Changes for African Americans

Slavery didn't seem compativle with the ideals of the revoluton. In 1776, one of every 5 americans was an african ancestor. The major part of the africans were ensalved at the time and they had many problems with the congress because slaves were not allowed to vote. Loyalists and british thought that the patriots were being hipocrite by talking about freedom, but still holding slaves. Revolution inspired many slaves to demand freedom. They started to petition legislation for emancipation in the northern states. Some slaves even sued their owners in the courts. About 5,000 slaves joined the patriot's militia, and others would join the Continental Navy in return to freedom.

In the South, they feared black people. They thought that they were a threat to slavery. at least 50,000 of them escaped and joined the british. Revolution lead to emancipation in the north. About 1/3 of the population in the south were slaved, while in the north, they were about 5%. Many northerners also freed their slaves, but emancipation failed in the south. In Maryland and Virginia, some planters freed their slaves volunterely. This was called manumission.After the year 1800, southern states passed laws to discourage manumission, because they feared that the black people being freed, would want to come back and take revenge on the owners. By 1810, about 20,000 slaves were freed, including the 300 slaves freed by George Washington.

The greatest effect of the revolution was the spread of the idea of liberty both at home and abroad. Over the next 3 centuries, the patriots principles inspired revolution around the world. Revolution ended in 1783, and the French Revolution in 1789. European republics cited american presedent to overthrow king and aristocrats. In the 19th century, independent republics emerged throughout Latin America. During the 20th century, Africans and Asians began national liberation movements.


The most curious of it all, is that Thomas Paine actually predicted that the revolution would change the world! 

The Revolution Impacts Society

The British tried to protect their loyalists allies. About 90,000 including 20,000 former slaves became refugies. The majority ended up settling in the british northern colonies, known as Canada. Meanwhile, native americans were stunned that the British had forgotten about them. The Treaty of Paris didn't mention them either. There were two treaties made by indians and americans where they lost a vast track of land; 


Fort Stanwix-1784 was an important treaty between North American Indians and the British Empire. It was signed in 1768 at Fort Stanwix, located in present-day Rome, New York. It was negotiated between Sir William Johnson and representatives of the Six Nations (the Iroquois). The purpose of the conference was to adjust the boundary line between Indian lands and British colonial settlements set forth in the Royal Proclamation of 1763. 
 Hopewell-1785 is any of three different treaties signed at Hopewell, (the plantation of Andrew Pickens on the Seneca River in northwestern South Carolina) between the Confederation Congress of the United States of America and Cherokee (1785), Choctaw and Chickasaw (1786) indigenous nations. The site of Treaty Oak is on Old Cherry Road in Pickens County, South Carolina. There is a historical marker before reaching the bridge crossing Lake Hartwell. There is a trail through the forest that goes to the monument. The actual Treaty Oak is no longer alive.


Since the king was not there, the settlers moved west to take over the land. In 7 years, more than 100,000 Americans lived in Kentucky and Tennesse. The revoluton was a complete disaster for the indians.


Women were also impacted by the revolution. They started to gain political right, but most importantly, respect. They were now called the mothers of the revolution rather than the daughters of liberty. Abigail Adams wrote to her husband, John Adams, in the constitutional convention, asking him to please remember the ladies. John loved her, but he ignored her request. Widows could vote but only in New Jersey, and wives could not make contracts or have properties. 


This was all very sad, I would have divorced my husband if he ignored my generous petition!


One of the mothers of revolution:


Margaret Catharine (Kate) Moore (1752–1823), later known as Kate Barry, was a heroine of theAmerican Revolutionary War. She was daughter of Charles and Mary Moore, and the eldest of ten children. She married Andrew Barry in 1767 at the age of 15, and lived on Walnut Grove Plantation in Roebuck, South Carolina during the 18th century. Kate was instrumental in helping to warn the militia of the coming British before the Battle of Cowpens in 1781. According to legend, she tied her newborn baby to the bedpost while she rode out to warn neighbors that the British were coming.

Cornwallis Surrenders

To refresh your memory, Cornwallis was the leader of the British Army. So, during late summer of 1781, Washington moved most of his troops to the south with the purpose of trapping Cornwallis army at York Townm Virginia. For the plan to work, timing had to be perfect. Washington needed the French fleet to arrive at the right moment to stop the British from escaping by sea, an fortunetely, they did! They trapped the British navy and made the patriots very lucky. Since poor Cornwallis was trapped by land and by sea, he couldn't really do much about it, and had to surrender in october 19, 1781. The French, of course, helped too much. Their army was even bigger than Washington's army.

