Lets Know More About Olive Branch Petition Flashcards

The Second Continental Congress was a convention of delegates from the Thirteen Colonies that met beginning on May 10, 1775, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, soon after warfare in the American Revolutionary War had begun. It succeeded the First Continental Congress, which met briefly during 1774, also in Philadelphia. The second Congress managed the colonial war effort, and moved incrementally towards independence, adopting the United States Declaration of Independence on July 4th, 1776. By raising armies, directing strategy, appointing diplomats, and making formal treaties, the Congress acted as the de facto national government of what became the United States. With the ratification of the Articles of Confederation in 1781, the Congress became known as the Congress of the Confederation.

The Olive Branch Petition was adopted by the Continental Congress in July 1775 in an attempt to avoid a full-blown war with Great Britain. The petition affirmed American loyalty to Great Britain and entreated the king to prevent further conflict. The petition was rejected, and in August 1775 the colonies were formally declared in rebellion by the Proclamation of Rebellion

18-century German regiments hired through their rulers by the British Empire. Despite their name, they were not all from Hesse. They were not mercenaries, although their German rulers profited from their use. Though used in several conflicts including in Ireland, they are most widely associated with combat operations in the American Revolutionary War. They provided extensive manpower to support the American loyalist cause, but the fact that they were not British provided the pro-independence side with opportunities for propaganda and may have aided pro-independence recruitment

Common Sense^[1] is a pamphlet written by Thomas Paine. It was first published anonymously on January 10, 1776, during the American Revolution. Common Sense, signed "Written by an Englishman", became an immediate success.^[2] In relation to the population of the Colonies at that time, it had the largest sale and circulation of any book in American history. Common Sense presented the American colonists with an argument for freedom from British rule at a time when the question of independence was still undecided. Paine wrote and reasoned in a style that common people understood; forgoing the philosophy and Latin references used by Enlightenment era writers, Paine structured Common Sense like a sermon and relied on Biblical references to make his case to the people. ^[3] Paine accessed common dissenting Protestant idioms as a means to present a distinctly American political identity to peoples who, in the preceding decades, had become increasingly culturally tied to Britain. ^[4] Historian Gordon S. Wood described Common Sense as, "the most incendiary and popular pamphlet of the entire revolutionary era".^[5]

The Declaration of Independence was a statement adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, which announced that the thirteen American colonies then at war with Great Britain regarded themselves as independent states, and no longer a part of the British Empire. John Adams put forth a resolution earlier in the year which made a formal declaration inevitable. A committee was assembled to draft the formal declaration, which was to be ready when congress voted on independence. Adams persuaded the committee to select Thomas Jefferson to compose the original draft of the document,^[2] which congress would edit to produce the final version. The Declaration was ultimately a formal explanation of why Congress had voted on July 2 to declare independence from Great Britain, more than a year after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War. The birthday of the United States of America—Independence Day—is celebrated on July 4, the day the wording of the Declaration was approved by Congress.

In North America, the term 'Loyalist' characterizes American colonists who rejected the American Revolution. They included many Royal officials, Anglican clergymen, wealthy merchants with ties to London, de-mobilized Royal soldiers, or recent arrivals (especially from Scotland), together with many ordinary people. Though estimates vary, colonists with Loyalist sympathies likely accounted for 20% to as much as 30% of the white colonial population of the day, compared to about 40% who were 'Patriot'. This high level of political polarization causes some historians to argue that the American Revolution was as much a civil war, as a war of independence. ^[1][2] The British strategy to win the war counted heavily on mobilizing Loyalist soldiers, and they formed some 60 militia regiments during the Revolution. In the South after 1779, especially in South Carolina, Loyalist militias tended to use the same guerrilla tactics as their Patriot counterparts. Battles between Loyalist and Patriot militias in the South were often brutal, and atrocities occurred, as in the experience of young Andrew Jackson. Repression of leading Loyalists during the Revolution included property confiscation and driving people out of town. After the war 80% of the Loyalists stayed in the United States. However perhaps 70,000 Loyalists sought refuge elsewhere in the British Empire, often with financial help from the Crown. Most re-settled in Quebec and Nova Scotia. Thus, the Loyalists, to whom The British gave free land and the nominal hereditary title 'UEL' (United Empire Loyalist) which their descendants may choose to bear even today, are generally regarded to be the founders of modern English-speaking Canada.^[3] Native Loyalists like Mohawk leader Joseph Brant, the Black Loyalists, and Anabaptist Loyalists (Mennonites) were part of the migration northwards out of America, and that each of these groups made significant contributions to the Canadian mosaic

