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The proclamation was created by Britain to prevent colonists from settling west of the Appalachian mountains. They must have been reluctant to risk angering the Native Americans by moving into their land (although they had technically surrendered it). They wouldn’t be able to handle anymore debt from another war. The colonists seemed to have misunderstood this decision–it seemed like Britain was taking away their rights to travel with hardly any reason. They had gone to war for that land, and weren’t appreciative of the fact that they couldn’t use it. People were simply outraged and some disregarded the law.

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The sugar act, while decreasing the teax on molasses that was created in 1733, put taxes on important sugar, indigo, textiles, and pimento. It also created the Vice Admiralty Courts, which were courts that didn’t offer jury trials; a judge would do it all [controlled by the British. They needed to support the army in America, but they still had debt from the French and Indian war, so this was the perfect solution. Colonists disliked the taxes, and protested.

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The Stamp Act forced the colonists to buy stamps with any paper products, essentially putting a tax on paper. The British needed to be able to fund its army in America, so this was their way of getting money. The colonists, however, didn’t really ask for the army to be there and protect them, and didn’t appreciate the fact that they were being forced to pay for it. Lots of things erupted from this feeling. They created their battle cry “Taxation without representation”, they forced stamp distributors to resign, they created the group “sons of liberty” which was an organization that actively countered all of the British Parliament’s attempts to take away the rights/liberties of the colonists. Boycotts were organized, and the Stamp Act Congress was held in New York to discuss all the potential solutions to the amount they were getting taxed without any representation. Parliament responded to all this by repealing the act–they didn’t get as much money as they hoped.

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This act forced colonists to house soldiers and provide food for them all with their own money. To the British this all seemed perfectly reasonable: the colonists would need the service of the army soon or later, so they should help to fund its stay in America. The colonists had a different view though.  They didn’t request the army to stay with them, so that meant they were being forced to pay for something they didn’t ask for. It wasn’t only that either–there was a serious breach of privacy going on. The British soldiers were staying in the colonists’ homes, so there was now not even privacy in their own houses.

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After being forced to remove the stamp act by the colonists, Great Britain was worried that they didn’t appear to have control over the colonies anymore since they gave into their protests. They decided that they needed to show that they weren’t pushovers, and that you couldn’t just bully them into repealing something. Long story short, its essentially a way for Britain to tell the colonies that they have power over them.

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Parliament dissolved the New York Colonial Assembly-they hosted the stamp act congress, and they couldn’t have such rebellious open, could they? They also needed to pay off their war debt, and needed to pay for their army in the colonies, so they placed an indirect tax (taxing the shipper who in turn increases the items price to be able to earn a profit) on lead, paint, tea, paper, and glass–these items were commonly used daily. They even read “Custom Commissioners “ to collect taxes and inspect ships’ cargoes. For the colonists, “taxation without representation” was also a major problem, boycotts were organized, protests and riots were held right outside custom officials residences/offices, and Boston became the center of patriotic/anti-British activity. Finally, the Townshend Acts were repealed (it didn’t raise as much money as hoped) but they kept the tea tax.

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Colonists were gathered around to confront a British soldier on guard duty about how he apparently hit a child on the head with his musket. Said guard called for reinforcements. A gunshot was heard and the soldiers responded by firing into the crowd and ended up killing five people. Trials were held and the soldiers ended up winning (their attorney was John Adams who believed in fair trials) on the basis that it was simply the way that the soldiers were programmed to respond. There was also propaganda which came up from this event–there was a painting by Paul Revere who really seems to have made it just to get support for the patriot cause. People also called it a massacre, implying that the soldiers were absolutely cold-blooded and that the colonists were completely innocent.

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The tea act didn’t put a tax on tea–in fact, it decreased the tax that was left over from the Townshend Acts. The problem was the unfair way the tea got to reach the colonies. The British East India Company was allowed to ship tea to the colonies, any other companies would first need to bring their tea to be inspected in England. The British East India company was thus able to charge less for their tea. To lots of colonists this seemed to take away their freedom to choose who they wanted to buy their tea from. They boycotted, they protested, and they sometimes refused to unload ships full of tea from the British East India Company.

