America 250: Revolution & Constitution: Class 2 - Independence Declared, 1775-1776

“A dear bought victory” A gathering of respected prominent colonists in Philadelphia, and the arrival of George Washington to head the transformation from New England militia gathered around Boston to a Continental Army, all took place within a few short months of late spring into summer 1775. An entire year before that Congress, the Second Continental Congress, convening in Philadelphia’s hall, declared independence.
Between spring 1775 and summer 1776, what Lexington and Concord ushered in, grew in momentum, from a patriot victory at Breed’s Hill—best known in history as the Battle of Bunker Hill—to the announcement of George Washington as commander-in-chief, to the American invasion of Canada. Men died. The cause of the colonists expanded. The Siege of Boston won. The war moved south in 1776.
On July 9, General Washington read the Declaration of Independence to his troops in New York City. They were declaring independence from Great Britain, but the mother country was in the process of sending the largest armada of troops and transport in the western hemisphere to date. Washington would lose New York, escape across New Jersey, during the “times that tried men’s souls” but rally before the calendar year flipped to 1777. These two years were remarkable.
Instructor Phillip S. Greenwalt is the co-founder of Emerging Revolutionary War and a full-time historian with Emerging Civil War. He is the author or co-author of seven books on the American Revolution and Civil Wars. He is a 2008 graduate of Wheeling Jesuit University with a degree in history. He also holds graduate degrees in American history from George Mason University and International Affairs and Leadership from Arizona State University. A current resident of Baltimore, Maryland, he has worked for the National Park Service in various roles for the last 19 years. And, yes, being from Baltimore, he is an avid Orioles baseball fan.