1. CHAPTER 2
THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
1775-1783 REVIEW

2. The Seven Years’ War was fought from
1756 to 1763.
France
Spain
England

3. The British Navy
declined in the
years after the
Seven Years War .
France began to
rebuild its navy
immediately
after the war.

4. The American
colonies grew
and prospered
during the Seven
Years’ War.
13 Colonies 1763

5. This decree, passed
in 1763 to pay off
war debts built up
during the French
and Indian War,
taxed England’s
exports to the
colonies.
The Revenue Act
King George III

6. The Stamp Act of 1765
It required that every
paper document,
from legal documents,
newspapers, ships
papers, publications,
and even playing
cards, carry a stamp
on it to raise money
for the defense of the
colonies.

7. The Townshend Act
This act, passed in 1767, taxed paper,
lead, and tea.

8. British soldiers shot and killed several
people including Crispus Attucks. They
were the first casualties of the American
Revolution.
Boston Massacre
5 March 1770

9. Samuel Adams and
Bostonians, disguised
as Indians, dumped
British tea into the
harbor rather than
pay taxes on it.
Boston Tea Party - 1773
Samuel
Adams

10. The Coercive Acts
• Passed in retribution for the Boston
Tea Party
• Closed the port of Boston
• Abolished the right of the people of
Massachusetts to select their own
council
• Restricted other civil liberties

11. WAR!
Lexington and Concord
April 1775

12. Massachusetts
Concord
19 April 1775
Lexington
19 April 1775

13. The colonies had been supplying most
of England’s ship-building materials:
• Timber for masts and hulls
• Turpentine
• Pitch
• Tar

14. Privateers
(licensed pirates)
Armed American merchant ships that
had helped the British win the French
and Indian War or Seven Years’ War

15. American privateers that once helped
the British now captured British ships
and goods with the blessing of the
Continental Congress.

16. These ships carried coastal commerce,
attacked British supply boats, and kept
open the coastal lines of communication
on which so much of life in the colonies
depended.

17. The Coastal Cavalry

18. Congress was initially reluctant to
establish a Continental navy because
of the “coastal cavalry” force.

19. Congress bought, fitted out, and armed
the Andrew Doria and the Cabot to
intercept British supply ships.

20. Congress soon added
two larger ships, the
Alfred and the Columbus.
Alfred
Columbus

21. Privateers captured some 2,200
British vessels by war’s end, and many
privateer captains would become
famous in the new U.S. Navy.

22. George Washington commissioned
seven ships to capture British supplies,
and in 1775, his “navy” took muskets,
shot, and a huge mortar.

23. Birth of the Marine Corps
10 November 1775

24. Personnel Problems
In the early days of
war, men were eager
to serve.
As war continued,
it became difficult
to recruit because
of stricter discipline,
low pay, and rewards
obtained by
privateering.

25. Forcing men to serve in the Navy by taking
them on board ship against their will
Impressment

26. Finding men to serve in the Navy would
be a problem throughout the war, and
ships were often unable to go to sea
because they lacked crews.

27. First Continental naval squadron was
composed of six small schooners, brigs,
and sloops assembled at Philadelphia.
ESEK
HOPKINS

28. February 1776
Congress directs Hopkins
to neutralize loyalist craft
in the Virginia Capes.
ESEK
HOPKINS

29. Hopkins sailed to New Providence in the
Bahamas and overcame two British forts
and took more than eighty artillery pieces,
powder, and naval stores.
ESEK
HOPKINS

30. The Nassau expedition turned out to be
the last time American ships would put
to sea as a squadron during the war.

31. In a single month, August 1776, Jones
captured sixteen enemy vessels and
destroyed many others.
John Paul
Jones

32. John Paul Jones would become
legendary among early American
naval leaders.

33. American
invasion
of Canada
in 1775 by
Generals
Montgomery
and Arnold
General
Richard Montgomery
General
Benedict Arnold
Montgomery/Arnold
Arnold
(1,100)
(1,200)
Montgomery
(1,500)
Carleton
Quebec
Maine
Fort Ticonderoga
Boston
The Bat t l e of Lake
Champl ai n st opped
t he Bri t i sh
advance i n 1775The

34. When British reinforcements arrived,
the American patriots retreated toward
the colonies.
General Sir
Guy Carleton
General
John Burgoyne

35. By not following
the British plan,
Howe contributed
to the eventual defeat
of the British in the
Colonies. He was
relieved and sent back
to England.

36. By the summer of
1777, Burgoyne’s
forces were in
trouble.
General
Burgoyne

37. Battle
of
Saratoga
New York
Saratoga

38. On 19 September,
Burgoyne marched
his men, European
style, through an
open field to break
through the
American lines near
Saratoga, NY.