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The Boston Tea Party (December 16, 1773)

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The Boston Tea Party (December 16, 1773)

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A ship (the Dartmouth) holding mainly tea from the British East India Company arrived in Boston Harbor. Samuel Adams proposed to the captain to simply not pay the tax and just leave. However, Thomas Hutchinson (Royal Governor) refused to let this happen. There was a standoff; Samuel Adams had placed twenty five of his men there and neither group would let the other win. Sometime during this standoff, two other ships arrived in the harbor (the Eleanor and the Beaver) which all held tea. The ships had twenty days to pay tax, and on the Dartmouth’s twentieth day, the Sons of Liberty (the patriotic group that Samuel Adams was a very influential leader of) all had a meeting at Old South Meetinghouse in Boston, on December 16, 1773. Lots of people from Boston went inside the hall or near it in the streets, all wondering what would happen and what would be said. When Governor Hutchinson would finally say that he wasn’t backing down, Samuel Adams said, “this meeting can do nothing further to save our country!” Several people from the Sons of Liberty left—they disguised themselves as Native Americans, boarded the three ships in harbor, and dumped all the tea out. They ended up having to pay for the tea they’re destroyed: one million in today’s money.

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These were made because of the not-so-delightful tea party that Boston held. Destruction of all the tea made Britain realize that the colonies had slipped a bit too far outside of their rule, and they wanted to tighten that net around them again, so they made the Coercive acts (also known as the Intolerable Acts). These include: The Boston Port Bill, the Massachusetts Government Act, and the Impartial Administration of Justice Act. The Boston Port Bill closed Boston’s harbor to trade (until the money for the tea that they destroyed was repaid), the Massachusetts Government Act limited their ability to govern themselves, the Impartial Administration of Justice act (which applied to every colony) made it so that any British soldier/government official would not be able to put on trial in the colonies, but rather in other areas controlled by the British/in England (after the trails concerning the Boston massacre, they feared that they wouldn’t be able to get a fair trial in the colonies), the Quartering Act (different than the one of 1765, also applies to every colony) gave the Governors of each of the. Colonies to seize ares for housing soldiers if there wasn’t any adequate room, and the Quebec act, which took land away from several colonies, creating a new border between them and Canada. Colonists couldn’t handle being treated this way–it went too far, and was considered intolerable, hence the name “the Intolerable Acts”. The colonies sent delegates to Philadelphia to discuss what should happen next; they started the First Continental Congress.

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Elected delegates from twelve of the thirteen colonies (Georgia didn’t attend) to the first continental congress. They discussed the current situation of the coercive acts; everyone seemed to agree that the acts were, on a whole, not a good idea. Howeve,r as when happens when you fill a room of people from different areas with varying opinions, it’ll take it some time to come to a conclusion. Finally, they decided that they’d try  to work with the British government. They also decided to meet again in the spring of 1775.

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The Battles of Lexington and Concord -April 1175-

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The Battles of Lexington and Concord -April 1175-

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The British wanted to destroy any supplies/weapons they knew were in Concord to try and stifle the revolution which seemed in the air, and to capture the leaders of the Sons of Liberty. However, those in Concord and Lexington were alerted by riders such as Paul Revere, William Daws, and Dr. Samuel Prescott. There were a a few who responded in Lexington (the British army reached it first) were few and desperately outnumbered. On one of the sides, there was a shot—it was known as the “short heard around d the world.” It was the shot which marked the beginning of the armed battle part of the American Revolution. However: which side fired that significant shot was—and is—completely unknown. After the shot, more shooting occurred and the British soldiers easily won. At Concord, however, a much stronger force awaited them, and they lost.

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The olive branch petition was created by Congress as a last ditch attempt to avoid war with he king. They seemed to genuinely believe that peace would be possible and that they would all be able to live prosperously together, but that hope was soon crushed. The King outright refused it. There was now no other option but to fight for their independence.

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They met to discuss whether they should continue the war to not—it had already started by the time they joined together. Thus came the Olive branch petition, but as you know now, that did not work out, so they decided that it must continue on. They decided that they should also declare independence, and chose a committee, which included: Thomas Jefferson (the main author), John Adams, and Ben Franklin.

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The Declaration of Independence––adopted on July 4, 1776

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The Declaration of Independence––adopted on July 4, 1776

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The Declaration of Independence was signed by fifty six people, and declared independence from Great Britain.