US History

U.S. History Study Guide

Acts and Quebec Act. Although this affected all the colonies, these Acts wounded New England specifically. The other colonies feared that if the British could wound New England as they have, they could just as easily do it to any colony. At this point, though, the colonies who viewed themselves like separate countries, which had very little contact, dealt with England more than their colonial neighbors. They decided to work together as a united front against British oppression. The First Continental Congress took the first steps toward uniting against Britain, but trying to still be a part of England. Now all the colonies were on the same page. Even up to the beginnings of the Second Continental Congress the colonies still believed they could reconcile, but after the battles of Lexington and Concord along with Bunker Hill, the Olive Branch Treaty sent to King George III was rejected by the king and the colonists had no other option but independence. Throughout the colonies everyone would participate in British boycotts, even the non-elite . The Letters of a Pennsylvania Farmer by John Dickinson would get the sympathy of the colonies. Propaganda by Paul Revere would fire up the citizens and the writings of Thomas Paine in Common Sense would rally a nation upon a cause of independence. The introduction of Benjamin Franklin to the revolutionary cause through the Hutchinson Affair would help give wisdom to these somewhat young revolutionaries and his fame would help to win very key allies. The Second Continental Congress would become the first confederated colonial government that selected a commanding military general for all of the colonial armies which was George Washington. Then, officially declaring a war on Great Britain through the Declaration of Independence turned this from a rebellion into a war. It laid out the reasons why they sought independence from England and made the engagement formal, which would help when seeking allies. Before the colonies could gain independence they, unfortunately, still needed to fight a long and bitter war.

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