US History

U.S. History Study Guide

Chapter 6: The Revolution 1776-1783

6.1 Revolution 1776-1783 This chapter will cover the start of the American Revolution, after the Declaration of Independence when the war became a formal affair. It will go in depth on the army, the events, and the battles until the war was officially over: as well as include important figures crucial to the Revolution and after. 6.2 The Continental Army After the signing of the Declaration of Independence the colonies prepared for war. They were going against the greatest military of its time and had to put together an army that could withstand the brunt of the British aggression. The colonies had no professional army or navy; their forces were comprised of mostly young and old untrained militias, men who were not career soldiers like the British but men that were farmers and merchants. The colonists were also very poorly funded, when some of these men showed up they did not even come with muskets but pitch forks and sickles. Washington had to take these men and turn them into one moving force using democratic methods because the majority of his men were voluntary: as such, he had to do train and arm them without finances. Washington realized the colonists needed to either fight defensively or fight enough to stay alive and keep the war going. … If they could hang in long enough they could persuade a European country to ally with them and improve the Colonies’ chance of winning. In addition to keeping the war going the British forces and citizens’ enthusiasm could falter and push them to end the war due to mounting debt on both sides. 6.3 Division among the Colonists There was a sharp division in the colonies between the Patriots, in favor of independence, and the Tories, British loyalists and sympathizers. Tory influence was most powerful in the Middle Colonies and in Georgia. Slaves also made up a significant number of Tory loyalists, responding to Britain’s promises of freedom for any slave who fought to restore royal authority. The most prominent Patriot strongholds were New England, Virginia, and South Carolina. 6.4 Benjamin Franklin in France The Second Continental Congress decided to send their most famous man to try and recruit the second largest European power of the time, France. Benjamin Franklin served as an ambassador from 1776 to 1778 with the vital task of gaining French support for American independence. When Franklin

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