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Student’s Name: Carina Y. Garcia

Course: HIST 1301

Date of Submission: 08/03/2022

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American colonists did not suddenly pick up weapons against the British. A succession of events heightened tensions, culminating in America's independence struggle. The Declaration of Independence in 1776 was not a hasty decision. The colonies uniting to wage a war of independence followed a sequence of happenings for over a decade prior. Escalations started soon after the French and Indian WarWar in 1763. Listed below are some of the watershed events leading to the American Revolution.

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Dickinson, John. "Colonists Respond to the Stamp Act." Broadside Philadelphia November 1765: 2.

After the French and Indian War, the British Empire was left with a huge debt. To recuperate part of the debt, Parliament introduced various laws, including the Stamp Act in 1765. The act imposed taxes on a diverse array of transactions for the first time in the colonies. The colonizers were convinced that since they had spent so much fortune and blood on the colonists to protect them from the Indians, they had to pay their fair part through taxes. The colonists, however, expressed their dissatisfaction regarding the new tariffs by not just buying products from the British but also paying them taxes. They considered the Stamp Act an experiment of their disposition. Hence, if they accepted the new laws, they would show the colonizers that they were ready to abide by any other laws subjected to them, leading to endless miseries. Hence, the colonists had to "proceed in all Business as usual, without taking the least Notice of the Stamp Act.” To evade the stamp taxes, people began corrupting local officials to allow them to smuggle commodities into the colonies and dodge the law.

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Pennsylvania Gazette, December 10, 1767 (Letter Two)[2]

To impose its power, Parliament adopted the Townshend Acts (1767). Among other clauses, the Townsend Acts prohibited Americans from manufacturing most products locally. These laws also illegalized the importation of commodities from any other country but Great Britain or, in some circumstances, Ireland. The Parliament passed the Townsend Acts in order to collect the Stamp taxes more efficiently and effectively. Americans retaliated by boycotting the taxed British products and, in some cases, assaulted British customs officers. The British dispatched soldiers to seize Boston to quash the rebellion, further exacerbating the tensions triggered by the Stamp Act two years before. It also instituted a commission to combat bribery among colonies' authorities, enabling the smuggling of commodities into the country. [3]

[2]Dickinson, John. "Letters from a Farmer in Pennyslyvania.” December 1767: 2-7. Retrieved from https://americainclass.org/sources/makingrevolution/crisis/text4/dickinsonletters1767.pdf.

[3] The Boston Evening Post. "The Liberty Riot". The Boston Evening Post October 10 1768: 14-15. Retrieved from https://americainclass.org/sources/makingrevolution/crisis/text4/townshendactsresponse1767.pdf.

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The Boston Gazette, March 12 1770[5]

Bubbling hostilities between Boston inhabitants and the British rulers erupted on March 1770 when an altercation between a group of British soldiers and several colonists drew a group of 30-40 colonists (mostly youth) who encircled the British soldiers. The colonists started insulting the soldiers and tossing objects at them. This led to the troops losing control and started shooting at the group. When the dust settled, three colonists were killed, and two others were critically injured. The British soldiers' reaction proved to be a powerful colonists' propaganda weapon, depicting the British as aggressors willing to shed blood to enforce the Stamp and the Townshend Acts, thus further fueling the tension.

[5] The Boston Gazette. "The Boston Massacre.” The Boston Gazette March 12 1770: 7-10.<https://americainclass.org/sources/makingrevolution/crisis/text5/goldenhillseidermassacre.pdf.>

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David Ramsay, The History of the American Revolution, 1789.[6]

After withdrawing their soldiers from Boston, the Parliament rescinded most of the punitive Townshend laws. Nevertheless, it retained the tea tax and drafted the Tea Act, a new regulation, in 1773 to support the suffering British East India Company (BEIC) financially by extending preferential tax treatment to the company. It would sell tea at a lower price than tea sold by American traders who got their supplies from Dutch importers. This irritated colonists as they felt that the British were favoring their company at the expense of the local merchants. The Sons of Liberty, an
advocacy organization, resolved to challenge the British policies by throwing the BEIC's tea into Boston Harbor as a message to Parliament that they opposed the Townshend Acts (1767) and the Boston Massacre (1770), and the Tea Act (1773). The British authorities were enraged by this act of defiance.

[6] David Ramsay, The History of the American Revolution, 1789.