CORNWALLIS SURRENDER

However, the battle of York Town was not a single battle, but many confrontations. In July 1781, the British troops under General Cornwallis marched into York Town, expecting reinforcements to come from New York. General Lafayette's Army trapped the British in the peninsula, until French and American troops arrived in late august. The french fleet prevented reinforcents to reach Cornwallis. The purpose of it all was to maje Cornwallis surrender so that the war would finally end.

The loss of 80,000 soldiers of the Seven Years War was very bad. People back in England were suffering because they were loosing the people they loved, and were also being heavily taxed. In early 1782, a new administration came. One of the members of this new administration was Benjamin Franklin. They all negotitated "The Treaty of Paris", which recognized american independence in september of 1783. The French wanted to control the peace making situation of the Americans and Birtihs, but since the americans made a treaty with the british, the relation between french and americans got weakened. 

Pretty harsh, French wanted to control the americans!

The War's End & Lasting Effect

As war continued, the British wanted loyalists support in the South, specially the farmers of South Carolina, North Carolina, and Georgia. The British wanted their support, but they wasted it by continuing their conventional war. British did not give the loyalists militia support, instead they kept going on with ther misunderstood strategy. In the South, the British had won most of their battles and were able to capture major sea ports. In late 1778, they captured Savannah, Georgia. In spring 1780, they captured Charlestown, South Carolina, and also captured 5,000 patriot soldiers that were there. That summer, the British captured Camden, South Carolina. Just as the British start fighting in these areas in the golf, Bernardo de Galvez started attacking the British forts in the Golf Coasts. In 1780, spanish captured Mobile, Alabama. a year later, they captured Pensacola. 

BERNARDO DE GALVEZ

Bernardo de Gálvez, an aristocrat born in Spain and trained for a military career, became governor of the Spanish colony of Louisiana in 1777. When Spain entered the Revolutionary War on the side of the American colonies, he helped fight the British in Louisiana, Alabama, and Florida. He kept the British busy in the South, and finally drove them from the area, freeing it up for American trading. For these successes, he was named a don (an aristocratic title similar to the British earl) by the Spanish government, and eventually was made viceroy (overall ruler) of New Spain (Mexico).

After this mess, the British failed to control the southern countryside. The situation during the war was very harsh. for example, if the father is a patriot, and the son is a loyalist, they had to be against eachother regardless on what they thought about it.

In october 1780, at King Mountain in South Carolina, the patriots crushed the loyalist militia and excerted prisioners. The loyalist lost men and a lot of territory, and many of the people who were neutral moved to the patriot's side, including some loyalists because they started resenting the British for not helping them out and blamed them for bringing chaos into their country. The British were loosing support. General Cornwallis was very frustrated with this, because he wasn't able to control the South. The Continental Army in the south, was supervised by two commanders; Nathanael Greene and Daniel Morgan. In 1701 these people caused heavy losses in to battles to the British at Cowpens, South Carolina and Guilford Court House in North Carolina.

Altough the war didn't really look for the patriots to win, there were many factors that were helping them out, like the fact that British were making tactical mistakes, and that they misunderstood the war and political gramdification. It also helped a lot that patriots were united, fighting for a cause.

The Continental Army Faces Challenges

After many battles, wars, fighting, the Continental Army started facing challenges. In Pennsylvania, They spent a harsh winter. They did not have enough supplies or food and they suffered from hunger and cold. Washington reported that 1/3 of his 10,000 men did not have shoes or clothes.  This happenned in Valley Forge. Washington was very preoccupied, because he did not know what to do with his army. He wrotye on his diary that he had two choices, either he dispersed his army, or break it down once and for all; or else, they would die of hunger. But before he could make a desition, the soldiers improved with the help of a german called Baron Von Steuben. He taught them to survive and made them work to impose discipline on them. 

In June 1778, the British marched from Philadelphia into New Jersey, and on their way, they encountered the Continental Amy at Monmouth, where the soldiers demonstrated that they had improved their skills. Even though the British had won many battles, they had little to show, because the only city they had was New York. 

