American Revolution: almanac

207 Pages·2000·5.09 MB·English

by  Barbara Bigelow

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American
Revolution
Almanac
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American
Revolution
Almanac
Barbara Bigelow
and
Linda Schmittroth
Stacy A. McConnell, Editors
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Barbara Bigelow and Linda Schmittroth
c
a Staff
n Stacy A. McConnell U•X•L Editor
a Julie L. Carnagie, U•X•L Contributing Editor
m Carol DeKane Nagel, U•X•L Managing Editor
Thomas L. Romig, U•X•L Publisher
l
A Margaret Chamberlain, Permissions Specialist (Pictures)
Maria Franklin, Permissions Manager
:
n Rita Wimberley, Senior Buyer
o Evi Seoud, Assistant Production Manager
i Dorothy Maki, Manufacturing Manager
t
Tracey Rowens, Art Director
u
Pamela A. E. Galbreath, Senior Art Director
l
o
LM Design, Typesetting
v
Cover photographs (top to bottom): Abigail Adams reproduced by
e
permission of Archive Photos; Paul Revere’s ride reproduced by permission
R
of Archive Photos; Thomas Jefferson holding the Declaration of

n Independence courtesy of The Library of Congress.
a
c Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
i Schmittroth, Linda.
r
e American Revolution: almanac / Linda Schmittroth; edited by
m Stacy McConnell.
p. cm.
A Includes bibliographical references and index.
Summary: Provides in-depth background and interpretation of the
American Revolution, with short biographies of people relevant to
the topics discussed in each chapter.
ISBN 0-7876-3795-5
1. United States—History—Revolution, 1775-1783—Juvenile liter-
ature. 2. United States-History-Revolution, 1775-1783-Miscel-
lanea-Juvenile literature. 3. Almanacs, American—Juvenile litera-
ture. [1. United States—History-Revolution, 1775-1783.] I.
McConnell, Stacy A. II. Title.
E208.S28 2000
973.2-dc21 99-046939
This publication is a creative work fully protected by all applicable copyright
laws, as well as by misappropriation, trade secret, unfair competition, and
other applicable laws. The author and editors of this work have added value
to the underlying factual material herein through one or more of the fol-
lowing: unique and original selection, coordination, expression, arrange-
ment, and classification of the information. All rights to the publication will
be vigorously defended.
Copyright © 2000 U•X•L, an imprint of the Gale Group
All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in
any form.
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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Contents
Advisory Board . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
Reader’s Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii
Timeline of Events in Revolutionary America . . . . . . xv
Words to Know . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxiii
Research and Activity Ideas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxxi
The People of the New World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Tensions mount. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
King George of England on top of the world . . . 4
Immigration to the New World just before
the Revolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Settlement patterns in the New World . . . . . . 5
The land and the homes of
colonial Americans . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Lifestyles of wealthy colonies before
the Revolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
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Occupations of pre-Revolutionary-era slaves. . . . 9
How the working class got by. . . . . . . . . . 10
Colonial population centers just before
the Revolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Colonial Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
What did people eat before the Revolution? . . . 17
Literacy in the colonies. . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Fueling independent thought. . . . . . . . . . 20
Education and the sexes . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
The sporting life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Literature and the Arts in the Revolutionary Era. . . . . 29
What colonial children read . . . . . . . . . . 30
The role of satire in the Revolutionary era . . . . 31
Poetry and popular songs of the
Revolutionary era . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
The role of wartime literature . . . . . . . . . . 35
The role of the press in colonial America. . . . . 36
Arts of the Revolutionary era . . . . . . . . . . 38
The Roots of Rebellion (1763–1769) . . . . . . . . . . 41
Pontiac’s Rebellion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Proclamation of 1763 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
American reaction to English meddling . . . . . 44
Stamp Act of 1765 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Pamphlets and resolutions . . . . . . . . . . . 47
“Howling mobs in the streets” . . . . . . . . . 48
Nonimportation agreements . . . . . . . . . . 48
The Sons of Liberty unite. . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Townshend Acts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
John Dickinson opposes Townshend Acts . . . . 52
Townshend Acts are repealed . . . . . . . . . . 54
On the Brink of War (1770–1774). . . . . . . . . . . . 57
A massacre takes place in Boston . . . . . . . . 58
Differing views of the incident . . . . . . . . . 59
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Boston Massacre followed by brief calm . . . . . 60
The mighty pen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
King George is petitioned. . . . . . . . . . . . 62
British views on the American colonies . . . . . 63
Lord North and British Parliament . . . . . . . 63
A tea party is held in Boston . . . . . . . . . . 64
Reactions to the Boston Tea Party . . . . . . . . 67
The Intolerable Acts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Reactions to Intolerable Acts . . . . . . . . . . 69
Lexington, Concord, and the Organization
of Colonial Resistance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
The formation of the First
Continental Congress. . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Getting down to business. . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Documents of the First
