Lexington and Concord

 

     The Revolutionary War begins when British General Gage orders a 700-man force to destroy American Patriot munition supplies in Concord, Massachusetts. The British march to Lexington and are confronted by a small Patriot militia force. A shot is fired (no one knows who fired first) and the British open fire killing several Patriots. The British column continues to Concord where they are attacked by a larger group of Patriots. Under constant ambush, the British force barely makes it back to Boston.

Click HERE to see an animated map of....

The Battles of Lexington and Concord.

Lexington and Concord

The Shot Heard Around the World

Liberty Kids: The Midnight Ride

THE BRITISH ARE COMING!!!

The Midnight Ride

Click HERE to see this interactive map.

Paul Revere was an American silversmith, early industrialist, and a patriot in theAmerican Revolution. 

William Dawes, Jr. was one of several men and a woman who alerted colonialminutemen of the approach of British army troops prior to the Battle of Lexington and Concord at the outset of the American Revolution.

America: The Story of Us.... Part 1 The Rebels

American Revolution Jeopardy

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Click HERE to play a few rounds of 

American Revolution Jeopardy!

The First Continental Congress

     The First Continental Congress brought together representatives from each of the colonies, except Georgia, to discuss their response to the British "Intolerable Acts."  This was the first time, the 13 colonies were working as a group and not as individual colonies.  The representatives decided to send a respectful message to King George.  The message urged the king to consider their complaints and to recognize their rights.  They also called for a boycott on British goods until Parliament repealed the Intolerable Acts.  Finally, they agreed to meet again the following May if the boycott did not work.  

The First Continental Congress from Jack Sanders on Vimeo.

The Intolerable Acts

      The Intolerable Acts were a series of harsh laws intended to punish the people of Massachusetts for the Boston Tea Party. The acts were to discourage other colonies from opposing British rule. (The King wanted to show the colonists who was boss.)  Instead, they had the opposite affect. The Intolerable Acts united the colonies against Britain. Patriot leaders began to call for a meeting, or a colonial congress, to discuss the issues. Each of the colonies began to elect members to attend the congress.  The First Continental Congress followed shortly after. 

More on... The Boston Tea Party

On the evening of December 16, 1773, a group of men calling themselves the "Sons of Liberty" went to the Boston Harbor. The men were dressed as Mohawk Indians. They boarded three British ships, the Beaver, the Eleanor and the Dartmouth, and dumped forty-five tons of tea into the Boston Harbor.







BACKGROUND...
The British East India Company had controlled all tea trading between India and the British colonies. As a result of the tea tax, the colonies refused to buy the British tea. Instead, they smuggled tea in from Holland. This left the British East India Company with warehouses full of unsold tea, and the company was in danger of going out of business.

The British government was determined to prevent the British East India Company from going out of business. It was going to force the colonists to buy their tea. In May 1773, Prime Minister North and the British parliament passed the Tea Act. The Tea Act allowed the British East India Company to sell tea directly to the colonists, bypassing the colonial wholesale merchants. This allowed the company to sell their tea cheaper than the colonial merchants who were selling smuggled tea from Holland.  This act revived the colonial issue of taxation without representation.

The Boston Tea Party

The Boston Tea Party was a political protest against the British government and George III. The disguised protestors (probably) led by Samuel Adams, called themselves The Sons of Liberty, and they objected to "taxation without representation". This was one of the key events which led up to the American Revolution, and independence. 

Click HERE for a great video short on the Boston Tea Party.

The Boston Tea Party poem for kids, by Paul Perro.

Sammy lived in Boston
And he loved a cup of tea.
But one day something happened
That made him very angry.

A king in a faraway land said
"From now on every time
Someone drinks a cup of tea
They have to give me a dime."

This did not seem fair to Sammy.
The king lived so far away
Why should he care what Sammy drank?
And why should Sammy pay?

Lots of people agreed with Sammy
There was a lot of frustration.
People made speeches with long clever words
Like “taxation” and “representation.”

So Sammy got some friends together
And the rebellion began.
They knew where the king kept his tea
And they came up with a plan.

