Common Sense

Author:   Thomas Paine Date:1776 Annotation: John Adams called him “the first man of the Revolution.” Teddy Roosevelt called him a “filthy little atheist.” His name was Thomas Paine. The author of “Common Sense,” “The Rights of Man,” and “The Age of Reason,” Paine was probably the most widely read political pamphleteer of the eighteenth century.…

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Original Rough Draught of the Declaration of Independence

Annotation: Image shows the first page of the original four page “first draught” of the Declaration of Independence written by Thomas Jefferson. This early draft, which included several lines condemning the British for sustaining the practice of slavery, was submitted to Benjamin Franklin and John Adams, who made several corrections before Jefferson penned a final copy…

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Declaring Independence

Author:   Thomas Jefferson Date:1776 Annotation: More than a year past between the outbreak of fighting at the battles of Lexington and Concord and the decision to issue the Declaration of Independence. The major reason for the delay was the high value that the colonists attached to unanimity. While New England, Virginia, and South Carolina…

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Letter from Gen. George Washington to John Hancock, President of Congress

Author:   George Washington Date:1775 Annotation: In this letter to Congress, Washington recounted information that he had heard from a sailor: that British Gen. William Howe was sending people out of the city of Boston who had been deliberately infected with smallpox so that they might pass on the disease to the Americans surrounding the city.…

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John Adams Proposes a Plan for a New State Government with Three Branches

Author:   John Adams Date:1775 Annotation: By the end of 1775, compromise between Britain and its colonies was becoming a less viable option. Richard Henry Lee (1732-1794), a delegate to the Second Continental Congress from Virginia, asked John Adams to help him convince his home state of the need for independence. In response, Adams proposed…

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Mercy Otis Warren Describes Conditions in the Colonies in 1775

Author:   Mercy Otis Warren Date:1775 Annotation: In May 1775, shortly after the battles at Lexington and Concord, the Second Continental Congress met in Philadelphia. In mid-June, Congress established the Continental Army and named George Washington (1732-1799) commander-in-chief. The colonists needed artillery and in May patriots captured Fort Ticonderoga, a British post in New York,…

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Royal Proclamation of Rebellion

Date:1775 Annotation: This is a royal proclamation issued by George III, responding to increasing hostilities in the American colonies. Document: A Proclamation, by The King, for Suppressing Rebellion and Sedition King George III August 23, 1775 George R. Whereas many of our subjects in divers parts of our Colonies and Plantations in North America, misled by dangerous…

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