The colonists realized that the colonies
had to act together. In 1774 representatives
from every colony except Georgia
met in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The
meeting was called the Continental
Congress. The representatives called on
Britain to cancel the Intolerable Acts.
The British government answered by
sending in even more troops.
Early Battles
By this time many colonists believed
that their problems with Britain could
not be worked out peacefully. They prepared
to fight. They formed groups of
soldiers called minutemen. The minute-
Patriots in different
colonies
kept in touch
with each
other through
groups called
Committees of
Correspondence.
Samuel
Adams of
Massachusetts
started the first
one in 1772.
BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA American Revolution 99
men were to be ready to fight at a
minutes warning.
In April 1775 Britain sent a force to seize
the colonists military supplies in
Concord,Massachusetts. Paul Revere
andWilliam Dawes rode through the
countryside to warn the colonists that
the British soldiers were coming. On
April 19 a group of minutemen met the
British in Lexington, a town on the way
to Concord. After a short fight, the
British moved on to Concord. Another
group of American soldiers forced them
to turn back. The battles of Lexington
and Concord began the American
Revolution.
The Second Continental Congress met
in Philadelphia in May 1775. It brought
together the military forces of the colonies
to form the Continental Army. It
put GeorgeWashington in charge of the
army.Washington spent months preparing
his troops for battle.
Meanwhile the first major battle of the
war took place at Bunker Hill, near
Boston. The British captured Bunker
Hill on June 17, 1775. But they lost so
100 American Revolution BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA
many soldiers that the colonists claimed
victory. The battle encouraged the
colonists.
Fighting for Independence
Before 1776, most colonists did not
want to break free from Britain. They
only wanted to get Britain to do something
about their complaints. But as the
fighting spread, more colonists became
convinced that they had to separate
from Britain. On July 4, 1776, the Continental
Congress approved the Declaration
of Independence.With this
document, the 13 colonies became the
United States of America.
The Americans struggled against the
larger and better-equipped British Army.
In the summer and autumn of 1776 the
British forced GeorgeWashingtons
troops out of New York. The Americans
were driven across New Jersey into
Pennsylvania. But thenWashington
defeated the British in Trenton and
Princeton, New Jersey. These victories
kept the struggle for independence alive.
The turning point of the war was the
battle of Saratoga, in New York. On
October 17, 1777, General Horatio
Gates led the Continental Army to a
great victory over the British. The victory
helped to bring France into the war
on the side of the new United States.
France sent ships and soldiers.
The winter of 177778 was a very hard
one for the Americans.Washington and
his troops camped at Valley Forge, near
Philadelphia. They suffered terribly from
hunger and illness. But they emerged in
the spring as a stronger fighting force.
They defeated the British in Monmouth,
New Jersey, on June 28, 1778.
Final Battles
In the last years of the war most of the
fighting took place in the South. In
British General John Burgoyne (center, in
red coat) surrenders in Saratoga, New
York, on October 17, 1777.
General George Washington
(right) walks through his armys
camp at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania,
in 1778. With him is
Baron von Steuben, a German
officer who helped to train the
troops.
BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA American Revolution 101
1780 the British, led by General Charles
Cornwallis, won battles in South Carolina.
But in 1781 American and French
forces trapped Cornwallis in Yorktown,
Virginia. He surrendered on October
19, 1781. The fighting was over.
The peace treaty was signed on September
3, 1783, in Paris, France. It was
called the Treaty of Paris. By signing the
treaty, Britain agreed that the United
States was an independent country.
#More to explore
Adams, Samuel Attucks, Crispus
Boston Continental Congress
Declaration of Independence
Franklin, Benjamin George III
Jones, John Paul Massachusetts
Minuteman Paine, Thomas Revere,
Paul United States Washington,
George
American Sign
Language
#see Sign Language.
Americas,
Exploration and
Settlement of the
When Christopher Columbus crossed
the Atlantic Ocean in 1492, he thought
he had reached eastern Asia. In fact he
had opened up to Europeans a new
world with two continentsNorth
America and South Americaand many
islands. Many more Europeans followed
Columbus to the Americas. Most were
from Spain, Portugal, France, and
England.
The Americas were named not for
Columbus but for Amerigo Vespucci.
He was an Italian merchant and explorer
who took part in at least two voyages to
the Americas in the late 1400s and early
1500s. Vespucci was one of the first
people to realize that the land Columbus
found was not a part of Asia.
Exploring by Ship
Vikings
Columbus was probably not the first
European to reach America. Vikings
from northern Europe traveled to the
coast of what is now Canada in about
AD 1000. The Vikings did not stay long,
however.
According to tradition, Molly Pitcher served
bravely in the battle of Monmouth, New
Jersey, on June 28, 1778.
102 American Sign Language BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA
Columbus
By the time of Columbus, Europeans
had traveled to the East and explored
many parts of Asia. Many other Europeans
admired the cloths, spices, and
medicines that the explorers brought
back with them. They wanted more of
these goods. But the voyage to Asia was
long and expensive. Educated Europeans
knew that the world was round. They
thought that by sailing west, they could
find a shorter route to Asia.
Between 1492 and 1504, Christopher
Columbus made four voyages across the
Atlantic Ocean. Columbus reached
Central and South America as well as
the islands that are now called the West
Indies. He never reached Asia, but his
trips inspired many others to follow.
Magellan
Ferdinand Magellan of Portugal did
what Columbus had set out to do: he
found a western sea route to Asia. He
followed the South American coast
southward from Brazil. In 1520 he
passed around the tip of South America
into the Pacific Ocean. Magellan died,
but his crew kept sailing west. They
went past the southern tip of Africa back
to Spain. This was the first voyage
around the world.
Later Voyages
In 1497 John Cabot, an Italian working
for England, reached Newfoundland, in
what is now Canada. In 1535 Jacques
Cartier of France sailed from the Atlantic
Ocean into Canada on the Saint
Lawrence River.
In 1610 the Englishman Henry Hudson
sailed into the large bay in Canada that
is now called Hudson Bay. Hudson was