Fight for Freedom / Independence

Gen. Washington's bold plan to take back Boston, would have trapped him on Dorchester Heights early in the war without an escape route in which had saved the patriots several times when they found they were outmatched by the well-trained British troops. But, a sudden, unexpected storm had saved Washington and his young army and had given him time to develop military strategies that would make the inexperienced American army more effective. Early in the war, the most effective strategy for the Americans was to fight, then retreat so that the inexperienced Continental Army would not engage the more ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPo3SjqOhMI Toward the end of 1775, Muhlenberg was authorized to raise and command as its colonel the 8th Virginia Regiment of the Continental Army. After George Washington personally asked him to accept this task, he agreed. However, his brother Fredrick Augustus Muhlenberg, who was also a minister, did not approve of him going into the army until the British burned down his own church in front of him. Then he joined the military himself. According to a biography written by his great nephew in the mid-19th century, on January 21, 1776 in the Lutheran church in Woodstock, Virginia, Reverend ...

It was first published anonymously on January 10, 1776, during the American Revolution. Common Sense was signed "Written by an Englishman", and the pamphlet became an immediate success. In relation to the population of the Colonies at that time, it had the largest sale and circulation of any book in American history. Common Sense presented the American colonists with a powerful argument for independence from British rule at a time when the question of independence was still undecided. Paine wrote and reasoned in a style that common people understood; forgoing the philosophy and Latin references used by Enlightenment era ...

The Continental Congress issued A Declaration by the Representatives of the United Colonies of North-America, Now Met in Congress at Philadelphia, Setting Forth the Causes and Necessity of Their Taking Up Arms. This was written by Thomas Jefferson and Pennsylvania lawyer John Dickinson. In response to England sending soldiers to "restore order" in the colonies, Jefferson wrote: We are reduced to the alternative of choosing an unconditional submission to the tyranny of irritated ministers, or resistance by force.—The latter is our choice—We have counted the cost of this contest, and find nothing so dreadful as voluntary slavery… —Honour, justice, and humanity, ...

Interestingly, the United States (U.S.) Army traces its lineage to the American Army of the 1780s, not the Continental Army that fought the American Revolution.[3] The U.S. Army, however, celebrates its birth on the 14th of June each year. This anniversary documents the birth of the Continental Army on June 14, 1775 when the Continental Congress authorized three different states to raise ten rifle companies, six from Pennsylvania, two from Maryland and two from Virginia to serve near Boston.[4]  Congress established the term of enlistment for the initial rifle companies for one year and specified company strength of eighty-one ...

The Green Mountain Boys  invaded Fort Ticonderoga in New York and under the leadership of Ethan Allen captured the fort from the British. They demanded the surrender of the sleeping British soldiers "in the name of the great Jehovah and the Continental Congress." With the fort they captured cannons and mortars that were sent to New England where they were used on the heights of Boston Harbor. These cannons and mortars played a big part in forcing the British to leave Boston Harbor. The Green Mountain Boys were able to defend their liberty and the freedom of the American settlers because ...

At Lexington Green, MA, the British were met by approximately seventy American Minute Men led by John Parker in a British attempt to confiscate American arms. At the North Bridge in Concord, the British were confronted again, this time by 300-400 armed colonists, and were forced to march back to Boston with the Americans firing on them all the way. By the end of the day, the colonists were singing “Yankee Doodle” and the American Revolution had begun. With the Americans pushing back against the British use of military force to seize their firearms, Gen. Gage sought to offer ...

On March 23, 1775, less than a month before the beginning of the Revolutionary War, Patrick Henry addressed the House of Burgesses in Richmond, Virginia. He gave a speech that has been remembered popularly as the “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death” speech. Although Henry’s discourse was not recorded at the time (partially because Henry delivered it extemporaneously), Henry’s biographer, William Wirt, later gathered testimony from people who had heard him speak. Through their accounts, Wirt reconstructed what Henry spoke that day. The motivation behind the speech was to incite the determination of the Virginia House members to ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbGDKitNf04 On September 5, 1774, every colony but Georgia sent representatives to what is now called the First Continental Congress. They met in secret because they did not want the British to know that the colonies were uniting. At first there were 44 delegates who met in Carpenter's Hall in Philadelphia. Twelve other delegates reported late. Some of those who came were George Washington, Patrick Henry, John Jay, John Adams, and Samuel Adams. Peyton Randolph of Virginia was chosen president. Joseph Galloway from Pennsylvania suggested they work out a way that the colonies could have their freedom under British ...

The Massachusetts Government Act was passed by the Parliament of Great Britain on May 20, 1774. The Massachusetts Government Act revoked the colony's 1691 charter effectively ended the constitution of Massachusetts and  and restricted the number of town meetings that a community might hold and prohibited the election of town officials. The Massachusetts Government Act: Put an end to the constitution of Massachusetts Only one town meeting was permitted a year in Massachusetts, unless approved by the governor Town officials would no longer be elected, they were to be be appointed by the royal governor The executive council would no ...