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66 Cards in this Set

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Sugar Act (Revenue Act of 1764)
The new British Prime Minister replacing William Pitt after the French and Indian War was George Greenville. He devised a system for having the colonies pay the administrative cost of the new expanded empire in North America. Abandoning "salutary neglect," the Revenue Act attempted to put teeth in the 1733 Molasses Act by actually lowering the duty on sugar by cutting it in half but insisting on its enforcement. Long accustomed to evading the duty by buying off officials or smuggling, colonial merchants led the protest over this Act. Other parts of it were equally onerous as new higher duties were placed on non-British textiles, coffee, and indigo; Madeira and Canary wines were taxed for the first time; foreign rum and French wines were prohibited; it doubled the duties of foreign goods reshipped in England to the colonies; and added iron, hides, whale fins, raw silk, potash, and pearl ash to the enumerated (goods forbidden to be shipped to any country except England) list. The worst aspects were the increase in "red tape" including the requirement that a bond had to be posted before any item could be loaded on a ship. The paperwork in getting the bond was extensive and both John Hancock's ship, the Liberty, and Henry Lauren's ship, Anne, were seized by customs officials for technical violations of the bonding provisions. The customs service was reformed by setting up Vice-Admiralty Courts in Halifax where those accused of smuggling would be tried. Also, the right of the accused to sue for illegal seizure was annulled and the accused had to post bond for the trial cost. The objective of these laws was to raise 45,000 pounds of the 300,000 pounds needed to pay for the administrative and military costs in the colonies.
Currency Act (1765)
Aimed primarily at chronically in debt Virginia, the Currency Act forbid the paying of debts with paper money. This ban had been in effect in New England since 1751. It had a deleterious economic effect on the colonies as this deflationary policy (forcing prices down) at the time of post-war business decline contributed greatly to the colonial negative reaction against these policies.
Quartering Acts (1765-1766)
Requested by General Gage the law required colonial governments to supply barracks and supplies for British troops at prices according to a schedule. The soldiers would be barracked in inns, alehouses, and other public or unoccupied buildings.
Stamp Act (1765)
The Stamp Act was the first direct tax ever levied by Parliament and was designed to raise 60,000 pounds and it was the first cornerstone of the Greenville program. The new tax was imposed on all American colonists and required them to pay a tax on every piece of printed paper or document they used. Ships' papers, legal documents, licenses, newspapers, diplomas, other publications, and even playing cards were taxed. the money collected by the Stamp Act was to be used to help pay the costs of defending and protecting the American frontier near the Appalachian Mountains (10,000 troops were to be stationed on the frontier). What made the law so offensive was the precedent it established. In the past, taxes and duties on colonial trade had always been viewed as measures to regulate commerce, not to raise money. The Stamp Act, however, was viewed as a direct attempt by England to raise revenue in the colonies without the approval of the colonial legislatures.

Virginia Resolves
Seven resolutions were drawn up by Patrick Henry on the last day of legislative session in the House of Burgesses in 1765 when 77 of the 116 members were absent. The first four resolutions were accepted by a close vote of 22-17 and were vague statements regarding the natural rights of the colonists that were being violated by the Stamp Act. The fifth one said only Virginia could lay taxes on the colonists and it was rejected. The 6th and 7th which were more radical were not submitted to a vote and they said Virginians did not have to obey any laws except their own legislatures and anyone denying the sole rights of the power of the legislature was an enemy of the colony. In introducing the resolutions Henry made an inflammatory speech that included the lines "Caesar had his Brutus, Charles the First his Cromwell, and George the Third may profit by their example. If this be treason, make the most of it." The next day all seven resolutions were printed in the newspapers and it was assumed all had passed the House of Burgesses. Because of Henry's careful maneuvering the newspaper reports made it seem like the House of Burgesses had taken a more radical position than it had.
Committees of Correspondence
First proposed by the colonial legislature in Boston in 1764 these "extra-legal" organizations would play an important role in the coordination of anti-British propaganda throughout the colonies. Many correspondents were members of the colonial assemblies and also were active I the secret Sons of Liberty organizations.
Sons of Liberty

These arose out of the union of the two major gangs of Boston by Alexander McIntosh Sam Adams helped form the "Sons of Liberty" from these gangs. Sam Adams used the Caucus Club, an influential and popular club that had been started by his father, as the mechanism to recruit the gangs for his cause. At around the same time a similar group started in New York. The actual name for these former gang members came from a speech given by a pro-colonial British Member of Parliament, Issac Barre, calling them, "these Sons of Liberty."

