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The Boston Massacre was a colonist riot that occurred on March 5, 1770. The reason it happened was due to tensions between the British and the colonists that steamed from disagreements and bad decisions. The 16,000 colonists that lived in Boston at that time were furious at the British due to taxes like the Stamp Act that taxed all paper. At that time, the king's money was stored in a customs house and was watched over by a soldier constantly. To seek revenge against the British, the colonies attempted to raid the customs house by force. (Onion)

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At first, the riot was only on a street level. Then it expanded to a bigger event with more tension due to the amount of people that gathered. The tensions that had been rising finally reached a limit and the colonists wanted to punish the British. In the riot, they threw snowballs at the British soldiers and banged their clubs together. The British soldiers, who commited the first acts of violence, which led to the beginning of the battle. On the colonist side, it was said that the British soldiers fired at them. On the other hand, the British soldiers claimed they misinterpreted instructions and heard orders to fire. However, Captain Preston claims no such orders were given. This massarce resulted in 5 deaths and 6 people were wounded. (Onion)

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After the Boston Massacre, their desire to fight for independance increased due to the injustices they have experienced. The relationship between the British and the Colonists was ruined as the tensions between the two sides grew. As time passed, the colonists performed more and more acts of rebellion against the British, which showed their disliking for the taxes enforced against them. (Onion)

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Colonists were upset with the taxes that were placed on their tea. The act to tax the tea was passed by parliament on May 10th, 1773. The tax was put into place because of Britain's leftover debt from the French and Indian War. The tax made colonists pay extra for all types of tea that came into the colonies. The Sons of Liberty were a Group of merchants and tradesmen founded to protest taxes. They would meet and protest in Griffin's Wharf at the arrival of Dartmouth (a ship carrying tea that was from China). On the morning of December 16, 1773 they met at a large meeting and decided to not pay the taxes on their tea.

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The Boston Tea Party was a political protest that happened on December 16th, 1773. It took place in Griffin’s Wharf, Boston, Massachusetts. As a response a large group of colonists and many Sons of Liberty dressed up as Indians and raided ships that were docked in the Boston harbor. 18,000 pounds of tea (342 chests) were dumped into the water, this cost about 1.7 million dollars in today’s money.

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The colonists responsible were happy that they had dumped the tea, many others were not. One of the people who disapproved was George Washington. He publicly said that the people of Boston “were mad”. Benjamin Franklin thought that the British tea that was dumped should be reimbursed, he also offered to pay some of the money. The Sons of Liberty were suspected of being involved, but due to the costumes only one man was identified; that was Francis Akeley. Although this event was chaotic No one was hurt and other than the tea there was no damage to property. When King George III learned about what happened he passed acts that Closed Boston Harbor until the missing tea was paid for, required colonists to house British soldiers, and ended the Massachusetts constitution.

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This shows the members of the Culper Ring, a confidential American spy association.

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During the Revolution, the use of spies was very common. Spies provided extra information on their opponent like location, resources, and their materials. Spies were used by both sides as they both disovered the effectiveness of their usage. This resulted in misinformation being provided to the spies in an attempt to throw off the opponent. The use of spies allowed Britain to gain familiarity with unknown terrain and land. (Gruber)

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The Culper Spy ring was an organization of spies within the Colonies. The Culper Spy Ring gave George Washington the whereabouts of the British Troops so he can become aware of their plans or for him to prepare his own army in case of a suprise attack. During the years of use, The Culper Spy Ring was very confidential and the indentities of the members weren't revealed. In an attempt to avoid being caught, they terminated the use of names and substituted in a system of numbers that identified each member. (Crowdy)

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Spies during the Revolution lead to both armies becoming more aware of their surroundings and each other. It allowed them time to prepare for battle as they were warned by spies if the oppostion side was planning for attack. It also allowed the two sides to use a form of propaganda as they were able to mislead the opposition side by providing incorrect information. Ultimately, it lead to increased tensions as the two sides tried to get the upperhand on one another constantly. (Gruber)

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The Declaratory Act was a response from the British to the Colonists who were protesting against the Stamp Act. It claimed that the British had authority and control over the Colonists no matter the circumstances. It also claimed that Britain had equal authority to tax the Colonies as they did to tax in England. (The American Revolution)

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The British were in desperate need of funding and they came up with the idea of taxing the Colonists. The Colonists felt this was injust and became furious with this concept. As more taxes were imposed, tensions rised between the British and the Colonists. (Sullivan). AJ

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The Townshend Act was a series of laws that taxed goods that were imported into the Colonies. The Colonists became aggravated as the viewed the laws as the British Parliament abusing their authority and power. The Towshend Act specifically taxed glass, lead, British China, paint, tea, and paper. British troops were sent to enforce these new laws. However, Colonists found strategies to bypass the taxes. They began to become self-sufficient and attempted to avoid imports into the Colonies, so the British would not profit. (Mullen). AJ

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A lot of former slaves fought in the battles of Bunker Hill and Lexington, however in November 1775 Congress decided to exclude all african americans from enrolling themselves to fight. Lord Dunmore had already made a promise that all of the slaves who enlisted in the British army would be freed. This led congress to reverse what they had done so African Americans didn’t join the British army.

