Fourth Grade
The Thirteen Colonies
Roanoke was the first English settlement in America. The English expedition took place in 1587 and was led by Sir Walter Raleigh. The expedition had material purposes. Once they set foot in Roanoke they met indians. Nobody can tell whether they were friendly or not.
The settlers started to have supply problems which forced Raleigh to go back to England for more supplies. Unfortunately, Raleigh had an encounter with the Spanish Armada which provoked the delay on the arrival of the supplies back to Roanoke. After three years Raleigh finally arrived to Roanoke but he found nobody. They disappeared. There is a mistery about what really happened to the settlers over there.
Jamestown was the second English settlement in America and the first successful one. The second expedition took place in 1607 and had material purposes. King James I helped the explorers who sailed in three ships to the New World. Jamestown was named like that after King James I of England. John Smith came in this second expedition and he was one of the main characters in Jamestown.
Plymouth was the third English settlement in America and the second successful one. It was founded by the Pilgrims. This group of people came to America for religious purposes. They did not agree with the religion of the King of England (James I) so they decided to look for a land where they could choose their religion freely. The settlement was founded in 1620.
From there on, population started to spread along the coast of America in front of the Atlantic. They spread and covered a wide area. Within time they realized they needed some organization in the towns being settled. They formed up to thirteen colonies which were organized with representatives per each one of them.
England was setting acts which were found Intolerable by the colonies in America. England set the payment of taxes for goods among other demands. The colonies started to feel uncomfortable with these intelorable acts and decided they did not want to depend on the King. They decided they could be a different country with its own rules and organization. They agreed on forming a congress to discuss the chances to stop the Intolerable acts. The congress was called THE FIRST CONTINENTAL CONGRESS and took place in Philadelphia, in the Carpenter's Hall building in 1774. All colonies attended except for Georgia which was having difficulties with the Indians and was awaiting for English assistance.
Since England rejected the petitions of the congress, the colonies began a boycott to all British goods as a sign of protest against England. This led to battles and to a big war between the colonies and the English.
Due to the war, the colonies decided to have a second congress to discuss the colonial war efforts and to discuss the possibility of getting independent from England. This was known as THE SECOND CONTINENTAL CONGRESS and took place in Philadelphia in 1775. All thirteen colonies attended this time.
Guia primer y segundo congreso usa.doc (80,5 kB)
Thirteen Colonies.pptx (785,8 kB)
STUDENTS: SECOND QUIZ CONTENTS FROM HERE ON!!!
Why did revolutionary war begin in the first place?
How did the revolutionary war begin?
Once upon a time England had a war with France. After the war, England had lots of debts. So the people in Britain's Parliament decided to raise taxes to pay the debts. They did not ask the locals. They asked the colonists across the sea.
They started taxing many things, including imports. They set up customs houses on all the American ports so they could make sure to tax imported goods.
American merchants were very good at smuggling goods past customs houses. And when these merchants were caught and put on trial, the American juries wouldn't convict them! Most colonists were not fond of the new taxes.
New laws were set, which denied people the right to trial by jury. And the colonists were taxed more and more -- without getting any vote in Parliament. It was as if the English King was punishing the colonists.
Tempers flared. But it did not just happen all at once. These events took place over the course of a few decades. And even when the Revolutionary War broke out, there were still many colonists who didn't want to go to war with England (they were called "Loyalists").
Vocabulary words
Customs: duties imposed by the sovereign law of a country on imports or exports.
Smuggling: illegal transportation of goods or persons
Trial: formal examination before a competent tribunal of the matter in issue in a civil or criminal cause in order to determine such issue.
Debts: obligation owed by one party (the debtor) to a second party (the creditor)
To tax: financial charge imposed upon an individual or legal entity by a state. Failure to pay is punishable by law.
Punishment: is the authoritative imposition of something undesirable or unpleasant on a person, animal, organization or entity in response to an unacceptable behavior.
To flare : a sudden violent expression or feeling intensification.
Revolutionary war Summary
Due to big debts England had after the war with France, British Parliament decided to charge more taxes to the colonists. Colonists were not happy with the demands of Great Britain before so they agreed on rebelling against the British crown.
Colonists organized themselves and gathered guns and ammunition. The British knew the colonists were rebelling against the British crown so many English soldiers were sent to control the situation.
Battle of Lexington and Concord
The first shots starting the revolution were fired at Lexington, Massachusetts. On April 18, 1775, British General Thomas Gage sent 700 soldiers to destroy guns and ammunition the colonists had stored in the town of Concord, just outside of Boston.
The colonists knew British were coming. They did not know whether British were coming by sea or by land. They created a system to alert the colonists by putting lanterns in an old church. One lantern meant British were coming by land. Two lanterns meant British were coming by sea.
British were ferried to Boston. Two lanterns were put on the old church. Paul Revere rode his horse to Lexington to alert Samuel Adams and John Hancock. Thanks to this Adams and Hancock could escape.