Stamp Act Congress
James Otis spearheaded the meeting of delegates from nine colonies in New York who adopted a 14 point document of protest called the Declaration of Rights and Grievances that was to be sent to George III and Parliament in the form of a moderate petition written by John Dickinson.
Non-Importation and Violence
This policy was adopted to ban the purchase of European goods and to actively resist the use of the Stamps. The protests were largely effective through the enforcement mechanism of the Sons of Liberty and frequently resulted in violence directed at the appointed Stamp Tax Agents (who all resigned) along with the destruction of the stamps and other property. Business and the judicial system came to a halt as they could not legally function without the stamps. Before the end of the year, business was renewed without the stamps in open violation of the act on the ground that the stamps no longer existed because they had been destroyed by "persons unknown."

Parliament's Repeal
Greenville's ministry fell over his clumsy handling of the Regency Act of 1765 and a group of merchants in London worked for the Stamp Act repeal with the new government under the Marquis of Rockingham. As Parliament debated repeal Greenville called for military action to enforce it, and William Pitt praised the colonials for opposing a tax adopted by a body in which they were not represented. Putt fully accepted the American argument of "no taxation without representation." Early in 1766 the repeal bill passed the House of Commons 275-167 and was accepted by the House of Lords after King George III applied pressure to that body. Colonial reaction included the abandonment of non-importation and erecting statues in New York honoring the King and Pitt.
Declaratory Act (1766)
Passed the same day as the repeal of the Stamp Act this face saving measure asserted that Parliament had full authority to make laws binding on the colonists "in all cases whatsoever."
Non-Compliance with Quartering Act
New York voted insufficient money to provide barracks and provisions and the assembly's governing power was suspended by Parliament.
Townshend Acts (1767)
Taking advantage of the colonial argument that said external taxes (those regulating trade) were acceptable but internal taxes (raising revenue) were not, Chancellor of the Exchequer Charles Townshend, running the ministry for Pitt (replacing the Rockingham ministry) who was ill, proposed new external taxes on paints, lead, glass, paper, and tea.

"Letters from a Pennsylvania Farmer"
In 14 essays written for the Pennsylvania Chronicle and republished throughout the colonies, John Dickinson declared the Townshend Acts unconstitutional because they were disguised as trade regulations but their intent was to raise revenue. This made them an illegal internal tax that was disguised to look like an external tax. This argument by a Philadelphia lawyer gave the colonists the legal justification to oppose the Townshend duties. He also assailed the suspension of the colonial assembly of New York as an attack on the liberties in all the colonies.
Non-Importation
Instituted again in response to the Townshend duties, especially against British luxury goods.

Massachusetts Circular Letter (1768)
Written by Sam Adams, endorsed by the Massachusetts assembly and sent to other colonies, the letter was denounced as seditious by the governor and Secretary of State for the Colonies Lord Hillsborough, who ordered it rescinded. By then, New Hampshire, New Jersey, and Connecticut had endorsed it and Virginia had written its own letter in support of Massachusetts. Governor Bernard ordered the Massachusetts assembly to rescind the letter and it refused by a vote of 92-17. The 17 rescinders came under attack by the Caucus Club and Sons of Liberty, and all of them would be defeated when they stood for reelection. The radicals would gain complete control of Massachusetts politics.