Continental Congress. . . . . . . . . . . . 77
King receives documents;
Franklin pleas for peace. . . . . . . . . . . 77
Battles at Lexington and Concord:
Two views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
The Second Continental Congress. . . . . . . . 84
The Battle of Bunker Hill . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Preparing for all-out war . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Why General Washington? . . . . . . . . . . . 87
“Our cause is just. Our union is perfect.”. . . . . 89
Assembling an Army (1775–1776) . . . . . . . . . . . 93
George Washington’s generals. . . . . . . . . . 94
New England militiamen are incorporated
into Continental army . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Washington inspects his army . . . . . . . . . 96
The fall of ‘75 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Keeping the army together . . . . . . . . . . 100
King George goes before Parliament . . . . . . 101
Common Senseconvinces wavering
Americans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
The siege of Boston . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Composition of the fighting forces. . . . . . . 106
Fighting styles—American versus British . . . . 107
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The weapons they carried . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Congress orders formation of a navy . . . . . . 111
Native Americans and Blacks in the
American Revolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
The Jane McCrea tragedy . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Violence escalates. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
The postwar fate of Native Americans . . . . . 119
America’s black soldiers . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Virginia slaves in the Revolution. . . . . . . . 121
Slavery weighs against the colonies. . . . . . . 122
Blacks in the postwar years . . . . . . . . . . 124
A Ragtag Force Enters the
Revolution (1776–1777) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Continental army prepares to defend
New York. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Washington tries to control his men . . . . . . 130
The call for independence. . . . . . . . . . . 131
Drafting a Declaration of Independence . . . . 131
The debate over independence. . . . . . . . . 133
Declared: “All men are created equal”;
blacks and women excluded . . . . . . . . 134
Howe arrives in New York . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Howe has trouble with reinforcements . . . . . 137
Howe takes New York City. . . . . . . . . . . 138
Washington calls out the submarine . . . . . . 140
The British capture New York . . . . . . . . . 143
Washington retreats across New Jersey . . . . . 144
Crossing the Delaware. . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
Washington’s desperate move . . . . . . . . . 148
Patriot morale restored; Washington
proclaimed a hero. . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
The Agonizing Path to Victory (1777–1778) . . . . . . 157
Howe takes Philadelphia . . . . . . . . . . . 158
The Canadian Campaign . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Burgoyne’s Offensive, June–October 1777. . . . 160
Battles at Saratoga, New York . . . . . . . . . 161
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The sufferings at Saratoga . . . . . . . . . . . 162
The generals’ critics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
The winter at Valley Forge, December 19,
1777–June 1778. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
The War Shifts to the South (1778–1780) . . . . . . . 171
The South in 1778 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
The Southern Campaign begins . . . . . . . . 173
Charleston Expedition of 1779–80 . . . . . . . 174
Cornwallis takes over Southern Campaign . . . 176
Washington in 1780 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
Fighting continues in the South . . . . . . . . 179
The Revolution Draws to a Close (1781–1783) . . . . . 181
Surrender at Yorktown . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
The news reaches London . . . . . . . . . . . 184
Treaty of peace is negotiated;
Washington dismisses army . . . . . . . . 185
How many served and died in the
Revolutionary War? . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
Further Information. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxxv
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxxvii
Contents ix
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Advisory Board
Special thanks are due for the invaluable comments and sug-
gestions provided by U•X•L’s American Revolution Refer-
ence Library advisors:
• Mary Alice Anderson, Media Specialist, Winona Middle
School, Winona, Minnesota.
• Jonathan Betz-Zall, Children’s Librarian, Sno-Isle Regional
Library System, Edmonds, Washington.
• Frances Bryant Bradburn, Section Chief, Information Tech-
nology Evaluation Services, Public Schools of North Car-
olina, Raleigh, North Carolina.
• Sara K. Brooke, Director of Libraries, Ellis School, Pitts-
burgh, Pennsylvania.
• Peter Butts, Media Specialist, East Middle School, Holland,
Michigan.
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Reader’s Guide
American Revolution: Almanac offers comprehensive com-
mentary on the causes and progress of the American Rev-
olution. The volume describes the American Revolution in
terms that help students understand the events that led up to
the war and why things happened as they did. It offers differ-
ent viewpoints and interpretations of the events to help read-
ers think about the larger themes and ideas surrounding the
tremendous upheaval that was the Revolutionary War.
Arranged in twelve subject chapters, American Revolu-
tion: Almanac explores topics such as why the colonists came
to the New World; colonial life before the Revolution; litera-
ture and arts of the Revolutionary period; the events that led
up to the Revolution; the roles of Blacks and Native Americans
in the war; the assembling of the Continental army; the Revo-
lutionary War battles; and what brought the the war to a close.
Additional Features
American Revolution: Almanac includes numerous side-
bars, some focusing on people associated with the Revolution,
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