13 Original Colonies vs. Great Britain
1775-1783
1781-1789s
Student made
•Both Great Britain and the Thirteen Original
Colonies had many advantages and
disadvantages
•Britain’s plan:
 Their goal was to force the Americans to surrendor and take
back control of the colonies
 Their strategy was to capture seaports and split up and
conquer
 They used old 18th century tactics
•Thirteen Colonies’ (Continental army) plan:
 Their goal was to preserve their army and wear down the
Brits until they get tired
Their strategy was to hit and run. The only victory that
• Continental army: General George Washington
General Benedict Arnold
 General Horatio Gates
 General Nathaniel Greene
General Henry Knox
General Charles Lee
General Benjamin Lincoln
• Great Britain army: General William Howe and Henry
Clinton
General Charles Cornwallis
 General John Gentleman Johnny Burgouyne
 Admiral Richard Howe
Lexington and Concord (April 1775)
Fort Ticonderoga (May 1775)
Battle of Bunker Hill (June 1775)
Saratoga (Oct. 1775)
Yorktown (Oct. 1781)
 Continental Congress tired of standing by
 Thomas Jefferson with committee formed wrote it
 Signed July 4th, 1776- very risky
 Now United States of America
 1781- General Cornwallis surrenders to General George
Washington at the Battle or Yorktown
 Treaty of Paris- 1783- outcome of Revolutionary War
 Economy down
 States very separate with different $$
 Needed to unite as a nation
 1781-1789
 Articles created by Congress
 9/13 states had to approve of the articles to make it a
law
 Articles of the Confederation created a weak central
government
 Period known as the “critical period”