Liberty Seizure (1768)
The seizure of John Hancock's sloop on the grounds that it had illegally landed Madeira wine without paying the duty resulted in a riot by the Sons of Liberty that forced customs officials to retreat to an island and brought about the stationing of troops in Boston.
Associations Formed
George Mason introduced resolutions by George Washington in the Virginia House of Burgesses asserting the sole right of Virginia to tax itself and condemned the British ministry for its denunciation of the Massachusetts and Virginia Circular Letters. This action brought about the dissolution of the Burgesses by the governor. They met informally at Raleigh's Tavern in Williamsburg and adopted the Virginia Association. This led to other Associations being formed in most of the other colonies that gave non-importation the force of the colonial assemblies. Colonial imports from England fell by more than 60% in most colonies.
Townshend Duties Repealed
A new ministry headed by Lord North had Parliament do away with all the duties except for the one on tea that was kept as a symbol of Parliament's right to tax. Despite Boston's attempt to hold the line until the one on tea was removed, non-importation was collapsed and trade resumed.
Battle of Golden Hill (1770)
Alexander McDougall's broadside criticizing the new assembly for caving in on Quartering led to clashes between citizens and soldiers in New York. On Golden Hill, 30-40 soldiers with bayonets clashed with the Sons of Liberty armed with cutlasses and clubs with several on both sides being seriously wounded. McDougall was subsequently arrested and imprisoned for his authorship of the broadside.

