History: American Revolutionary War and Benjamin Franklin Essay

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GEORGE WASHINGTON is a man that will never be forgotten for his core values and astonishing war efforts. He will always be known for winning the war, becoming the first president, and shaping the way the constitution was written. During his youth and adulthood George Washington played a huge role in the outcome of the war, he was the commander in chief of the Continental Army in 1775–1783. George Washington was born into the gentry and was quickly put as a senior officer for the colonial forces against the British. During the first stages of the French and Indian war a young ambitious attacked the French and was gruesomely defeated. Washington's experience, his military bearing, his leadership of the Patriots cause in Virginia, and his political base in the largest colony made him the obvious choice of the Second Continental Congress in 1775 as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army to fight the British in the American Revolution. He forced the British out of Boston in 1776, but was defeated and nearly captured later that year when he lost New York City. After crossing the Delaware River in the dead of winter, he defeated the enemy in two battles, retook New Jersey, and restored momentum to the Patriot cause. Because of his strategy, Revolutionary forces captured two major British armies at Saratoga in 1777 and Yorktown in 1781. Capturing the town's Hessian garrison, Washington followed up this triumph with a victory at Princeton a few days later before entering winter quarters. Rebuilding the army through 1777, Washington marched south to block British efforts against the American capital of Philadelphia. Meeting Howe on September 11, he was beaten at the Battle of Brandywine. The city fell shortly after the fighting. Seeking to turn the tide, Washington mounted counterattack in October but was narrowly beaten at Germantown. Withdrawing to Valley Forge for the winter, Washington embarked on a massive training program which was overseen by Baron Von Steuben. During this period, he was forced to endure intrigues such as the Conway Cabal, in which officers sought to have him removed.
Emerging from Valley Forge, Washington began a pursuit of the British as they withdrew to New York. Attacking at the Battle of Monmouth, the Americans fought the British to a standstill. The fighting saw Washington at the front working tirelessly to rally his men. Pursuing the British, Washington settled into a loose siege of New York as the focus of the fighting shifted to the southern colonies. As commander in chief, Washington worked to direct operations on the other fronts from his headquarters. Joined by French forces in 1781, Washington moved south and besieged Lieutenant General Lord Charles Cornwallis at Yorktown. Receiving the British surrender on October 19, the battle effectively ended the war. Returning to New York, Washington endured another year of struggling to keep the army together amid a lack of funds and supplies. Washington was repeatedly outmaneuvered by British generals with larger armies. Washington is given full credit for the strategies that forced the British evacuation of Boston in 1776 and the surrender at Yorktown in 1781. In 1758, Washington resigned his commission and retired from the regiment. Returning to private life, he married the wealthy widow Martha Dandridge Custis on January 6, 1759, and took up residence at Mount Vernon. With his newly obtained means, Washington began expanding his real estate holdings and greatly expanded the plantation. Though he never had children of his own, he aided in raising Martha's son and daughter from her previous marriage. As a one of the colony's wealthiest men, Washington began serving in the House of Burgesses in 1758.

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
Benjamin Franklin was born in 1706 in Boston. He was the fifteenth of seventeen children. Franklin loved to read, but his family didn't have enough money for him to go to school, so he had to work with his dad. At around 12 years