Patriots (also known as American Whigs, Revolutionaries, Congress-Men or Rebels) is a name often used to describe the colonists of the British Thirteen United Colonies who rebelled against British control during the American Revolution. It was their leading figures who, in July 1776, declared the United States of America an independent nation. Their rebellion was based on the political philosophy of republicanism, as expressed by pamphleteers, such as Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, and Thomas Paine. They called themselves Whigs after 1768, identifying with members of the British Whig party (including the Radical Whigs and Patriot Whigs), who favored similar colonial policies. As a group, Patriots represented an array of social, economic, ethnic and racial backgrounds. They included college students like Alexander Hamilton; planters like Thomas Jefferson; merchants like Alexander McDougall; lawyers like John Adams; and plain farmers like Daniel Shays and Joseph Plumb Martin.

The Model Treaty was not with a specific country, but rather was a template for future relations with foreign countries and was America’s first diplomatic statement. It adhered to the ideal of free and reciprocal trade. It was also a practical document reflecting the existing American non-political trade arrangements with France and Spain that Robert Morris had established as chairman of the Secret Committee. It was a proposal to formalize those arrangements as arrangements between countries and not just individuals. This nonmilitary treaty had three main components:

1. Free ports to guarantee free goods,
2. Freedom of neutrals to trade in normal goods,
3. Agreement on a contraband list.

On September 24, 1776, Congress accepted the Model Treaty and commissioners to France were chosen on the next day. Benjamin Franklin took the Model Treaty to Paris, and it was used as the starting point for negotiations with France, which ultimately resulted the signing of two treaties: an economic treaty, the Treaty of Amity and Commerce, and a treaty of military alliance, the Treaty of Alliance.

Armed neutrality, in international politics, is the posture of a state or group of states which makes no alliance with either side in a war, but asserts that it will defend itself against resulting incursions from all parties.^[1] The phrase "armed neutrality" sometimes refers specifically to the League of Armed Neutrality, an alliance of minor naval powers organized in 1780 by Catherine II of Russia to protect neutral shipping in the War of American Independence.^[2] There was an effort to revive this during the French Revolutionary Wars^[3] and the American Civil War.^[4] Switzerland and Sweden are, independently of each other, famed for their armed neutrality, which they maintained throughout both World War I and World War II.^[5] During World War II, Ireland stated that it would take the British side if invaded by Germany but the German side if the British stationed troops on Irish soil.^[6]

A privateer is a private person or ship authorized by a government by letters of marque to attack foreign shipping during wartime. Privateering was a way of mobilizing armed ships and sailors without having to spend public money or commit naval officers. They were of great benefit to a smaller naval power or one facing an enemy dependent on trade: they disrupted commerce and pressured the enemy to deploy warships to protect merchant trade against commerce raiders. The cost was borne by investors hoping to profit from prize money earned from captured cargo and vessels. The proceeds would be distributed among the privateer's investors, officers and crew. It has been argued that privateering was a less destructive and wasteful form of warfare, because the goal was to capture ships rather than to sink them.^[1] Privateers were part of naval warfare from the 16th to the 19th century. Some privateers have been particularly influential in the annals of history. Sometimes, the vessels would be commissioned into regular service as warships. The crew of a privateer might be treated as prisoners of war by the enemy country if captured.

The Treaty of Paris, signed on September 3, 1783, ratified by the Congress of the Confederation on January 14, 1784,^[1] and by the King of Great Britain on April 9, 1784 (the ratification documents were exchanged in Paris on May 12, 1784), formally ended the American Revolutionary War between the Kingdom of Great Britain and the United States of America, which had rebelled against British rule. The other combatant nations, France, Spain and the Dutch Republic had separate agreements; for details of these, and the negotiations which produced all four treaties, see Peace of Paris (1783).