Boston Massacre (1770)
With 4,000 troops in a city of 16,000 frequent clashes occurred between citizen and soldier. After an argument broke out between a soldier and merchant a crowd assembled and began pelting a single sentry with a variety of materials -- stones, oysters shells, ice, and chunks of coal. Reinforcements under Captain Thomas Preston were rushed in to relieve the beleaguered sentry. The mob taunted the soldiers by calling them lobster backs (a derogatory term) and daring them to fire. After a soldier was hit with a wooden club someone yelled, "Fire!" The soldiers did so, and Preston, who clearly had not given her the order, ended the firing and tried to restore order. Five colonists would die with six others being wounded. An uprising was averted when Sam Adams convinced Lt. Gov. Hutchinson to withdraw the troops to the islands in the harbor away from the town. John Adams and Josiah Quincy defended the soldiers in court who were acquitted except for two, who were found guilty of manslaughter, pleaded clergy, and were released after being branded on the hand. The engraving by Paul Revere called the "Boston Massacre" showed the British troops lined up like a firing squared -- it was an effective work of propaganda that definitely stretched the truth. The most notable fatality was Crispis Attucks, a mulatto, and one of the leaders of the mob.
Gaspee (1772)
After running aground in Narragansett Bay while chasing smugglers, the British customs ship Gaspee was boarded, the captain Dudingston wounded, the crew set ashore, and the ship was burned. Led by merchant John Brown none of the Rhode Islanders responsible were ever prosecuted despite the British offer of generous rewards. The British were going to invoke extraterritorality by holding the trials in England, which alarmed even political moderates in the colonies.
Tea Act (1773)
In order to stave off the bankruptcy of the East India Company, Parliament passed a bill allowing the company to sell tea in the colonies without paying taxes or going through a middleman. This would enable the company to sell its tea cheaper than smuggled tea from Holland that was already in the colonies. Colonial opposition was based on the establishment of a monopoly and the Sons of Liberty branded tea importers as enemies to America while advocating non-importation.
Boston Tea Party (1773)
Hutchinson refused to send the tea back and as 8,000 people gathered in protest, the Sons of Liberty disguised as Mohawk Indians boarded the ship and dumped the tea into the harbor without damaging the chests or the ships. Further tea disorders followed with it being dumped into the harbor in New York, destroyed by fire including the ship in Annapolis, Maryland, and a warehouse of tea burned in New Jersey. Tea landed at Charleston harbor, but was not allowed to be sold by the Sons of Liberty and the Association. Later the revolutionary government auctioned the tea of in 1776.
Coercive Acts (Intolerable Acts) (1774)
Parliament passed the Boston Port Bill closing the harbor for any shipment of goods, which would not be reopened until the tea was paid for. The Administration of Justice Act protested governmental officials from prosecution and stipulated that trials would be held in England. The Massachusetts Government Act gave the Governor (who was appointed by the Crown) the power over all appointments and town meetings could not be held without his written approval of time, place, and agenda. A new Quartering Act legalized the quartering of troops in private residences.
Quebec Act
It had been in preparation for a long period of time and by chance it was passed at the same time as the Coercive Acts and was considered to be another intolerable act. After the Treaty of Paris ended the French and Indian War, the French citizens of Canada had not been integrated into the British Empire. This act attempted to accomplish that goal by appointing a separate governor and council for Quebec; officially recognizing the French civil code in use for Quebec; continue English law in criminal matters; give recognition to the Roman Catholic Church in Quebec which allowed Catholics to run for public office after taking a loyalty oath; and extend the administrative boundaries of Quebec south to Ohio and west to the Mississippi Rivers, which was an admission that the Proclamation of 1763 had been a failure.
Suffolk Resolves
Written by Sam Adams and Joseph Warren and adopted by Suffolk County, Massachusetts, these resolutions denounced the Coercive Acts; declared 10 Parliamentary acts void and would not be obeyed; and advised the people to elect their own militia and learn the art of war as soon as possible. When these were adopted by the First Continental Congress, John Adams said, "America will support Massachusetts or perish with her."
First Continental Congress (1774)
Except for Georgia all the colonies sent delegates to meet in Philadelphia at Carpenter's Hall where the political moderates were a majority. News about events in Massachusetts were accompanied by the Suffolk Resolves. After a fierce debate these were endorsed by the Continental Congress. Conservative Joseph Galloway proposed a plan to create a Grand Council of Legislatures for the colonies which would jointly govern them along with Parliament. This plan was tabled 6-5. This meant that the radicals had carried the day with their endorsement of the Suffolk Resolves. This would be the position taken by the Congress.
North's Conciliation Plan
After the rejection of Pitt's plan of conciliation, which would have granted sovereignty to the colonies in something similar to dominion status, North's plan promised to not lay taxes except to regulate trade, and the colonial assemblies would be responsible for raising revenue to support the civil government, judiciary, and provide for defense. Along with this Parliament also passed laws to forbid New England from trading with anyone except Britain and the British West Indies, and these laws barred New Englanders from fishing in the North Atlantic.
"Give Me Liberty"
As New England prepared for war, Patrick Henry of Virginia gave a speech in which he said, "The war is actually begun! ... Why stand we here idle? ... Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!"
Minutemen
These were the younger (under 30), more mobile members of the state militia who could gather in a moment's notice and take action. Some were Sons of Liberty but most of them were yeoman farmers. Their officers were elected by popular vote and decisions were made by consultation and consensus. They were most effective in irregular (almost guerilla) fighting as sharpshooters. For the most part they used their own equipment and would go back to their job when the immediate fighting ended.
Lexington and Concord
Following orders, General Gage had 700 men march to Concord and capture supplies. Paul Revere, William Dawes, and Samuel Prescott went to warm Sam Adams and John Hancock, who were in Lexington, of the British movement. After issuing the warning they went on toward Concord. Revere was captured and detained, Dawes turned back, and only Prescott got through to issue the warning. Upon reaching Lexington, 70 Minutemen opposed the British on the Green but shots were fired and 8 were killed, with 10 wounded. The British reached Concord, where they destroyed some gun carriages, trenching tools, and a liberty pole. After being attacked at Concord's North Bridge by Minutemen, the British forces retreated back to Boston where they were continually fired upon by about 4,000 Americans in the field with 73 being killed and 174 being wounded compared to America's 93 casualties who were dead, wounded, or missing.
Ticonderoga and Crown Point
Cannon from the colonial capture of these two forts in Massachusetts was transported to Boston on sleds (the brainchild of Henry Knox) to give the colonist a commanding position on the heights to force the British out of Boston.
Second Continental Congress
Met again in Philadelphia at the State House where many of the conservatives who had been at the first Congress were not present. It resolved to put the colonies into a state of defense and, at the urging of John Adams, appointed Virginian George Washington to command the Continental Army that consisted of the troops in Boston.
Battle of Bunker Hill

With instructions to establish a defensive position on Bunker Hill, the Patriots constructed a redoubt on nearby Breed's Hill instead. The British were surprised to see the rebel fortifications upon the hill that they had intended to occupy. General Howe led two costly and ineffective charges against the Patriot's fortifications without inflicting significant casualties on his opponents. After obtaining 400 reinforcements Howe ordered a bayonet charge to seize Breed's Hill. In this third attempt, the British were finally able to breach the breastworks of the American redoubt and the Patriots were forced to retreat back to the mainland. This battle, though victorious, proved costly for the British. Of the 2,400 British soldiers in Howe's command, the 1,054 casualties accounted for nearly forty percent of their ranks. The Americans casualties were 441 and the battle convinced Americans that the British were not as invincible in the field as they had been portrayed.