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The colonies as well as Britain now knew that having slaves in your military is very important. In November 1775 Lord Dunmore promised that all slaves who joined him in battle would be freed. This caused around 800 slaves to join the British. This upset slave owners in the colonies because they were losing their slaves to the British. Sir Henry Clinton then promised slaves who left colonists full protection. This suggested that the war was over slavery now.

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In the revolution African Americans played an important role, they fought in places like Fort Ticonderoga. In all about 5,000 freed slaves fought for the colonists in the American Revolution. This helped the colonies gain numbers on the British. Having more troops than an enemy is one of if not the most important things needed in order to win battles or even wars.

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Samuel Adams, John Hancock, Benedict Arnold, Patrick Henry, and Paul Revere, were all in the Sons of Liberty.

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Thomas Preston served as a member of the British military in Boston, Massachusets. He was the Captain of the British Soliders during the Boston Massacre. Due to the misinterpretation of orders, Captain Preston went on trial for murder. (Boston Massacre Historical Society)

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This image shows colonists on the ships in the Boston Harbor. They are all dressed as Indians while either carrying or dumping crates of tea into the water. This helps show the events in the tea party and how the acts to punish the colonists afterwords strengthened the colonies which led to the Revolution.

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George Washington letter to Benjamin Tallmadge.

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In this excerpt, it explains that they have a spy, George Higday, who is on good terms with the enemy. The spy they discovered is willing to provided George Washington with intelligence regarding the opposing side. This shows the effectiveness of slaves as it allows a force to get the upperhand on its oppositon. (William L. Clements Library)

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The acts that were passed were supposed to stop the rebellion, however all of the colonies saw the acts as Britain being a tyranny. All other colonies then helped Massachusetts rebel, they sent them supplies to do so.

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The Stamp Act was the first tax imposed on the Colonists by the British. The British suffered many financial casualties in their previous war and proposed the Stamp Act in an effort to gain money and pay off the war debts. Some items that were involved in the tax were newspapers, playing cards, and legal documents. Colonists argued against the Stamp Act, claiming it was unconstituitonal. (Sullivan). AJ

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A report of the reaction to the Stamp Act, 1765

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This report explains how the colonists reacted in response to the Stamp Act being imposed. Some Colonists boycotted British goods while others threatened tax collectors that help the king's money. This all relates back to how the Stamp Act raised tensions and the Colonists were very unhappy with the Stamp Act. (Hinshellwood)

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This primary source is about the perspective of Captain Preston during the Boston Massacre. There was a large controversy between whether or not he ordered to fire and in this account of Captain Preston, he claims that he did not yell fire, rather someone in the crowd yelled fire in order to trigger war. (Hakim)

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the British Royal Governor of Virginia during the time of the American Revolution.

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British soldiers firing their weapons at unhappy colonists.

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George Washington was the first presidents of the United States of America and was the commander of the Continental Army. He supported the use of spies and abused their effectiveness. George Washington was one of the main members of the Culper Spy Ring.

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This is where the first offensive victory in the Revolutionary War for the colonies took place.

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Commander in Chief of the British Army in America (1778).

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Primary Source for Involvement of Slaves in The American Revolution

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Primary Source for Involvement of Slaves in The American Revolution

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This Proclamation by Lord Dunmore told slaves if they join the British army and leave to colonial army they would be freed. This helps show how important it was to keep slaves on his side. Keeping slaves on his side would help him win battles which greatly impacted the Revolutionary War.

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The treaty of paris was the treaty signed that officially ended the war. The Revolutionary War lasted from 1775- 1783. John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and John Jay were the three men chosen to negotiate the final terms in the treaty. They made extremely important changes to the treaty, like adding in that America gets its own independence.

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The treaty of Paris being signed lead to the colonies and Britain finally ending the war. The war lasted seven years and ending the battles would change the course of history. Britain was able to start trying to get themselves out of a major debt. This also let the colonies keep building on what they already had. They could now focus more on building a more complete country.

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It is called the treaty of paris because that is where it was negotiated and eventually signed. They also had to make three original copies (that we know of) of the document. One of the wax seals was horizontal and the other two had it vertical. Hand written copies were also made for congress. Two of the original documents now lie in the National Archives.

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This image shows Benjamin Franklin along with other important American and British men. This is after they signed the treaty to end the Revolutionary war. This image has power because in one room a group of American men and British men are finally not fighting.

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