SOURCES: (Video) The American Revolution for Students: Causes of the Revolution 1765-1774 by Schlessinger Media Copyright 2004, (Video) Lexington, Concord, and Independence by Aims, Mr. Fletcher 5-14-09 78B Social Studies

EVENTS LEADING UP TO THE WAR (1763-1774):

· Proclamation Act, 1763
-Settlers can no longer go west of the Appellation Mountains.
· Sugar Act, 1764
-Put taxes on sugar and other sugar cane products
· The Stamp Act (act means law) Congress is a result of an act passed by England.
· There was a violent response to the Stamp Act Congress.
· Britain declared that people who lived in the colonies had no say in things such as their taxes, just because of their location of their homes (they lived in the colonies).
· Townshend Revenue Act of 1767 was on a number of different goods, such as glass, paint, lead, but most importantly, TEA. Britain owned all the tea, and people didn’t like Britain, so they didn’t like drinking their tea. This eventually led to the Boston Tea Party.
· At this time, we made raw materials, like fertilizer, and so people said that they didn’t want to pay taxes on British goods. They refused to buy British goods, and started making our own goods, so we would not have to pay Britain our taxes.
· Boston Massacre, in 1773 (?) was a group of people who went outside the tax people’s houses and the first time blood is shed, because five people where shot (no known culprit).
· King George III took taxes off everything but tea, because he wanted to make sure they knew he could charge them if he wanted, but people where still mad.
· To save one of the British companies, they lowered the taxes on tea, but they said that the colonists HAD to buy British tea. People saw this as a way to trick them into buying the tea.
· So the colonists have to buy the tea, and so ships would come into port, and people would not buy it. The ships would be left with the tea and the tea would rot. Sam Adams and his friends went onto one of these ships in Boston, and dumped 342 massive crates of tea into the harbor. This was known as the Boston Tea Party.
· Britain’s reaction was severe. They thought that Boston needed to be taught a lesson. They closed Boston Harbor until the tea was paid for. They demanded pay, but the colonists refused.
· First Continental Congress in 1774: All the colonies except for Georgia got together to talk about the situation of Britain being in charge. They demanded to get the rights to peace and liberty. If these demands were not met, they will not do any more trades with Britain.







FIRST HALF OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION:

· Declaratory Act, 1766
-England could do whatever it wanted to, and the other colonies had no say in any of the acts the created (9/13 colonies wrote letter to the king in England).

BATTLE OF LEXINGTON AND CONCORD

British were planning on coming to take over and prove they were still in charge, and so Paul Revere went through the countryside and told people to British were coming. He was caught by the British through his ride. The colonists tried to put together enough people and guns to put up a good fight. They were told not to fire until they themselves heard a gun shot. No one knows how, but a gun was fired by the British.
The colonists would hide in the woods, take a couple shots at the marching British, and then run away.
The battle was a brutal fight, and many were killed.

BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL

The colonists were up on Bunker Hill and Breeds Hill. They were told not to fire until they see the whites of the Britain’s eyes. They were told this because they knew they would run out of gun fire and powder too soon, so when they shot, they had to get their target every time.
They eventually ran out of ammunition, and so the British took over the hills.

SECOND HALF OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION:

YORK TOWN (1781)

-The last real battle of the American Revolution.
-Cornwallis (one of the major British generals) finds himself isolated when he pressed too far north and ended up deep in Virginia.
-While that was going on, George Washington had been waiting to make a joint operation with the French army (they helped us win). He saw his chance when Cornwallis led his army out of the way and into Virginia. He made a meeting with the French fleet in the West Indies. He took his army south through New Jersey and puts them on ships in Delaware Bay to Williamsburg, only a few miles from Yorktown. By the end of September during the year of 1781, Washington took a fleet of 14,000 men (5000 were French troops) and started into Yorktown. The French fleet completed the blockade by sea. Cornwallis surrendered on October 19th, 1781 because there was no real way for him to fight back.
-This was the end of the American Revolution.

END OF AMERICAN REVOLUTION:

-York Town was the last battle between America and Britain.
-In Paris, on September 3rd, 1983, the treaty was signed declaring America's independence.