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Eisenhuth, Caroline. The Coercive (Intolerable) Acts of 1774.[7]

In the early summer of 1774, Parliament approved the Coercive Acts supplanting the elected council in the colony with only one selected by Parliament; closing Boston Harbor until compensation for the tea thrown into the harbour was paid; expanding General Thomas Gage, the British military governor, powers; and illegalized unapproved town gatherings. Another component was the Quartering Act. The act permitted British soldiers to demand to reside in vacant houses and facilities in towns instead of in the countryside. Therefore, following the Boston Tea Party, the Crown used the Coercive Acts to subdue the rebellions in Massachusetts and other colonies. The acts were also established to punish colonists for their participation in the Boston Tea Party. Parliament did not repeal the Coercive Act despite pressures from colonists to repeal it. These acts' laws played a significant role in the outbreak of the Revolutionary War in 1775.

[7] Eisenhuth, Caroline. The Coercive (Intolerable) Acts of 1774. June 2019. August 3 2022 <https://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/the-coercive-intolerable-acts-of-1774/#:~:text=The%20Coercive%20Acts%20of%201774,for%20the%20Boston%20Tea%20Party.>.

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American Battlefield Trust. Lexington and Concord. 2020.[8]

Thomas Gage, a British General, led a group of soldiers to Lexington from Boston to capture anti-Coercive Acts radical groups' leaders, and then to Concord, where he would seize their gunpowder. However, colonists’ spies learned of the plot and, sent a message to Lexington to be prepared against the British mission. Thomas Gage’s troops were met by 77 American rebels on the Lexington Common. Each group started firing at each other leading to death of seven Americans, and the repulsion of the British soldiers at Concord by American militias. Eventually, 73 British troops were killed, 174 injured, and 26 went missing. The deadly fight demonstrated to the British that the colonists were determined to defy the Coercive Acts by any means necessary. It was the commencement of the American Revolution.

[8] American Battlefield Trust. Lexington and Concord. 2020. August 3 2022 <https://www.battlefields.org/learn/revolutionary-war/battles/lexington-and-concord>.

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7.	British attacks on coastal towns (1775- 1776)

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7.	British attacks on coastal towns (1775- 1776)

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James L. Nelson. Burning Falmouth. 2018.[9]

Until the harsh British attacks and destruction of Virginia coastal cities including Massachusetts, Falmouth, and Norfolk, the interests of the southern colonies did not coincide with those of the northern colonies regarding the War of independence. Attacks brought the colonies together. General George Washington was outraged by the burning of Falmouth, which he described as surpassing in horror & atrocity every aggressive act perpetrated among civilized nations. The scene of the town's structures on fire startled the southerners. Members of the rebellion realized that in order to prevail against a brutal opponent, the colonists needed to join together and embrace the push for freedom   The British raids on coastal towns were retaliation for the Lexington and Concord episodes. Therefore, while the Revolutionary War began with Lexington and Concord, hostility toward colonizers quickly spread throughout the country, culminating in the Declaration of Independence in 1776.

[9] Nelson, James L. Burning Falmouth. April 18 2018. August 3 2022 <https://www.historynet.com/burning-falmouth/>.

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In 1775, the Royal Navy sent a fleet to Falmouth, Maine, the site of modern-day Portland, and rained heated shells down on it for eight hours, burning nearly the entire town to the ground - but also pouring tinder onto the burgeoning flames of American rebellion.

The idea was to cow the rebels into submission, but it was basically a Revolutionary Pearl Harbor.

An American ship resists a British boarding party during the War of 1812. Naval engagements like this were common in the Revolutionary War as American raiding parties stole British ships or British forces tried to enforce tax laws against American merchants.

(U.S. Coast Guard archives)

The struggle leading up to the burning of Falmouth began with the rebels and smugglers in the colonies blowing off British taxes. A 26-ship fleet was sent to back up the revenue collectors, but they had over 1,000 miles of coastline to patrol, and their efforts were largely unsuccessful.

Meanwhile, Maj. Gen. George Washington and his 16,000-man army had the 6,000 British troops under Lt. Gen. Thomas Gage pinned up near Boston. The British were getting frustrated as rebel colonialists repeatedly embarrassed one of the most powerful militaries in the world.

Amidst all this tension and simmering violence, rebels in Falmouth captured multiple British merchant ships as well as the commander of one of the ships of that 26-ship fleet sent against them, Lt. Henry Mowat, in May, 1775. He was held for ransom for a few days, but returned to his ship after town leaders pressured the rebel leader.

So, when the British senior command sent orders to the fleet to conduct whatever operations were necessary to quell the rebellion, Vice Adm. Samuel Graves ordered the elimination of whatever rebellious sea port towns that the Royal Navy could reach. Multiple towns were selected, including ones where residents had kidnapped or killed British officers.

Mowat returned to the town of Falmouth with four ships sporting over 20 cannons and ordered the town to evacuate before he destroyed it. The town petitioned for mercy, and Mowat conceded to delay the attack as long as all arms and powder, including artillery and gun carriages, were turned over and the residents swore an oath of loyalty.

