He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the meantime exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices,
and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power. He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States: For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent: For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences: For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments: For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us. He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat [sic] the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
What was the Olive Branch petition?
The Olive Branch petition was a document created by the Second Continental Congress in July 1775 as an attempt to avoid full-scale, armed conflict with the British monarchy. John Dickinson wrote the petition, signifying the colonists’ loyalty to the British crown, and calling on the King to avoid further hostilities. King George rejected the petition and sought to bring the colonies back into a mode of obedience to the Crown.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
When did the Second Continental Congress form?
The Second Continental Congress formed after the conflict at Lexington and Concord. It began meeting in May 1775. This congress called for the creation of a continental army. The congress believed a continental army would be superior to state militias. The Second Congress also nominated George Washington of Virginia to serve as general of the Continental Army. It acted as the basic leading governmental body for the colonists during the conflict.
Who was Richard Henry Lee?
Richard Henry Lee (1732–1794) was a leading Revolutionary War-era leader from Virginia who signed the Declaration of Independence, attended the First Continental Congress, and created a resolution in the Second Continental Congress calling for American independence. The famous Lee Resolution provided: “That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved.”
Who was Nathan Hale?
Nathan Hale (1755–1776) was an American soldier from Connecticut in the Revolutionary War who was in New York at the time of conflict with British soldiers. The British nearly destroyed Washington’s armies, but much of the Army managed to retreat and avoid capture. Hale was on an espionage mission in New York when the British captured him. British General William Howe ordered him hanged. Allegedly, Hale then uttered these famous words: “How beautiful is death when earned by virtue! Who would not be that youth? What pity is it that we can die but once to serve our country.”
“The Last Words of Nathan Hale” (1858) by Scottish artist Alexander Hay Ritchie.
GEORGE WASHINGTON AND THE FIRST YEARS OF THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR
Who was George Washington?
George Washington (1732–1799) was the son of Augustine Washington, a well-to-do Virginia landowner and slaveowner who passed away when George was only eleven. After being educated by tutors and by Anglican clergymen in Fredericksburg, Virginia, at age seventeen he began work as a land surveyor in Culpeper County. Family connections later helped get him appointed a major in the Virginia Militia in 1753. During the Seven Years’ War, Washington showed great valor at the Battle of Monongahela (1755). That same year, he was promoted to Colonel of the Virginia Regiment, commanding all the military forces in the colony. In Virginia, Washington became increasingly politically active, opposing the Stamp Act in the Virginia Assembly. In 1775, he was appointed general and commander in chief of the Continental Army. An arduous war soon followed, but Washington led the Americans to victory in 1783. Four years later, he attended the Constitutional Convention and was made president of that convention. He was elected the first president of the newly formed United States, serving admirably from 1789 to 1797. Refusing to run for a third term, he retired to his home for the remaining two years of his life.
What colonial defeat led to the capture of Fort Washington?
British forces captured Fort Washington at the aptly named Battle of Fort Washington on Manhattan Island in November 1776. British forces under General William Howe had superior numbers and used them to their advantage to capture Fort Washington, leading to the capture of more than twenty-eight hundred colonial soldiers. This defeat caused a serious retreat on Washington’s part. He moved his troops through New Jersey into Pennsylvania and then Delaware.
Where did Washington begin to turn colonial fortunes around in the war?
Washington and his troops suffered defeats at the Battles of White Plains and Fort Washington. This had caused