Olive Branch Petition
Written by John Dickinson and adopted by the 2nd Continental Congress it professed loyalty to George III and asked him to cease hostilities until reconciliation could be worked out.
Actions of the Continental Congress
Dickinson and Thomas Jefferson wrote a "Declaration to the Causes and Necessities of Taking Up Arms" that rejected independence but said they were ready to die rather than be enslaved. It also mentioned the idea of receiving foreign aid against Great Britain. Lord North's plan of reconciliation was rejected and commissioners were appointed to negotiate treaties with the Native American tribes.
Failure to Take Canada
Two expeditions invaded Canada and had some success in taking Montreal but trying to take Quebec was a disaster. Commander Richard Montgomery was killed, Benedict Arnold was wounded, and more than 100 men were killed. Out of an invasion force of 950,300 were captured.
Common Sense (1776)
By attacking the King directly as a "Royal Brute," Thomas Paine's pamphlet issued the first call for independence. His arguments convinced many that separation was the only course to take. Published in 1776, Common Sense challenged the authority of the British government and the royal monarchy. The plain language that Paine used spoke to the common people in America.
Declaration of Independence (1776)
Written as a justification for passing Richard Henry Lee's resolution that said that these United Colonies are and ought to be independent states. A committee consisting of Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Robert Livingston, and Roger Sherman was formed with Jefferson given the responsibility of writing the document. Borrowing heavily from the natural rights ideas of Enlightenment thinkers and especially John Locke, Jefferson wrote a justification for revolution that listed a long list of abuses the King had committed (there was no mention of Parliament). This was done to make sure the document reflected a complete and total break not with just the government of England by the sovereign himself. The document was adopted unanimously by 12 colonies of the Continental Congress, with New York abstaining.
Military Battles in the Middle Colonies (1776)
After the initial fighting in New England, the next phase of the war was fought in the middle colonies as the main British force left Boston and landed unopposed on Staten Island. Washington moved to New York where the British dislodged him. First, the drove Washington off Long Island, then from lower Harlem. After this initiative, Washington retreated to White Plains, where, for the first time, he was able to hold off the British forces. However, the British out-maneuvered Washington on Manhattan Island and he was forced to retreat to New Jersey. Despite these losses he retreated in good order, keeping his army intact to fight another day.
Victories at Trenton and Princeton
By surprising a Hessian (German mercenaries hired by the British) force on Christmas Eve, Washington captured 918 of them after killing 30, and only suffered 5 casualties. This move was made possible by crossing the ice-choked Delaware River in secrecy with 2,400 troops. Outmaneuvering his opponent, Washington gained a victory at Trenton and established winter quarters in the hills around Morristown.
British Capture Philadelphia
Defeating Washington's entrenched position at Brandywine Creek, Howe captured Philadelphia, which send the Continental Congress to Lancaster and then York. After Washington's counter-attack at Germantown failed, he retired for the winter to Valley Forge. It was a winter of hardship and suffering for the troops but it was also a winter of training, in which the American troops were taught how to be professional soldiers. This process was helped by the recruitment of foreign officers including 20 year old Marquis de Lafayette from France, Johann De Kalb and Friedrich von Steuben from Prussia, and Thaddeus Kosciusko from Poland.
Crisis Papers
Published between 1776 and 1783 by Thomas Paine, these essays were about issues such as how to treat Tories, what to do with the western islands, and the need for federal taxation. The first one opened with the words, "These are the times that will try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman."