39. The British made easy targets for
American sharpshooters, who were
firing from behind trees.

40. On 7 October,
Burgoyne led his
trapped Redcoats
in a final attempt
to break through
American lines.

41. Daniel Morgan’s riflemen mowed down the
British, and Benedict Arnold led a charge.
Daniel Morgan Benedict Arnold

42. The Turning Point
General Burgoyne surrendered
at Saratoga, 1777.

43. Significance of the
Battle of Saratoga
• The British government was less
willing to carry on the war.
• France, and later Spain and the
Netherlands, came into the war as
colonial allies.

44. Treaty of Friendship with France
1778
Benjamin Franklin

45. American naval efforts in the war were
mostly just a nuisance to Britain and
did not affect the outcome of the war.

46. • Hurt British trade in the West
• Delayed troop reinforcements
• Captured needed arms and supplies
Role of the Privateers

47. Washington was right. Naval power would
decide the outcome of the war, but in the end,
it was French, not American, naval power that
made the difference.

48. Most Famous Officer
of the Continental Navy
John Paul
Jones

49. The Ranger

50. John Paul Jones renamed the East
Indiaman the Bonhomme Richard
in honor of Benjamin Franklin, who
had written Poor Richard’s Almanac.
John Paul
Jones
Bonhomme Richard

51. Bonhomme
Richard
vs.
HMS Serapis
As the Bonhomme Richard slowly
began to sink, John Paul Jones was
asked if he was ready to strike.
He replied with the immortal words,
“I have not yet begun to fight!”

52. • Maintain the defensive in the
northern colonies.
• Mount an offensive in the
southern colonies.
• Take the war to the West Indies.
British Strategy in 1778

53. Sir Henry Clinton now commanded British
forces in the colonies. He abandoned
Philadelphia to reinforce New York City.

54. Confident that Washington's troops were
not a threat to New York City, Clinton set
sail for Charleston, South Carolina, and
surrounded the American forces.

55. The last Continental
squadron was
captured during the
Battle of Charleston
in 1780.
The Continental
Navy was never
again an effective
fighting force.

56. Southern Campaigns under
General Cornwallis

57. Cornwallis defeated
Gates at Camden,
S.C., and then
moved into North
Carolina where
Washington could
do nothing to stop
him.
General Cornwallis

58. Cornwallis followed Morgan and Greene
through North Carolina and won a battle
at Guilford Courthouse, but lost so many
men that he had to retreat.

59. General
Marquis de Lafayette
General Marquis
de Lafayette
sent word to
Washington
of Cornwallis’
entrenchment at
Yorktown, on the
Chesapeake Bay.

60. They commanded 5,000 militia in the area
and kept Cornwallis under observation.
General
Lafayette
General “Mad”
Anthony Wayne

61. Generals Rochambeau
and Washington
agreed to battle
General Clinton’s
superior troops in
New York even
though French
reinforcements did
not arrive in May,
1781.
General
Comte de Rochambeau

62. General Washington
wrote the French
minister asking that
Admiral de Grasse
come north from
the West Indies to
help in the New York
operation.
Admiral de Grasse

63. Admiral de Grasse
drove the British fleet
from Chesapeake Bay
In September, 1781.
This action
significantly
contributed to
Cornwallis’ defeat at
Yorktown.Admiral de Grasse
August 14, 1781

64. General Washington’s 4,500 Americans,
with 5,500 French troops, marched from New
York to Yorktown to battle British troops.

65. American forces
converging on
Yorktown

66. Battle Plans
for Yorktown

67. On 9 October 1781, 20,000 American
and French troops attacked the British
at Yorktown.

68. General Cornwallis surrendered his
army of 7,600 men on 19 October 1781.

69. England, tired of
war, now faced
the powerful
combined forces
of France, Spain,
and Holland in
Europe.
Holland
England
France
Spain

70. The American Peace Delegation
• Benjamin Franklin
• John Jay
• John Adams

71. Delegation
A group of people
chosen to represent
a political entity such
as a country or state

72. Treaty of Paris
3 September 1783

73. North
America
in 1783 as
a result of
the Treaty
of Paris
BRITISH
POSSESSIONS
Gulf of Mexico
Atlantic
Ocean

74. The small Continental Navy was
generally ineffective against the
powerful Navy of England.

75. Sea power played an important role in
America’s independence.
• The artillery and supplies used by
the Continental Army came from
prizes captured at sea.
• The French fleet, off the Virginia
Capes in 1781, prevented the British
from helping Cornwallis, leading
directly to his surrender.

76. It was obvious to many Americans that
to keep its freedom America needed a
navy of its own.