Intro to WW2 by Brandon Ferrer https://padlet.com/01brafer89376/24r46s4pibis Made with magic en-us 2017-04-07 16:27:52 UTC 2025-10-28 06:42:58 UTC hello@padlet.com NORTH AMERICA AND THE BRITISH EMPIRE 01brafer89376 https://padlet.com/01brafer89376/24r46s4pibis/wish/165429188 In the 1600 and 1700, Great Britain held a vast empire with colonies all over the world. ]]> 2017-04-07 16:32:12 UTC https://padlet.com/01brafer89376/24r46s4pibis/wish/165429188 LIFE IN THE COLONIES 01brafer89376 https://padlet.com/01brafer89376/24r46s4pibis/wish/165429483 throughout the 1600, British influence in North America continued to grow as more and more colonists flooded the region. American colonists liked having fairly independent lives and governments while still enjoying the economic benefits of being part of the British Empire. However, toward the middle of the 1700, tensions rose between the British government and the American people.]]> 2017-04-07 16:33:41 UTC https://padlet.com/01brafer89376/24r46s4pibis/wish/165429483 COLONIAL UNREST 01brafer89376 https://padlet.com/01brafer89376/24r46s4pibis/wish/165429857 Beginning in 1754, Britain fought the French and Indian War on North American soil, and soon they realized they needed some way to pay for it. In order to raise money, they passed several taxes that all the American colonies had to pay. Two of these were the Sugar Act and the Stamp Act. People had to pay extra taxes on basic goods like sugar, tea, and paper.
Unsurprisingly, all the colonists hated having to pay extra money for basic materials. They didn’t like how Britain was using them just to collect money. They also believed the taxes were unfair because they had never elected their own representatives into the British government. They protested: “No taxation without representation.” Many elites wrote articles against the British government, but some felt this was not enough. They refused to buy the taxed goods.
On December 16, 1773, a group of men dressed up like Native Americans, snuck onto a British ship docked in Boston Harbor, and dumped crates of tea into the ocean as a symbol of their unhappiness. The men were members of the Sons of Liberty, a secret society organized to protect the rights of colonists and to protest unfair taxation. The event became known as the Boston Tea Party, and it sparked more feelings of anger at Britain throughout the colonies.
In response to the Boston Tea Party, Britain passed the Intolerable Acts9 to punish the colonists. These laws shut down Boston Harbor, loosened behavior restrictions for British soldiers stationed in the colonies, outlawed town meetings in all of Massachusetts, and required the colonists to pay for all the tea they ruined. This was the last straw for many people.
Twelve out of the 13 colonies sent representatives to the First Continental Congress in September, 1774 to decide what to do about this mistreatment from the British government. After much debate, they agreed the best thing to do was to further boycott all British goods, so the taxes would not actually raise any money for the British government. They also agreed to petition the British king, George III, for amends to their grievances. However, out in the colonies, some people were already preparing to defend themselves with military force if the British continued to exercise unwanted power.
]]> 2017-04-07 16:35:31 UTC https://padlet.com/01brafer89376/24r46s4pibis/wish/165429857 THE BATTLE BEGINS 01brafer89376 https://padlet.com/01brafer89376/24r46s4pibis/wish/165430213 To quell any possible rebellion, Britain sent troops to Massachusetts. The troops found out about a group of rebellious colonists who had stockpiled some weapons in a small town outside of Boston called Lexington, so they went to go steal the weapons. The colonists found out about this ahead of time, and a small group of minutemen, or American civilian soldiers, met them on the way. At this small skirmish, eight minutemen died but only one British soldier was hurt.
However, as the British continued on to another town nearby called Concord, a much larger group of over 400 minutemen ambushed15 them. Two hundred British soldiers died at the hands of the colonists. The battles of Lexington and Concord in 1775 signaled the start of the Revolutionary War.
]]> 2017-04-07 16:37:11 UTC https://padlet.com/01brafer89376/24r46s4pibis/wish/165430213 INDEPENDENCE AT LAST 01brafer89376 https://padlet.com/01brafer89376/24r46s4pibis/wish/165430763 Over the next year, the 13 colonies met and debated over whether they should declare their independence from Britain. The decision was difficult, for there was no guarantee they would win the war. Each colony sent representatives to the Second Continental Congress to decide how and when to officially cut ties with the British Empire. By the summer of 1776, they had made their decision.]]> 2017-04-07 16:39:03 UTC https://padlet.com/01brafer89376/24r46s4pibis/wish/165430763