Falmouth quietly turned over a few muskets, but then everyone just evacuated quietly. No one was giving an oath to the Mad King. At 9 a.m. on October 18, Mowat ordered the final evacuation. At sometime before 10 a.m., he ordered the flotilla to open fire, even though people were still visibly making their way out of town.

Heated shot was a great weapon in the age of wooden ships and buildings. Cannon crews would get their ammo from ovens where the shots were heated for hours, allowing them to stay red hot even when skipping across the water and flying through the air.

(Thomas Luny)

For the next eight hours, the ships heated cannonballs in their ovens, got them red hot, and sent them into the wooden buildings of the town. Whenever a neighborhood of the town failed to catch fire, the ships landed marines and had them get the job done up close.

A group of armed town residents attempted to put out some of the flames, and the winds were on their side, but the construction of the town made it nearly impossible. The town consisted of hundreds of wooden buildings, most of them packed tightly together. Fire spread from building to building, slowly but steadily.

The armed firefighters fought a group of Marines and sailors in the early afternoon. Two British service members were wounded, but they successfully set the defended buildings on fire.

An illustration of the burning of Falmouth.

(Library of Congress)

In the end, over 400 buildings were destroyed, many of them homes or places of business. 1,000 people were left homeless and destitute.

Colonial leaders, even many of those formerly loyal to the crown, were pissed. State legislatures and the provincial congress ordered aid, mostly corn and other foodstuffs, sent to the families now forced to weather the Maine cold without shelter.

"In a word," one reverend wrote, "about three quarters of the town was consumed and between two and three hundred families who twenty four hours before enjoyed in tranquility their commodious habitations, were now in many instances destitute of a hut for themselves and families; and as a tedious winter was approaching they had before them a most gloomy and distressing prospect."

Revenue Cutter Service personnel prepare to defend their wreck against British attack during the War of 1812. In 1776, many seaport towns had built quick defenses like these to prevent themselves suffering the fate of Falmouth, Maine.

(Coast Guard archives)

The political backlash against the attack was real and immediate. Damage was estimated at 50,000 British pounds - converted to modern U.S. dollars, that's nearly million. Royal subjects in Britain were outraged and those living in America were livid.

Even France, which was closely watching the progress of the rebellion in their rival's colonies, was shocked.

Graves, the admiral who ordered attacks on sea ports, was relieved of command and Mowat's career stalled for years afterward.

But the greatest consequences came when former residents of Falmouth, their family members, and other outraged colonial citizens began turning up for duty in colonial militias. Other seaport towns immediately beefed up their defenses, making an attempt against another town nearly impossible to conduct without losses.

By the start of 1776, it was clear that the American rebellion had grown from an effort by an angry minority to throw off a perceived yoke to a growing revolution that would eventually hamstring the British Empire.

Falmouth, for its part, eventually re-built and re-grew into modern Portland, Maine. This was actually the third time the town had to re-build after a major fire, and it would happen a fourth time in the 1800s. The town seal now features a phoenix, for obvious reasons.

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That time the Royal Navy burnt an American city to the ground

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In 1775, the Royal Navy sent a fleet to Falmouth, Maine, the site of modern-day Portland, and rained heated shells down on it for eight hours, burning nearly the entire town to the ground - but also pouring tinder onto the burgeoning flames of Ame...

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American Battlefield Trust. Lexington and Concord. 2020. August 3 2022 <https://www.battlefields.org/learn/revolutionary-war/battles/lexington-and-concord>.

Dickinson, John. "Colonists Respond to the Stamp Act." Broadside Philadelphia November 1765: 2.

—. "Letters from a Farmer in Pennyslyvania December.” 1767: 2-7. https://americainclass.org/sources/makingrevolution/crisis/text4/dickinsonletters1767.pdf.

Eisenhuth, Caroline. The Coercive (Intolerable) Acts of 1774. June 2019. August 3 2022 <https://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/the-coercive-intolerable-acts-of-1774/#:~:text=The%20Coercive%20Acts%20of%201774,for%20the%20Boston%20Tea%20Party.>.

Nelson, James L. Burning Falmouth. April 18 2018. August 3 2022 <https://www.historynet.com/burning-falmouth/>.

Ramsay, David. The History of the American Revolution.” 1789. https://americainclass.org/sources/makingrevolution/crisis/text6/teaactresponse.pdf.

The Boston Evening Post. "The Liberty Riot.” The Boston Evening Post October 10 1768: 14-15. https://americainclass.org/sources/makingrevolution/crisis/text4/townshendactsresponse1767.pdf.

The Boston Gazette. "The Boston Massacre.” The Boston Gazette March 12 1770: 7-10.<https://americainclass.org/sources/makingrevolution/crisis/text5/goldenhillseidermassacre.pdf.>