Friedrich Wilhelm August Heinrich Ferdinand von Steuben (born Friedrich Wilhelm Ludolf Gerhard Augustin von Steuben; September 17, 1730 – November 28, 1794), also referred to as the Baron von Steuben, was a Prussian-born military officer who served as inspector general and Major general of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. He is credited with being one of the fathers of the Continental Army in teaching them the essentials of military drills, tactics, and disciplines. He wrote the Revolutionary War Drill Manual, the book that served as the standard United States drill manual until the War of 1812. He served as General George Washington's chief of staff in the final years of the war.

THE FRONTIER WAR

The frontier war began because of the procalamation of 1763, that started about for the Seven Year War. the proclamation was a treaty made by the king, that did not allow the expansion of land beyond the Appalatian Mountains. In the treaty, the king ordered the indians to remain west of the Appalatian Mountains. Pontiac's Rebellion inflicted a lot in this. To defy the proclamation, the indians started settling to the Appalatian Mountains, so in the year 1770, they settled west, which led to the outbreak of the war. This leaded them to claim more american land. 

Many of the indians started siding with the British, who had promised to keep the colonies to the east. The british were making the native americans attack the colonial settlers. The white settlers were killing the native americans for their land. They would always make truces, but never really kept them. it was all a cycle were they made them, broke them, made them again, broke them again. These men could never keep a promise! The war then moves to the west.

Spring 1778, in the north-west, Colonel George Rogers Clark led the patriot's militia to a fight gainst the British, He took over the settlements of Kaskajia and Cahokia. Clarck had 175 soldiers, and by later summer, the got help of some french settlers and captured all the British posts in that area. They captured Vincennes, but a few months later, the british recaptured it. In february 1774, Clarck and his men reached Vincennes again, and were trying to convince the native americans to abandon their british allies. By the end of the war, the patriot's boundary allowed the Americans to claim the Ohio River Valley. At the same time, in New York, native americans and British forces attacked many froentier posts. In response, the patriot's burned 40 Iroquois towns, which destroyed the power that their nation used to posses. Indians continued their attacks to the settlers, ones that left deadly effects. 

Now, to relax a little bit from all these wars and battles, I'll show you something that may be completely out of the topic, but it's actually sort of interesting:

War Shifts to the Middle States

On december 26th, another battle occured. it was called the Battle of Trenton. General George Washington corssed the Delaware River north of Trenton, New Jersey. He lead the main body of the Contiental Army agains the Garisson, which was a body of troops stationed in a fortified place. After a small battle, almost the entire Hessians were captured.

In the same year, Washington won another battle. the Battle of Princeton. He inflicted on Charles Corwallis's troops and injured many of his soldiers. On fall 1777, he lost Philadelphia, but they still didn't win the war. General John Burgoyne marched from Canada along with his troop to invade New York's Hudson Valley. Unfortunetely for them, they fell into a patriot's trap in Saratoga and he had to surrender in october the same year. In Saratatoga, the patriots defeated Burgoyne, and you could say that it was one of their greatest victories. Saratoga suggested that US might win the war. They were starting to have faith in them.

After all of this, Europeans started entering the war. The battle of Saratoga made them gain interest. This made France recognize the independence. Now, they had a chance to weaken the British, their old enemies. During the first years of the war, the French really doubted that the patriots would win, so they did not openly confirm that they were allying with the patriots, so they helped them with secret shippings, with ammunitions and weapons. This was the only thing keeping the patriots alive. French volunteers, and Marquis de Lafayette provfided a lot of help for the patriots. Saratoga also, made the French see that the patriots did have a chance to win the war, and that they did not face any risks in an open alliance. So, in february 1778, they negotiated the alliance.

  Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette. 6 September 1757 – 20 May 1834), often known as simply Lafayette, was a French aristocrat and military officer born in Chavaniac, in the province of Auvergne in south central France. Lafayette was a general in the American Revolutionary War and a leader of the Garde Nationale during the French Revolution.

In the American Revolution, Lafayette served as a major-general in the Continental Army under George Washington.

Benjamin Franklin was a ledaing american negotiator in Paris and became popular when he was in France. he becanme known as a simple american who loved the french.

