Chapter 5; Section 3 A Call to Arms

Continental Congress  September 1774  56 Delegates from all colonies except Georgia  Called Continental Congress

Delegates to the Congress Major Political Leaders:  John Adams and Sam Adams from Massachusetts  John Jay from New York  Richard Henry Lee and Patrick Henry from Virginia  George Washington from Virginia

Decisions of the Congress  Not very united but tried to work together for benefit of common interest  Drafted statement of grievances calling for repeal of 13 acts of Parliament passed since 1763 (Violated natural rights of British citizens)  Boycott ALL British goods  Form militias to oppose Britain (Does this mean war?)

Britain Sends Troops  George the III declares the New England Colonies “in a state of rebellion”  Britain sends Thomas Gage and 3000 soldiers to Boston  Soldiers take away weapons of citizens  Gage suspects stockpile of weapons in Concord….Really?

First Battles  Where would you expect fighting against the British to begin?  Massachusetts militia stockpiled weapons, drilled soldiers often….why?  Minutemen-ready to fight on a minute notice

Alerting the Colonist  Paul Revere alerted of British movement  Rode alerting colonist of British movement to Concord ere.htm

“shot heard ‘round the world” BBritish meet Minutemen at Lexington SShots fired 88 minutemen dead

Concord BBritish find no weapons but destroyed building WWere there the weapons? What weapons? MMarch back to Boston only meet Minutemen again BBattle occurs: British has 273 casualties

More Military Action  Green Mountain Boys led by Ethan Allen  Captured Ft. Ticonderoga  Oh-Oh!

 1,200 militiamen set up on Breed’s hill, across from Boston  British attack the fortified militiamen but fail the first two times  Third time: British conquer the hill  Over 1000 British “Redcoats” were killed  About 500 Militiamen killed Bunker Hill

Building Forces  Colonist build militias 20,000 men strong and they surround Boston  British soldiers in Boston are nervous

Choosing Sides  Loyalist: Chose to stay with Britain  Patriots: Determined to fight Britain