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3 Cards in this Set
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Write about a named leader in a Revolution (America, France or Ireland) during the period 1770-1815. |
George Washington was born in Virginia in 1732. He was only 11 years old when his father died, and George went to live with his elder brother Lawrence.
As a young man, he trained to be a surveyor, and worked in the wilderness, mapping the course of the Shenadoah Valley and the Ohio River. Lawrence died in 1752, and George, still 20, inherited the huge Mount Vernon plantation in Virginia, which contained five separate farms and covered over 8,000 acres.
In 1759, Washington married Martha Dandridge, a widow, who also owned a large plantation. The marriage made Washington one of the largest landowners in Virginia, and therefore one of the most important men in the colony.
He was a member of the Virginia Assembly, and later attended the First and Second Continental Congresses in Philadelphia as one of Virginia's representatives. He was very critical of the London government and was convinced that the colonists were being subjected to unfair taxation. He was seen as a patriot and agreed with Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams that the colonies should break away from Britain and form an independent American Republic.
When war broke out, Washington was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army. His greatest difficulty was training the American volunteers to act like a professional European army which could challenge the British in battle.
Washington used the winter spent at Valley Forge to train his army into a stronger, more powerful fighting machine, capable of taking on the British and regularly defeating them. He was greatly aided in this by a Prussian officer called Frederick von Steuben, who organised and trained the Continental Army.
Washington defeated the British General Cornwallis at Yorktown, Virginia on 19 October 1781, and the American War of Independence was over.
Britain finally recognised the independence of her former colonies when her representatives signed the Treaty of Paris, a treaty that ended the War of Independence. |
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What does the word 'guerilla' mean? |
It describes a type of war in which small, poorly armed groups can attack and engage much better equipped armies by the use of 'ambush' or 'hit and run' tactics. |
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Who wrote the article 'Common Sense'? |
Thomas Paine. |