Alliance was made, and the French Army and Navy began attacking the British, so the war became more even. The first tries were miserable, but at the end, the alliance produced the biggest victory if thewar in 1781.  British were suffering from this, and suffered even more when Spain entered the war as a French ally in 1779. Spain's purpose was also to weaken the British, but they were not an official ally of the French because they feared that fighting in this war would inspire their own colonists desire independence. Bernardo de Galvez (a spanish governer) provided the patriots with supplies and money, and also prevented british ships to enter the Mississipi Delta. Both of this allies helped the colonies incredibly.

Benjamin Franklin (January 17, 1706 – April 17, 1790) was one of the Founding fathers of the United States. A noted polymath, Franklin was a leading author and printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, inventor, satirist, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat. As a scientist, he was a major figure in the American Enlightement and the history of physics for his discoveries and theories regarding electricity. He invented the lighting rod, bifocals, the Franklin stove, a carriage odometer, and the glass 'armonica'. He formed both the first public lending library in America and the first fire department in Pennsylvania. Franklin earned the title of "The First American" for his early and indefatigable campaigning for colonial unity; as an author and spokesman in London for several colonies, then as the first United States Ambassador to France, he exemplified the emerging American nation.

The Patriot's Strength

After everything that the patriots had been through, they were getting really tired and they were loosing their strength, the only person that could get them to keep going, and never give up was George Washington. He was a great leader. During these hard times, he read "American Crisis" to his soldiers to preserve them. This kept the soldiers comitted to their jobs even thought they were facing hunger and cold.

To succeed, the continental army needed the support of their people. The woman were very strong during these times, and their work was fundamental. They allowed their husbands and sons to fight in the war, which freed their worried souls. Women used to make shoes, blankets, and clothing, British navi blocked the ports, causing the items to become comre expensive or scarce. Colonial took advantage of this situation and started selling items at a very high price, and the value of moent decreased, because patriots were using paper money.

The paper money issued by the continental congress were called continentals. The army received their salary in this type of money. Women also received money for their work of mantaining camps. Some women would even dress up as soldiers to fire cannons. They were very comitted to their people.

One very recognized woman was Deborah Sampson. She received a military pension from the congress to pay for her services. Another woman was Mary Hays. she was became known as Molly Pitcher, because she used to take water to the troops. She started doing this at Monmouth. As you can see, women defended their people with even more courage and determination than men.

Disguised as a man, Deborah Sampson served admirably as a soldier in the Continental army during the American Revolutionary War (1775–83) and later gave speeches about her time in the military. She established a public presence for women that went far beyond the normal cultural limits of her time. The former soldier then went on to become a wife and mother. She asked for and received a military pension (money benefits) from the U.S. government, also unheard of for a woman of her time.

Deborah Sampson was born on December 17, 1760, to a poor family in Plympton, Massachusetts (located near Plymouth, Massachusetts). Her father, Jonathan Sampson Jr., deserted his family to go to sea.

                                                                                                                                                                        

Molly Pitcher

You can notice easily that the patriot's strength was based in the civilians colaboration, the leadership of George Washington, the Indian War tactics, and the fact that they were united for the same purpose. This helped the patriots a lot and gave them the strength they needed.

Turning Points of the War

As mentioned before, the independence was not quite conceived yet. To make it a reality, the patriots had to wing a war against the British, which at the time, was the most powerful empire in the world.

At the beginning of the war, the British seemed to have much more advantages than the colonist. they had more weapons and ships. The continental congress had problems with paying the war, so they started printing money, causing inflation. the continental congress did not have enough supplies and were starving and suffering from the cold weather. the British, on the other hand, had lots of supplies. Everyone believed that the patriots had no chance at all.

the British were very confident with themselves and they did not take patriots seriously. They thought that they had already won the war. In June 1775,  "The Battle of Bunker Hill" took place. This was one of the most important victories during the process of independence. This battle made the British and the Colonists realize that it was not just one war that would determine the winner. It took place because the British wanted to ocuppy the Dorchester Heights on the Boston Peninsula. The colonists found out about this plan and decided to take action. They had to protect their freedom and land.

The General William Howe led the Birtish troops to attack Breed's hill during the Battle of Bunker Hill. The patriots had fought with all their energy, but unfortunetely, they ran out of ammunition, and the British were able to capture the hill.