British arrived to Lexington and prepare to battle against the colonists. Nobody knows how nor where a gun was fired provoking the beginning of the battle. From there British troops moved to Concord to destroy weapons and ammunitions but most of it was hidden by the colonists so British destroyed just a little of them.
Revolutionary war.docx (16,6 kB)
Battle of Saratoga
There were many battles on the way to American independence. The Saratoga battle was an important victory. This victory convinced the French that Americans had a chance to win and fought on their side.
The main leader for the British was General John Burgoyne. The Americans were led by Major General Horatio Gates as well as General Benedict Arnold.
Burgoyne had come up with a plan to defeat the American colonies. He would split the colonies in two along the Hudson River. With the colonies divided, he was sure they could not stand. He was going to lead his army south from Lake Champlain to Albany, New York. At the same time General Howe (British) was to advance north along the Hudson River. They would meet at Albany.
Burgoyne and his army successfully advanced south. General Howe, however, had other plans. Instead of heading north to Albany, he headed east to take Philadelphia. Burgoyne was on his own.
As the British continued south, the Americans harassed them along the way. Burgoyne's progress was slow and the British began to run out of food. Burgoyne sent some of his soldiers to Bennington, Vermont but he lost them. They were captured by Americans so they surrendered.
The Americans under General Gates pursued the British army. Within days, they had them surrounded. The British surrendered on October 17, 1777.
The Battles of Saratoga and the surrender of the British army under General Burgoyne was one of the major turning points of the Revolutionary War. The Americans morale was boosted and the country now felt it could win the war. Just as important to the war, the French decided to support the Americans with military aid.
Battle of Yorktown
The Battle of Yorktown was the last great battle of the American Revolutionary War. It is where the British Army surrendered and the British government began to consider a peace treaty.
General Nathanael Greene had taken over command of the American Continental Army in the South. Prior to General Greene's command, the war in the South had not been going very well, but Greene put in some new tactics that enabled American victories and caused the British Army to retreat to the East Coast.
At the same time that the British Army under General Charles Cornwallis was retreating to Yorktown, General George Washington was marching his army down from the north. The French Navy, having defeated the British Navy, started to move to the coast near Yorktown as well.
The British Army was now surrounded at Yorktown. They were greatly outnumbered by the French and American troops. For eleven days the American forces bombarded the British. Finally Cornwallis sent out the white flag for surrender. He originally made a lot of demands to George Washington for his surrender, but Washington didn't agree. When the American troops started to prepare for another attack, Cornwallis agreed to Washington's terms and the battle was over.
On October 19, 1781 General Cornwallis signed the British surrender. The document was called the Articles of Capitulation.
Around 8,000 British troops surrendered in Yorktown. Although this wasn't all of the army, it was a big enough force to cause the British to start thinking they were going to lose the war. Losing this battle made them start to think about peace and that it wasn't worth the cost of the war to keep the colonies. This opened the door for the Treaty of Paris.
Interesting Facts about the Battle of Yorktown
- General Cornwallis said he was sick and didn't show up to the surrender. He sent General Charles O'Hara to surrender his sword.
- The British tried to surrender to the French, but they made the British surrender to the Americans.
- In this battle between the French, Americans, and the British, nearly one third of the soldiers were Germans. There were thousands on each side.
- The French forces were led by the Comte de Rochambeau. Some of the American forces were led by Marquis de La Fayette, a French officer who became a Major General in the American army.
- The British Prime Minister, Lord Frederick North, resigned after the British defeat and surrender at Yorktown.
- The battle lasted around 20 days. The American and French had around 18,000 troops, significantly outnumbering the 8,000 troops of the British.
- The British leader, General Cornwallis, was expecting to get reinforcements from the British Navy. When the French defeated the British Navy and prevented them from sending help, Cornwallis knew he was going to lose the battle.
Check this concept map about the characters of the three battles we have studied.
CONCEPT MAP BATTLES OF INDEPENDENCE OF UNITED STATES.docx
PREPARING FOR THE SECOND QUIZ!!!!!
DEAR STUDENTS, THE WORKSHEET WE DID ALTOGETHER IS AVAILABLE HERE. DOWNLOAD IT AND COMPARE YOUR ANSWERS! See you and good luck!!!
Guia quiz 2 cuarto contestada.doc
SECOND SEMESTER. CONTENTS FOR QUIZ 4.
POLITICAL ORGANIZATION OF OUR COUNTRY.
Dear students here you have all the contents seen in our class so that you can prepare for our LAST QUIZ OF THE YEAR!!!! Make sure you finish the "Political organization" worksheet using your copybook. You can also take a look at the powerpoints presentations available for you below.
Study, see you and good luck.
IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS, PLEASE CONTACT ME.
Political Organization of Chile.pptx
REMEMBER!!! You must know the concept for Constitution, Democracy and Republic. The three branches of the State. Function of the ministries we saw in class. The way our region is politically organized. G O O D L U C K !!!!!