AMERICAN REVOLUTION
by Haley Blaise
Boston Tea Party
Due to the French And Indian War the Government was in great debt, to fix this problem they started taxing the colonists. Starting with Sugar Act, that put a tax on the price of sugar and molasses. Then came the Stamp Act putting a tax on the purchase of all important document. The Tea act brought the most rebellion because it taxed what the colonist loved most, the Tea. So they ( Sons of Liberty) conducted the Boston Tea Party. The Sons Of Liberty dress as Native Americans, went on the ships of tea cargo and dumped them all in the water.
John Locke
John Locke was an Enlightenment Professor in the Enlightenment era of the 17th and 18th century. His ideas had a big impact of today's Government. HE believed all people had natural rights that rulers could not take away from the people, they were "life, liberty, and property". this also lead to his idea of the Social Contract stating that if the Government does not protect this rights the people have the right to abolish or over throw it.
Ben Franklin
Ben Franklin created the Albany Plan of Union in 1754 encouraging the colonies to work together and not rebel against each other. His slogan was "JOIN OR DIE", and included a political cartoon of a snake cut in pieces. He served in the Second Continental Congress and helped draft the Declaration of Independence in 1776. Ben helped establish the Treaty of Paris in 1783. This was a major contribution to the ending of the Revolutionary War.
Boston Massacre
On March 5, 1770, British troops fired on a group of anti-British demonstrators. This event killed 5 people including Cripus Attacks. He was the first African American kill in battle; the Boston Massacre raised more riot when Patrick Henry portrait was released glorifying this tragedy as a massacre. The event was really more of a retaliation to the anti-British throwing things at the soldiers. With the colonist upset the first battle of the American Revolution was fought at Lexington and Concord.
Proclamation of 1763
The French and Indian War was fought over a period of seven years which is why it was also called the Sevens Year War. This was a battle between France allied with the colonist against Great Britain. France expansion past the Ohio River interfered with British claimed settlements causing conflict. To settle this war Great Britain passed the Proclamation of 1763, restricting settlement pass the Ohio River Valley. This also gave Great Britain Canada from France and Florida from Spain.
Intolerable Acts
Intolerable Acts were taxes Britain put on the colonies that they had to pay to repay war debts. The taxes began with Stamp Act, a tax on all legal documents a person needed to get. The second was the Sugar Act, on all sugar, spices and molasses people brought. Another was the Tea Act, a tax put on tea; the most popular beverage. These taxes let to rebellions and protest, i.e The Boston Tea Party.
Battle of Yorktown
Being the last war of the Revolutionary war it was a victory for the Americans. George Washington, general at the time, instructed Marquis de Lafeyette to form a blockade with his 5,000 men so Lord Cornwallis and his men could not escape from Yorktown by land. Cornwallis surrendered and handed over 7,087 men, 900 seamen, 144 cannons, 15 galleys, a frigate, and 30 transport ships. The Patriot victory effectively ended the fighting in the american colonies. Peace treaties began in 1782 but the Treaty of Paris was signed on September 3, 1783.
First Continental Congress
Britain's Parliament enacted Coercive Acts in the American Colonies so they had The First Continental Congress in Philadelphia. 56 delegates from every colony except Georgia attended the Congress. They drafted a declaration of rights and grievances and elected Virginian Peyton Randolph the first President of Congress. Many Figure Heads such as George Washington, Patrick Henry, John Adams were present at the meeting. This congress solved many problems the American colonies had with the British.