Prong One of the Saratoga Attack (1777)
The first prong was Barry St. Leger with a force of 1800 Loyalists and Native Americans who left from Lake Ontario toward the interior of New York, where they laid siege to Fort Stanwix. An American relief force sent to relieve the siege was ambushed at Oriskany by British and Native Americans, led by the Mohawk leader Joseph Brant. The Americans managed to fight out of the ambush, severely depleting the British forces and opening way for Arnold's relief of the fort. St. Leger returned to Lake Ontario without meeting up with the other two armies. His force was in tact but he had accomplished very little.
Prong Two of the Saratoga Attack (1777)
The second prong was John Burgoyne's force of 7,700 that marched from St. Johns with a huge baggage train and 138 pieces of artillery, where his forces became bogged down because of the forested terrain as the Americans blocked the way with fallen trees. After failing to get supplies with the defeat at Bennington by John Stark and the Green Mountain Boys with the loss of 1,000 troops, Burgoyne was stopped from advancing to Albany at Bemis Heights by American forces. He retreated to Saratoga, where he was surrounded by Horatio Gates's army and militiamen, and surrendered his remaining force of 5,700 on October 13, 1777. One quarter of the British forces in North America were marched to Boston and returned to England with a pledge not to serve in the war again against America.
Prong Three of the Saratoga Attack (1777)
General William Howe was to leave Philadelphia and join up with the other two forces around Albany, where they would crush any army opposing them. Instead, Howe stayed in the New York, Philadelphia, and New Jersey area, enjoying the attention of his mistress, Elizabeth Loring, wife of a prominent Loyalist, and he never reached Albany to help Burgoyne.

French Alliance (1778)
Two months after the Battle of Saratoga, France recognized the United States. On January 7, 1778, the French royal council declared unanimously in favor of a treaty of amity and commerce with the United States. It was followed on February 6th with a treaty of alliance. France consented to the American conquest of Canada and Bermuda and the U.S. promised to accept the French conquest of the West Indies. After a clash between British and French naval forces the two rival countries were at war.
Carlisle Peace Proposal
Lord North had a commissioner present the peace proposal to the Continental Congress, but it fell well short of recognizing colonial independence and was rejected.
Molly Pitcher
During the battle of Monmouth in 1778 lasting through "one of the hottest days ever known" when soldiers were dying of heat and thirst, Mary Hays McCauly, the wife of John Hays, a sergeant of artillery, was carrying water in a pitcher to the thirsty soldiers who called her Molly Pitcher for this service. Her husband was struck down and his artillery piece was ordered to be withdrawn. She took over for him using the rammer in helping to fire the gun until the end of the battle. The nickname was subsequently used to describe all women who helped in the actual fighting of the Revolution.

Culper Ring
Name for a group that spied for George Washington during the American revolution. Included in the group were its organizer Benjamin Tallmadge, Abraham Woodhull, Robert Townsend, and Agent 355, which was the code name for a woman. The group worked throughout the war, mainly in the New York and New England area, and were so well disguised that their true identities were not unearthed until the twentieth century.
State Constitutions
Connecticut and Rhode Island kept their colonial charters while all other states adopted new constitutions. These governments featured: bicameral legislatures except for Pennsylvania's unicameral; weak executives except for Massachusetts and New York where an executive was elected by the people; strong legislatures with frequent elections; property qualifications for office holding and voting; and an appointive judiciary. Most of the states adopted Bills of Rights.
Primogeniture and Entail
Starting with Georgia in 1777 laws abolishing these Medieval and anti-democratic practices were generally abolished. These were two British legal doctrines governing the inheritance of property. Primogeniture required that a man's real property pass in its entirety to his oldest son. Entail required that property could only be left to direct descendants (usually sons), and not to persons outside of the family.
John Paul Jones
He successfully raided British commercial ships from bases in France. His most daring raid occurred when he captured the British warship Serapis while his own ship, The Bonhomme Richard, sank. At the onset of the battle, when the Serapis' guns were destroying Jones's ship, his reply to the British when they asked him to surrender was, "I have not yet begun to fight."
Loyalist and Native American Raids
A series of raids took place in the Wyoming Valley area in Pennsylvania that culminated at Cherry Valley in New York when 40 patriots were massacred after their surrender.

Clinton Replaces Howe
After dawdling in Philadelphia while Washington's army was freezing at Valley Forge less than 20 miles away, Howe was replaced by Henry Clinton, who evacuated Philadelphia, moving his base to New York. After a skirmish at Monmouth, Washington took a position at the White Plains above New York City as the British force occupied the city.

