#5 - What was Common Sense?

Ethan Allen & the Green Mountain Boys

Battle of Bunker Hill – June 1775

• Breeds Hill outside of Boston

• British General Gage attacks militia

• British win on the third charge

Battle of Bunker Hill – June 1775• “Don’t fire till you see the whites of their

eyes!”

• British: 1,054 casualties out of 4,000 men• Colonists: 452 casualties out of 1,500 men

Battle of Bunker Hill – June 1775

• A moral victory for the colonies

• The bloodiest battle of the war

• Parts of Boston are burned

Olive Branch Petition – July 1775Most colonists felt Parliament & King made bad

decisions – King deserved loyalty (Loyalists)

• A plan to restore peace with Britain

• It was rejected by King George III

• The British set up a naval blockade

Common Sense – January 1776

• Propaganda to support colonial independence from Great Britain

• Written by Thomas Paine

• It convinced many to join the Patriotic cause

Who was most responsible for writing the Declaration of

Independence?

Second Continental Congress - 1776

• Independence Hall, Philadelphia

• Very hot and humid – 90’s

• Richard Henry Lee from Virginia proposes a motion for independence.

• John Hancock elected President of the Congress

Drafting Committee

The men chosen to write down why the patriots were

declaring independence

• Virginia – Thomas Jefferson

– Used the ideas of John Locke– Natural Rights– “Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

Drafting Committee• Massachusetts – John

Adams• Pennsylvania – Benjamin

Franklin• Connecticut – Roger

Sherman• New York – Phillip

Livingston

• July 2, 1776– A motion for

independence is passed

Have you ever wondered what happened to those men who signed the Declaration of Independence?

• Five signers were captured by the British as traitors, and tortured before they died. Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned. Two lost their sons in the Revolutionary Army, another had two sons captured. Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or the hardships of the Revolutionary War.

• What kind of men were they? Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists. Eleven were merchants, nine were farmers and large plantation owners, men of means, well educated. But they signed the Declaration of Independence knowing full well that the penalty would be death if they were captured.

• They signed and they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor.• Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships swept from the seas by

the British navy. He sold his home and properties to pay his debts, and died in rags.• Thomas McKeam was so hounded by the British that he was forced to move his family almost

constantly. He served in the Congress without pay, and his family was kept in hiding. His possessions were taken from him, and poverty was his reward.

• Vandals or soldiers or both, looted the properties of Ellery, Clymer, Hall, Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward, Ruttledge, and Middleton.

• At the Battle of Yorktown, Thomas Nelson Jr., noted that the British General Cornwallis, had taken over the Nelson home for his headquarters. The owner quietly urged General George Washington to open fire, which was done. The home was destroyed, and Nelson died bankrupt.

• Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed. The enemy jailed his wife, and she died within a few months.

• John Hart was driven from his wife's bedside as she was dying. Their 13 children fled for their lives. His fields and his grist mill were laid waste. For more than a year he lived in forests and caves, returning home after the war to find his wife dead, his children vanished. A few weeks later he died from exhaustion and a broken heart.

• Norris and Livingston suffered similar fates.• Such were the stories and sacrifices of the American Revolution. These were not wild-eyed,

rabble-rousing ruffians. There were soft-spoken men of means and education. They had security, but they valued liberty more. Standing tall, straight, and unwavering, they pledged: "For the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of the Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other, our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor."

Principles of the Constitution

Based on the ideas of John Locke

•Secure the natural rights of the people

•Right of the people to petition the government

•Government derives its power from the people

•When government become destructive, people have the right to alter or abolish it.

1776 Links

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJmNnEPZHW8 The Signing - 4• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMEL1Uo-4SU&feature=related

The Vote - 3• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yk5NAeIRY4k Slavery - 2• http://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=A3TGbKfkwGA&playnext=1&list=PLC1D5E4A891F333B7&feature=results_video Debating Independence -1

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrvpZxMfKaU HBO John Adams Declaration

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctKRPq2cPDQ&feature=related NFL – Reading Declaration