Thomas Gage

(noun)

A British general, best known for his many years of service in North America, including his role as military commander in the early days of the American Revolution.

Related Terms

Examples of Thomas Gage in the following topics:

  • The Acts of Parliament

    • Lieutenant-General Thomas Gage, commander-in-chief of forces in British North America, and other British officers who fought in the French and Indian War, were finding it hard to persuade colonial assemblies to pay for the quartering and provisioning of troops on the march.
    • As a result, Gage asked Parliament to find a solution.
    • Following the expiration of an act that provided British regulars with quartering in New York, Parliament passed the Quartering Act of 1765, which went far beyond what Gage had requested.
    • "Thomas Gage," oil on canvas, by the American artist John Singleton Copley.

  • Lexington and Concord

    • In an effort to restore law and order in Boston, the British dispatched General Thomas Gage to the New England seaport.
    • Gage’s actions led to the formation of local rebel militias that were able to mobilize in a minute’s time.
    • British General Thomas Gage, the military governor and commander-in-chief, received instructions on April 14, 1775, from Secretary of State William Legge, to disarm the rebels and imprison the rebellion's leaders.
    • On the night of April 18, 1775, General Gage sent 700 men to seize munitions stored by the colonial militia at Concord.
    • Even now, after open warfare had started, Gage still refused to impose martial law in Boston.

  • Britain's War

    • General Thomas Gage, in command of British forces in North America during the early rebellion, suffered criticism for his leniency.

  • Fort Ticonderoga

    • After the war began with the Battles of Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775, the British General Thomas Gage realized the fort would require fortification; simultaneously, several colonists had the idea of capturing the fort.

  • The Battle of Bunker Hill

    • Their report, however, did not reach England before British Lieutenant General Gage's official account arrived on July 20.
    • Gage's report had a more direct effect on his own career.
    • Gage wrote another report to the British Cabinet in which he repeated earlier warnings that "a large army must at length be employed to reduce these people" that would require "the hiring of foreign troops."

  • Women's Activism

    • Anthony and other activists, such as Victoria Woodhull and Matilda Joslyn Gage, made attempts to cast votes prior to their legal entitlement to do so and faced charges as a result.
    • Gage, of the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA), embodied the radicalism of much second-wave feminism.
    • Not everyone welcomed her lectures, but she had many friends and staunch support among many influential people at the time, including Amy Post, Parker Pillsbury, Frances Gage, Wendell Phillips, William Lloyd Garrison, Laura Smith Haviland, Lucretia Mott, Ellen G.

  • The American Enlightenment

    • Politically, the age is distinguished by an emphasis on liberty, democracy, republicanism, and religious tolerance—culminating in the writings of Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson and the drafting of the United States Declaration of Independence.
    • Deism greatly influenced intellectuals and several noteworthy 18th-century Americans such as John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Paine, and Thomas Jefferson.
    • The most articulate exponent was Thomas Paine, whose The Age of Reason was written in France in the early 1790s and reached America soon thereafter.
    • Thomas Paine's Common Sense, published at the outset of the American Revolution, drew heavily on the theories of Locke and is largely considered one of the most virulent attacks on political despotism.
    • The culmination of these enlightenment ideas occurred with Thomas Jefferson's Declaration of Independence, in which he declared:

  • Jefferson, Slavery, and Race

    • Thomas Jefferson, though an advocate of freedom and equality, owned and fathered slaves.
    • Thomas Jefferson was born into the planter class of a "slave society" in which slavery was the main means of labor production and elite slaveholders were the ruling class.
    • In 1768, Thomas Jefferson began to use his slaves to construct a neoclassical mansion known as Monticello.
    • Some historians have claimed that, as a Representative to the Continental Congress, Thomas Jefferson wrote an amendment or bill that would abolish slavery.
    • Evaluate Thomas Jefferson’s changing views on slavery in the United States

  • Women in the Early Republic

    • Twenty-six-year-old Matilda Joslyn Gage, one of the eventual leaders of the movement, presented her first speech at the 1852 meeting.

  • The Declaration of Independence

    • In 1776, revolution was fomented by Thomas Paine, who wrote Common Sense; and by Abigail Adams, who advocated for women's rights.
    • The text of the Declaration of Independence was drafted by a “Committee of Five” appointed by Congress, which consisted of John Adams of Massachusetts, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania, Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, Robert R.
    • Thomas Paine and Abigail Adams were two distinct, populist voices upholding the cause of independence during this time.
    • In January 1776, Thomas Paine published a pro-independence pamphlet entitled Common Sense, which became an overnight sensation.