                                                                                                                                                

William Howe was one of the British generals during the Revolutionary War. He was born on August 10, 1729, in England. He was the illegitimate uncle of King George The Third, who was the British king during the Revolutionary War. Before he was sent to fight in the war, Howe was sympathetic to the colonists. But, as a soldier, he had to fight against them.

Lord Howe continued to attack. Once he defeated the Continental Army and took over many sea ports, he thought that Philadelphia Patriots would stop. The British lost the war because they were using the wrong strategy. Only the patriots understood that they had to win the hearts and minds of the people. It was the Revolutionary War that was going on, not just any war. Patriots kept on fighting no matter what. they were persevering. 


Here, you can notice that it was not only just a war in which the people only demonstrated their physical skills. The Revolutionary War was much more than this. It was people united fighting for something strong that they believed in.

Thomas Paine's Radical Proposal

Now, you already know that Thomas Paine wrote the book "Common Sense". But here is a short biography, to let you know a little bit more about his life:

Thomas Paine is a fascinating figure from the history of American politics. Born in February of 1737, he published numerous pamphlets and contributed valuable insights to the political discourse of his time; the depth of his impact on American society is impossible to know.

Tomas Paine was born in rural England. In early life, he attended grammar school and then was apprenticed to his father, who was a corset stay maker. After a brief stint as a privateer, he became a master stay-maker and opened up a shop. He married in 1759, but his wife died of complications from her first pregnancy. In England he was involved in a brief second marriage and various business and civic ventures until, legend has it, Benjamin Franklin suggested that he immigrate to America. After a difficult passage that took him some weeks to recover from, he gained citizenship in the colonies and started work editing Pennsylvania Magazine–a post he would follow with an illustrious career as a propagandist and writer.

So, now Thomas Paine's influence was not quite over with the book. He proposed a totally different direction on things, which where:

1)Independence from Britain.

2)Republican State Government.

3)Union of States.

Paine saw the king and the Aristocrats as parasites and frauds. He thought that the king was an enemy to the American Liberties. He wanted common people to elect the government, and he did not like the class structures that were marked. Of course, he also hated the smothering of people just because they did not have a noble title. His ideas were, to create a republic where everyone had the opportunity to improve. By uniting to create a republic, America would be a role model for the rest of the countries. He wanted to create a democratic model so that he could achieve this. 

In spring of 1776, Pain's ideas made the independance possible. The congress selected a committee to draft the declaration of independance, and explain the reasons in it, Thomas Jefferson, was the man for this job.  On July 2nd, America was free. I'm guessing you all know what happened the 4th of July? the Declaration of Independence was approved!. 


As told before, the declaration of independence contained some of Paine's ideas; like denouncing the king as a tyrant, and the idea that all men were created equal and born with natural rights that could not be taken away by the governement. These natural rights were called the unalienable rights by Jefferson. Although, it seems like the whole independance process is complete, unfortunetely, it is not. writing a declaration of independence was very different from actually achieving it. The colonists had to have the courage to face the many obstacles that were presented to them, before succeeding on their major goal. First, they had to declare independance from an European empire.


In conclusion, we could say that the declaration of independance was nothing but a long list of colonial grievances that were just taken in consideration, but did not really mean the absolute independance from this empire. Imagine how hard it was back then?

Loyalists oppose to Patriot's Demands

A series of events were responsible for the Revolution. John Adams and Jonathan Sewell were discussing the crisis. This happened in summer 1774. Sewell told Adams that England was not going to change. He had to accept it, or deal with the consequences. Adams replied that event though he knew that was the truth, he would still remain in his own determination. 

According to stereotypes, many loyalists were wealthy. Others were just farmers. They did not like taxes, or having to pick a side. they also disliked the Militia. They resented the Patriots because they shut down the Loyalists' newspaper. They appealed to the Native American and the enslaved people. Indians wanted hel`from the British to stop the settlers from moving. Most people preferred to join the British, because they considered them as the true champions of Liberty.

Later on, in January 1776, a book was published. It was short but powerful, in favor of independence. it was called "The Common Sense", written by Thomas Paine, but first published anonymously. Thomas Paine came from England. He used to be a tax collector and an artesan. Some of his ideas can be seen in the Declaration of Independance. 

"COMMON SENSE"

Published anonymously by Thomas Paine in January of 1776, Common Sense was an instant best-seller, both in the colonies and in Europe. It went through several editions in Philadelphia, and was republished in all parts of United America. Because of it, Paine became internationally famous.

