petition" to the king of Britain. This Petition was the Americans trying to make peace and pleaded, they even declared their loyalty to the crown. This "Olive Branch Petition" was their last attempt to find a peaceful end to the revolution.

      Congress drafted the Olive Branch Petition, it outlined their issues and asked the British government to respond and deal with them. The King didn't like the Americans and this affected his decision over the Petition. He didn't even want to read it, he refused to receive the Olive Branch Petition. Instead he declared the colonies to be in state of rebellion in August. He truly believed the Americans to be in a rebellion and believed it could be ended with military force. 

     The Olive Branch Petition has been called different names, like for example, The Second Petition to the King and The Humble Petition. Although the King refused the Petition it still served a very important purpose in the Independence. The King's rejection, actually gave John Adams and his radicals a chance they need in order to move forward to the Independence. Even though the Congress did their last effort at ending the war in peace with Britain, which unfortunately, the stubborn King, refused, it was still a success.

Second Continental Congress

     

      After the battles of Concord and Lexington Second Continental Congress (the thirteen colonies) met in Philadelphia on May 1775. They assumed full responsibility for what happened in Massachusetts. There were now some delegates that were not in the First Continental Congress. These new delegates included Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin and the new president of the Continental Congress who was John Hancock. Some radical people like for example, Benjamin Franklin wanted to claim Independence, but the other delegates realized that they were not ready for that and that it was not a good idea.

      The Second Continental Congress decided many important things. Some of these things included organizing the militia of the colonies better. So they decided to form an army called Continental Army. They also decided to put George Washington as the commander of this army. He knew that this army was going to face great difficulty. Great Britain was the most powerful nation on earth, so its frightening just to think that the Continental Army would might need to fight against Britain.

     Another thing the Congress discussed was if they were going to print paper money. This passed and later on it was done, paper money started to be printed. The Second Continental Congress was one of the most important government meeting in the history of the United States. The very first time the Continental Congress met was on September 5, 1774 and October 26, 1774 also in Philadelphia. Although that time all the colonies joined except for Georgia and it was still a success. This Congress decided most of the important decisions, including the making of the Continental Army and others. 

The Battles of Lexington and Concord

                                    The Battles of Lexington and Concord, fought on April 19, 1775, started off the American Revolutionary War. Tensions had been building for many years between people of the 13 American colonies and the British Parliament/King, mainly in Massachusetts. War erupted between Lexington and Concord. General Thomas Gage sent troops to capture and arrest John Hancock and Samuel Adams. Paul Revere wanted to warn the colonists that the British were coming.

The battles marked the outbreak of open armed conflict between the Kingdom of Great Britain and its thirteen colonies in the mainland of British North America. They received details about British plans on the night before the battle and were able to rapidly notify the area militias of the enemy movement. About 700 British Army regulars were given secret orders to capture and destroy military supplies that were reportedly stored by the Massachusetts militia at Concord.


The superior British killed 7 Americans on Lexington Green and marched to Concord with new regiments who had joined them. But American militias arriving at Concord before the British in advance. when the advance guard of nearly 240 British soldiers arrived in Lexington, they found about 70 minutemen formed on the Lexington Green waiting for them. Suddenly, a bullet went through the morning air. It was "the shot heard round the world."