In late April, following the battles of Lexington and Concord, Allen received a message from members of an irregular Connecticut militia that they were planning to capture Fort Ticonderoga, requesting his assistance in the effort.^[47] Allen, whether motivated by patriotic impulses (as he describes in his account of the events), or by the realization that the action might improve the political position of his side in the grants disputes, agreed to help, and began rounding up the Green Mountain Boys.^[48] On May 2, 60 men from Massachusetts and Connecticut met with Allen in Bennington, where they discussed the logistics of the expedition.^[47] By May 7, these men joined Allen and 130 Boys at Castleton. The next morning, Allen was elected to lead the expedition, and a dawn raid was planned for May 10.^[49] Two small companies were detached to procure boats, and Allen took the main contingent north to Hand's Cove in Shoreham to prepare for the crossing.^[50] On the afternoon of May 9, Benedict Arnold quite unexpectedly arrived on the scene. Flourishing a commission from the Massachusetts Committee of Safety, he asserted his right to command the expedition. The assembled men refused to acknowledge his authority, insisting they would only follow Allen's lead. In a private discussion, Allen and Arnold reached an accommodation, the essence of which was that Arnold and Allen would both be at the front of the troops when the attack on the fort was made.^[51] Around 2 am, a few boats were finally procured for the crossing. However, only 83 men made it to the other side of the lake before Allen and Arnold, concerned that dawn was approaching, decided to attack.^[52] In the early dawn, the small force marched on the fort, surprising the lone sentry. Allen went directly to the fort commander's quarters, seeking to force his surrender. Lieutenant Jocelyn Feltham, the assistant to the fort's commander, Captain William Delaplace, was awoken by the noise, and called to wake the captain.^[53] Stalling for time, he demanded to know by what authority the fort was being entered. Allen, who later claimed that he said it to Captain Delaplace, said, "In the name of the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress!"^[54] Delaplace finally emerged from his chambers, fully dressed, and surrendered his sword.^[54] The rest of the fort's garrison surrendered without firing a shot.^[55]

Benedict Arnold V (January 14, 1741 [O.S. January 3, 1740]^[1][2] – June 14, 1801) was a general during the American Revolutionary War. He began the war in the Continental Army but later defected to the British Army. While a general on the American side, he obtained command of the fort at West Point, New York, and plotted to surrender it to the British forces. After the plot was exposed in September 1780, he was commissioned into the British Army as a brigadier general.

Born in Thetford, in the English county of Norfolk, Paine emigrated to the British American colonies in 1774 in time to participate in the American Revolution. His principal contributions were the powerful, widely read pamphlet Common Sense (1776), the all-time best-selling American book that advocated colonial America's independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain, and The American Crisis (1776–1783), a pro-revolutionary pamphlet series. His writing of "Common Sense" was so influential that John Adams reportedly said, "Without the pen of the author of 'Common Sense,' the sword of Washington would have been raised in vain.”^[5]

Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis KG (31 December 1738 – 5 October 1805), styled Viscount Brome between 1753 and 1762 and known as The Earl Cornwallis between 1762 and 1792, was a British Army officer and colonial administrator. In the United States and the United Kingdom he is best remembered as one of the leading British generals in the American War of Independence. His surrender in 1781 to a combined American and French force at the Siege of Yorktown ended significant hostilities in North America. He also served as a civil and military governor in Ireland and India; in both places he brought about significant changes, including the Act of Union in Ireland and the Cornwallis Code, including the Permanent Settlement, in India. Born into an aristocratic family and educated at Eton and Cambridge, Cornwallis joined the British Army in 1757, seeing action in the Seven Years' War. Upon his father's death in 1762 he became Earl Cornwallis and entered the House of Lords. Promoted to colonel in 1766, he next saw military action in 1776 in the American War of Independence. Active in the advance forces of many campaigns, in 1776 he notably made possible the Battle of Princeton, an embarrassing British defeat, and surrendered his army at Yorktown in October 1781 after an extended campaign which was marked by disagreements between him and his superior, General Sir Henry Clinton, which became public knowledge after the war. Despite this defeat, Cornwallis retained the confidence of successive British governments and continued to enjoy an active career. Knighted in 1786, he was in that year appointed to be Governor General and commander-in-chief in India, where he enacted numerous significant reforms within the East India Company and its territories, including the Cornwallis Code, part of which implemented important land taxation reforms known as the Permanent Settlement. From 1789 to 1792 he led British and Company forces in the Third Anglo-Mysore War to defeat the Mysorean ruler Tipu Sultan. Returning to England in 1794, Cornwallis was given the post of Master-General of the Ordnance. In 1798 he was appointed Lord Lieutenant and Commander-in-chief of Ireland, where he oversaw the response to the 1798 Irish Rebellion, including a French invasion of Ireland, and was instrumental in bringing about the Union of Great Britain and Ireland. Cornwallis was the chief British signatory to the 1802 Treaty of Amiens, and he was reappointed to India in 1805. He died in India not long after his arrival.