"A Covenanted People" called Common Sense "by far the most influential tract of the American Revolution....it remains one of the most brilliant pamphlets ever written in the English language."

Paine's political pamphlet brought the rising revolutionary sentiment into sharp focus by placing blame for the suffering of the colonies directly on the reigning British monarch, George III.

I would very much enjoy reading this book, for it seems that it really meant a lot for the American Revolution. It was necesary to create conscience on this people.

"He that rebels against reason is a real rebel, but he that in defence of reason rebels against tyranny has a better title to Defender of the Faith, than George the Third."- Thomas Paine

The Second Continental Congress

The Revolution was starting now, and the colonies had to find a way to get together. In 1775, delegates from all the colonies, assembled in Philadelphia, and the Congress was bravely assuming the responsability for the war. The New Continental Army was created during this Continental Congress, and the command was given to George Washington, who was a colonial officer during the French and Indian War. In those times, Virginia was considered the most powerful colony, so having someone from Virginia in the Congress, would clearly help a lot. Fortunetely, George Washington was born in Virginia. Some members of the Continental Congress wanted to declare independence from Britan, but they believed that not all the colonists were ready for this. On July 1775, after 3 months of war, the Congress sent an "Olive Branch Petition", which represents peace. They sent it to the king, but he rejected it and instead of accepting peace, he sent new troops to Boston.

Declaring Independance

After many wars, and many disturbed colonists and British, Independence was finally being declared. But not so soon, another war had to happen first. (we never get enough!)
In 1776, the colonists made three decision that would mark their whole process of independence.
1)they would declare independence from Britain.
2)they would choose a republican model for their new government.
3)they confederated the 13 states as the United States of America.

You may think that colonists were putting themselves out there too much, but what you don't know is the amount of strength they showed the world during these three important decisions.

War was starting in Concord. General Thomas Gage was currently the governor of Massachusetts. He found out that John Hancock and Samuel Adams were hiding arms and other weapons in Concord, and that they were governing Massachusetts without him. This provoked Gage to send an order to the British troops to arrest Hancock and Adams, thinking that this order would be a secret, but it did not stay like that. You might have heard about Paul Revere, who was actually the man responsible of letting the colonists know that war was starting, with his famous phrase: "The British are coming, the British are coming!", yelling it while riding his horse. 

The militia was fighting against british. These were full time farmers and part time soldiers, and they were also called the minutemen, since they could get ready in minutes. The British, on the other hand, were called Redcoats, because they used to wear red. They marched into town at dawn, and as they ordered the militia to disperse, someone ran a fire. This shot was called "The Shot Heard Round The World" because it was the one that actually started the war. When shooting stopped, 8 patriots were dead, and the British thought they had won the war. But as they marched on to conquer, hundreds of Militians attacked them. They were hiding behind the trees, wounding more than 200 British soldiers. Here, you can easily find out that no matter the amount of people, or the training they have received, if they do not use strategies, they might loose.

Colonists Unite Against Hard Measures

Ok, so you read about the Boston Tea Party. This caused a lot of damage. and the Parliament passed the Coercive Acts, because they decided that Boston had to be punished for their actions. These acts were also called the Intolerable Acts, since colonists were not planning on tolerating them.
The Intolerable Acts included:

• Boston Port Act
• Quartering Act
• Administration of Justice Act
• Quebec Act
• Massachusets Government Act

The Boston Port Act consisted of closing all the port facilities, until the colonists urged to obey and payed back the destroyed tea and the damage they caused to the custom offices.

The Administration of Justice Act forced the colonists to house the British troops and also alow them to be trialed in England. British soldiers did not mind taking advantage of the colonists at all. 

The Massachusets Government Act was the hardest of all, in my opinion, since it provided a greater amount of royal control. The crown had to control every movement that the colonists did. They could not even have town meetings unless they were aproved by the governor. Very harsh.

The colonists, as you should have figured out by now, were very stubborn. You can imagine how they reacted  with all of these acts. They were violent, they used weapoms and they were trying to force the courts of laws to shut down. They assaulted every person that worked for the government, and everyone that was looking forward to obbeying the Parliament. They started using their old ways, like tarring and feathering. remember?

