American+Revolution

 =American Revolution =

THE BOSTON MASSACRE  The first clash between British troops and colonists occurred in Boston on the night of March 5, 1770. Some men and boys bullied a British soldier standing at the Customs House, they threw the guard snowballs and stones and called him names. As soon as Captain Thomas Preston and other 7 soldiers arrived the gunshots began, a black Patriot named Crispus Attucks was one of the first to fall. This incident is referred to as the “Boston Massacre”, but even though it wasn’t really a massacre for more than 30 minutes the British soldiers didn’t fire their weapons even though they were continuously hit with snowballs and other objects. During the confusion, the British soldiers started to fire their weapons into the crowd. Paul Revere created a picture that made an image of the British soldiers like murderers and assassins. The colonists accepted this picture like what really took place. John Adams, one of the lawyers that defended the British soldiers later became the president of the United States.

THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE  By July 1776 the delegates to the Second Continental Congress knew they had to make a decision. King George had refused to even look at the Olive Branch Petition, the list of complaints they had sent to him. He had also arranged for thousands of Hessian soldiers to be sent to America to fight against the colonists. The delegates slowly came to realize that only by declaring their independence could they get the rights they thought they deserved. Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Robert Sherman, and Roger Livingston were asked to write the declaration of independence. Jefferson wrote the most part of the document. He divided it into 3 parts. The preamble, or introduction, explains why the document was created. The second part of the declaration of independence listed ways in which King George had violated colonists’ ´rights. The third part and final was the actual declaring of independence. He wrote his name in very large letters so that king George could easily read it without his glasses.

THE BACKGROUND For over 150 years after founding Jamestown in 1607, England’s 13 colonies had, for the most part, managed their own affairs. With England far away and across an ocean, people in the colonies slowly began to see themselves as being different. In spite of the differences that had developed between the English and the American ways of life, the colonists did not consider seeking independence until after 1763. The English government had run up a large war debt, and parliament decided that the colonies should help pay the cost of the war. It also decided that the colonists should help pay maintain an army along the colonies´ western edge of for the protection against the Indians. In the same year that the French and Indian war ended, Parliament issued the proclamation of 1763. This law prevented colonists from settling west of the Appalachian Mountains. As a result, the relationship between England and its colonists became even more strained.

THE PERLUDE TO THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION New immigrants came to the colonies. The colonial population increases.

The British win the French and Indian war. England passes a series of taxes in order to pay for the debt from war.

The British parliament passes The Stamp act, Townshend acts, Tea acts, and Quartering acts.

The colonists became angry and begin to protest. The most famous examples is the Boston Tea party. THE BOSTON MASSACRE British troops fire on colonists. The mob was protesting the presence of soldiers. 5 colonists died. An African American man names Crispus Attucks was one of the 5 that was shot dead.

BOSTON TEA PARTY

WHO: Disguised as Mohawk Indians. WHAT: 342 cartons of tea damped. WHEN: 1773. WHY: Protest to Tea act.

DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE (1775) “ All men are created equal… with certain unalienable rights that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

SOME OF THE RIGHTS TAKEN IN THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION · England’s neglect of the colonies · Taxation without representation · Domination of individual rights · Taxation · Mercantilism · Trade restrictions · Economic power · Free enterprise

COMMITTEES OF CORRESPONDANCE From 1770 to 1773 there were no clashes between the colonists and the British. Those colonists who were thinking of independence, however, were not idle. Samuel Adams and others were coming up with ways to keep resentment of the British at a high level. One such way was through Committees of Correspondence. Samuel Adams organized the first Committee of Correspondence in Boston in 1772. The members of this committee made a list of the rights they believed all colonists had and wrote letters to other towns sharing their opinions. Some Committees of Correspondence were organized at the town level. The first committee selected in this manner was in Virginia in 1773. Many colonial leaders were members of the Committees of Correspondence, including Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, and John Hancock. None, however, did more to stir up resistance to England that Samuel Adams. For this reason, he is often referred to in history books as “Mr.Revolution.”

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