Kaskaskia, Vincennes, Cahokia (1778)
George Rogers Clark with a small force of 172 frontier fighters defeated Loyalist and Native American forces as he captured three forts in Indiana and Illinois. This would give the colonists a claim to this area in the west.

Arnold's Treason
A controversial figure who had figured prominently in many early colonial battles including Saratoga, Benedict Arnold, while recovering from his wounds in Philadelphia, fell in love with the Loyalist Peggy Shippen. High living in Loyalist society put him in debt, and in 1780, he obtained command of West Point in order to surrender it to the British. When his scheme was detected by the timely capture of Major John Andre, he fled to the British at New York, a disgraced and hated traitor. Receiving a brigadier-general's place in the British army and a paltry amount of money, he conducted military operations in Virginia and would move to England with his wife after the war.
The Battle at Savannah
In 1778, British forces captured this major Georgia port city, and from this base brought all of Georgia under British control. A combined colonial and French siege of the city failed to retake it and it would be the launching pad to subdue the rest of the South.
The Battle at Charleston
A British siege ended in 1780 with the capture of the city and the surrender of 5,000 patriot troops to Clinton and the British.
The Battle at Camden
Lord Cornwallis, with 3,000 men, defeated Horatio Gates at this battle, which gave the British complete control of South Carolina.
The Battle at King's Mountain
The British move north was stopped at this battle in North Carolina when 1,200 militiamen defeated a Loyalist force of about 1,000, killing 157, severely wounding 163, and capturing 698. The patriot militia lost only 28 killed and 62 wounded.

The Battle at Cowpens
Colonial troops under Daniel Morgan captured the entire British force under Tarleton at this battle on the border of the Carolinas. The British had lost 910 men, with 110 being killed and 800 being taken prisoner, as well as all of their supplies. The Americans only lost 12 killed and 61 wounded.
The Battle at Guilford Courthouse
Nathaniel Greene, who had replaced Gates, forced Cornwallis out of North Carolina by inflicting heavy casualties despite the British holding the field at the end. The British had no supplies, and it had begun to rain heavily. With 550 already dead and wounded compared to the American loses of 250, Cornwallis moved first to Wilmington and then to Virginia, abandoning the Carolinas to the Patriots.
The Battle at Yorktown
Settled in on a Virginia peninsula with the British navy protecting them, Cornwallis was confident his position was secure. A large French fleet had set sail from the West Indies under Admiral de Grasse with 3,000 troops. Joined by Comte de Rochambeau's 5,000 troops from Newport R.I., Washington moved his army of 9,000 to encircle Yorktown. De Grasse's fleet, after skirmishing with the British fleet and sending it to New York, added another 3,000 troops to join the existing forces. After a short siege, Cornwallis surrendered his 8,000 troops while the military band played "The World Turned Upside Down." A week after the surrender, Clinton arrived with 7,000 troops to end the siege but went back to New York when he learned of the surrender. Yorktown was the last significant battle of the war as the North ministry fell and a peace ministry under Rockingham and Shelburne of the Whigs took over government.
Pact of Paris (Treaty of Paris) (1783)
Along with Great Britain recognizing the independence of the United States, the treaty granted the United States territory as far west as the Mississippi River, but reserved Canada to Great Britain. Fisheries in Newfoundland remained available to Americans and the navigation of the Mississippi River was open to both countries. Congress promised to recommend that states return confiscated Loyalist property, but they had no power to enforce this demand. Creditors in both countries were free to pursue the collection of debts. This was agreed to without the approval of the French who criticized the favorable terms for the Americans but went along with it. Benjamin Franklin, John Jay, and John Adams used leverage to achieve this windfall, and they worked with the British against the interest of Spain (it had joined the war late) and its ally France. In other parts of the treaty, Spain received Florida and the island of Minorca from Great Britain but did not get what it was after, which was Gibraltar. France received Tobago, two islands in the St. Lawrence, and trading posts in India and Senegal. The treaty was a tremendous windfall for the U.S. as it doubled the size of the country.