In 1774, all the colonies but Georgia, met in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This was their first Continental Congress. This is when the famous Patrick Henry gave his outstanding speech. I think you may have heard this phrase many times:

They were establishing another boycott. Their plan was to create a new government that they would elect, and the only government that they would obey. Since there was a lot of common people working in the governement, the rangs were expanded, and new jobs were open.

John Adams helped a lot in the process of independence. he decided that he lived in a new country named America and he believed that colonists could unite to defeat the British. He would always encourage the colonists and tried to mantain unity between them.

PATRICK HENRY

Patrick Henry was recognized by his Virginia contemporaries as "the man who gave the first impulse to the ball of revolution." Born at Studley plantation in Hanover County, Virginia, on May 29, l736, Henry received most of his education from his father, who had attended King's College of Aberdeen.

New Taxes Lead to New Protests

So, as you know, the Stamp Act was repelled, but then other taxes were imposed. Protests were not over yet. The Bristish Government still needed money to pay the debts and support the troops. Charles Townshend was the crown's chief financial officer. He thought that colonists would accept indirect taxes, so in 1767, Parliament passed the Townshend Act, which taxed the glass, paint, paper, lead, tea. Anyway, Charles Townshend was wrong, because the colonists still didn't want to pay taxebout Charles Townshend:

Charles Townshend was a brilliant and witty man, and a member of the British Parliament who strove to please those he thought could do him the most good. He is mostly remembered for the Townshend Acts of 1767, which taxed and angered the American colonies to revolt. The acts had a huge and fatal impact on relations between the colonies and Great Britain, and for this reason Townshend will always be remembered as the man who did so much to bring on the American Revolution.

Charles Townshend was born on August 27, 1725, to Charles Townshend and his wife, Audrey, daughter and heiress of Edward Harrison. Charles was their second son and one of five children.

ok, so this brought many more riots.
a merchant ship called Liberty that belonged to a wealthy merchant called John Hancock got rich by smuggling, but later on, it was seized. The seizure brought other riots, this time, against custom officers. To stop this riots, the crown sent 4,000 troops. The prescence of these troops, of course, angered the colonists even more. So, one night, they decided they couldn't take it anymore, and a group of colonists started trowing snowballs and rocks at the British soldiers. The British soldiers were nervous and did not know what to do, so they fired their weapons and killed 5 colonists, including Samuel Gray, Samuel Maverick, James Galdwell, Crispus Attucks, and Patrick Garr. This became known as th Boston Massacre.







after the Boston Massacre, another big event occured. Parliament decided to take away the taxes, and only left taxes on tea. To help the company that was not in a very good economic situation, the parliament passed a bill allowing them to sell tea directly to the colonists. They thought this would help, but the colonists were not "buying" anything from them, they thought they were tricking them into paying taxes, since the tea was very expensive. 
Aren't you exausted to hear about all of this riots and stuff? ok, so anyways, the colonists decided to get it over with. They dressed up like indians and boarded three Bristish that had landed with tea, and threw all the boxes of tea into the ocean. This was called The Boston Tea Party. (no, it did not mean to sit around a table and drink tea).

                

THIS was the Boston Tea Party.

And again, NO, they did not sit down and have tea, like Alice in Wonderland.:)

Colonial Protests Intensify

Ok, so you have read in the last posts, that the incresing of taxes led to many protests, and upstet colonists. The colonists used three forms to try and avoid paying taxes. they used intelectual protests, which were the panphlets and resolutions. Violent intimidation; angry mobs started destroying the houses of some tax collectors, tarring and featherig, which they would carry out by pouring or paiting hot tar into the tax collectors and then throwing or make them role in feathers. This was very painful for British, but very effective for the colonists. Another form of protesting was boycotts, which meant that they would stop buying goods from them. This technique affected the economy a whole lot. All of these actions surprised a man called John Adams, who got to be the second president of the United States. He was also a distinguished lawyer in Massachusets.

New Taxes, increase violence

Ok, first of all, you all read my last post, about how the French and Indian war affected the economy, and the situation in England. The Seven Year War doubled England's national debt, this brought a lot of troubles, and a lot of new taxes. This made the colonists very angry.

Because the economy was very bad, people in Britan were increasing taxes, so that people could help out.

