The British are Coming the British are Coming

“The British are Coming, the British are Coming!”

Whigs vs. Tories • “Whig” was another name for patriot (anti-British) throughout the colonies • “Tory” was another name for loyalist (supported the British)

Choosing Sides • 1/3 Whigs (Patriots) • 1/3 Tories (Loyalists) • 1/3 Neutral (“Fence sitters”)

April 1775 • The “shot heard ‘round the world” • 1 st battle – Battles at Lexington & Concord – fought between minutemen and redcoats • Colonial assemblies voted to raise militias to defend themselves • In Savannah – patriots raided the gunpowder storehouse, disrupted the King’s birthday celebration

May 1775 – July 1776 2 nd Continental Congress meets in Philadelphia (long meeting lasting several months) Georgia is represented here. 1. Organize an army commanded by George Washington 2. Sent King George III a petition (formal written request) declaring loyalty to him but asking him to stop the hostile actions against the colonies. • He refuses to read the petition and declares the colonists in a state of rebellion 3. Decide to write the Declaration of Independence

Meanwhile back in Georgia (July 1775) “Provincial Congress” meets in Savannah • These delegates from Georgia’s 8 parishes vote to • join other colonies in the boycott of trade with Great Britain • Create a ”Council of Safety” to enforce the boycotts

Georgia’s two government • 1. Royal – headed by Sir James Wright • 2. Whigs (Council of Safety)

1776 -1778 • Whigs in control of GA • A lot of fighting between Whigs and Tories especially in the backcountry near Augusta

January 1776 • Council of Safety arrests Governor Wright, but he manages to escape to a British ship (Battle of the Rice Boats). Wright will return in 1779.

April 1776 Georgia’s Provincial congress meets again! • adopts “Rules and Regulations” as a temporary constitution (plan for government) • Preamble (introduction) – includes the idea of popular sovereignty (government rests on the will of the people)

Declaration of Independence July 4, 1776 Thomas Jefferson - author • Ideas in it • All men created equal • Everyone born with rights the government cannot take away (life, liberty, pursuit of happiness) • Government gets his power from the people • The people can do away with a government they no longer approve of. “these United Colonies are … Free and independent states” State = Nation (Independent country with its own government) Three Georgians are there to sign it. 1. Button Gwinnett 2. Lyman Hall 3. George Walton