Colonial merchants got rich by smuggling also, which, if you didn't know, means Moving  goods across a customs frontier, evading coustom control. In this case, they were evading taxes.
In 1764, George Grenville was the new prime minister in England. He wanted to raise money to collect money. He put in effect the Sugar Act that put a three-cent tax on molasses. He created tax collectors, and persecuted smugglers. He thought that with all of this ways, he was creating some sort of discipline on the colonists, and that they would understand that they needed to pay taxes. In early 1755, Parliament passed the Quartering Act, which required colonists to feed and house British troops in their homes. They could invade the homes of the colonists anytime, and they had to accept this. Obviously, colonists complained. wouldn't you?

Here is a small biography of George Grenville:


George Grenville

George Grenville was the second son of seven children born to Richard Grenville and his wife Hester, Countess Temple. His elder brother was Richard, Earl Temple, Lord Cobham; his sister Hester married William Pitt. Grenville was born on 14 October 1712 at Westminster in London. He was educated at Eton between 1725 and 1728, going on to Christ church, Oxford in 1730. He was called to the Bar in 1735. In 1741 he was elected as MP for Buckingham, a pocket borough of his uncle Richard, Viscount Cobham. There were only thirteen electors. In his early years in parliament, Grenville was a member of his uncle's faction whose members were known as "Cobham's Cubs" and included Pitt the Elder. This group opposed Walpole's government which fell in 1742. In 1744 Grenville entered Pelham's government but was dismissed by the Newcastle administration in 1755, only to be brought back into government in 1756 as Treasurer to the Navy.

So, anyway. On march 1765, the parliament passed another bill, this was called the Stamp Act. They taxed everything on paper. Colonists complained that they wouldn't have any money left to survive, They also argued that they didn't have any representation on the parliament, they called this "taxation without representation", They didn't want to let them impose taxes, because they thought that if they let them do it, then they would keep wanting to impose more and more taxes. British thought that the colonists were being very selfish.

As you can see, the Seven Year War brought many problems betweent the colonists and the Parliament. TAXES was the big word here.

The Causes of the Revolution

"If we make peaceful revolution impossible, we'll make violent revolution inevitable"

A violent American Revolution was inevitable. 

Now, to really understand the Revolution, of course you need to know the causes of it.

the colonists believed that Great Britan had the best government on Earth. British enjoyed due process of common law. They also had freedom of press without prior censorship. Colonists cherished that they payed taxes that their representatives levied, or they did not pay taxes. Colonial government followed the British model. The protests in 1760's reveled that they were not happy.

The British government was composed of a Legislative Parlament, and and Executive-monarch. The Legislative Parliament included the House of Lords, and the House of commoners.

The house of lords was composed of aristocrats: nobility, elite, upper class. They were not elected. The House of commoners, on the other hand, was elected. Each colony, except for Pennsylvania had a two-house legislation. First house was the elected council and an elected assembly. a council appointed by the governor, and the governor served the king. 

Rhode Island and Connecticut elected their own governor. Pennsylvania's entire assembly was elected.

The colonists did not elect ant members of the British Parliament.

As you can notice, the British Government was not democratic at all. Democracy seemed very dangerous and foolish to them. they thought that allowing people to vote was not a good idea. Rich could never accept this. (we can still see this nowadays, all of the social divisions) In 1770, Lord North was prime minister, and he said: "I cannot agree that all men are equal". He believed that if you were poor or rich, you were not equal anymore. Most britans agreed with him. 

Colonial government differs from the British Government in different ways. For example, British constitution was not a formal document; it was nothing but an accumulation of laws and traditions. In contrast, colonists did have legal documents, like the Royal Charter. 

In the colonies, 2/3 of the white men could vote, while in England, it was only 1/4.

By 1760, Political Upheaval had allowed the elected colonial assemblies to increase their power. Assemblies payed the governor, but British officials wanted to change that, so they started to raise taxes to collect money for them to be able to pay the governor, so that they would have the power. 

Parliament believed that they represented every british subject, including the colonists, but the colonists saw themselves as equal members of the Parliament. This provoqued discussions.

There was also a big problem here; colonists believed that only their own elected officials had the right to levi taxes on them. But, they could not elect any members of the Parlament.

 

confusing huh? a lot. But practically, to explain it in a few words; the British Parliament lacked democracy, and the colonists were not happy with these. British started to raise taxes, and they did not have enough money to pay taxes and also survive. this was one important cause of the revolution.