Sammy was a little worried
That they’d be recognised.
So they dressed up as red Indians
And then went out disguised.

The tea was kept on three ships
Docked in the harbour
The ships were called “The Dartmouth”
“The Beaver” and “The Eleanor.”

They climbed aboard the Dartmouth first
And quickly found the tea.
They found hundreds of boxes
And threw them in the sea.

Next they boarded the Beaver
And found where the tea was stored.
Just like they had done before,
They threw it overboard.

Then they moved to the Eleanor
And did the same thing there.
They spoiled all the king’s tea
Because he’d been unfair.

They hadn’t wanted to steal the tea
Because stealing things is wrong.
They’d wanted to teach the king a lesson
That was the plan all along.

The next day everyone was talking
About the tea that Sammy had sunk.
They called it the Boston Tea Party
Even though no tea had been drunk.

The British East India Company & The Tea Act

The British Colonial Empire 1660-1870

     In 1773, the Tea Act gave a monopoly on tea sales to the British East India Trading Company. In other words, American colonists could buy no tea unless it came from that company. Why? Well, the British East Indian Trading Company wasn't doing so well, and the British wanted to give it some more business. The Tea Act lowered the price on this East India tea so much that it was way below tea from other suppliers. But the American colonists saw this law as yet another means of "taxation without representation" because it meant that they couldn't buy tea from anyone else (including other colonial merchants) without spending a lot more money. Their response was to refuse to unload the tea from the ships. This was the situation in Boston that led to the Boston Tea Party

The Boston Massacre

     The Boston Massacre, also known as the Boston riot, was an incident that led to the deaths of five civilians at the hands of British troops on March 5, 1770, the legal aftermath of which helped spark the rebellion in some of the British American colonies, which culminated in the American Revolutionary War. A heavy British military presence in Boston led to a tense4 that boiled over into incitement of brawls between soldiers and civilians and eventually led to troops discharging their muskets after being attacked by a rioting crowd. Three civilians were killed at the scene of the shooting, eleven were injured, and two died after the incident.

The Townshend Acts

"Champagne Charlie"

     Townshend Acts, 1767, originated by Charles Townshend and passed by the English Parliament shortly after the repeal of the Stamp Act.  They were designed to collect money from the colonists in America by putting taxes on imports of glass, lead, paints, paper, and tea. The colonials, spurred on by the writings of Samuel Adams and others, protested against the taxes. The Boston merchants again boycotted English goods.  The boycott decreased British trade, and in 1770 most of the Acts were repealed.

The Quartering Act

     In 1754 The French and Indian War started. In the result British soldiers were moving a lot in the colonies. In 1763 the war ended. Since the British soldiers were still in the colonies the king decided to make the colonists give the British soldiers food, shelter, water, and transportation. This was called The Quartering Act. The colonists didn't like this Act because it meant giving these things to British soldiers even if they didn't have enough food or water for their family.

The Stamp Act

In order to help cover the cost of the war between Great Britain and France, British officials began to establish new taxes in the Colonies. In 1765, a tax was passed by Great Britain known as the Stamp Act.

This law required all colonists to pay a tax to Great Britain on all of the printed materials that they used, newspapers, magazines, and even playing cards. All of these materials were required to have a stamp placed on them, in order to show that the tax had been paid.

Colonist were outraged, and responded by boycotting all British goods. They also attacked officials who were sent by Great Britain to enforce the Stamp Act, and burned the stamps in the street. Many of the colonies sent representatives to a special meeting in New York, which they called The Stamp Act Congress, where the colonies voted and declared that Parliament did not have the right to pass taxes on the colonies because they did not have any representation in Parliament. Many of the colonists began crying - "No taxation without representation!"

As a result, the British Parliament repealed the stamp act just one year later in 1766.

The Proclamation of 1763

     The Proclamation of 1763 was issued by the British government in the name of King George III to prohibit settlement by British colonists beyond the Appalachian Mountains in the lands captured by Britain from France in the French and Indian War.  The motivation for the proclamation was a desire to avoid the expense of further wars with Native AMericans The proclamation was largely ignored on the ground (in particular in settlements already established in the prohibited area) but its very existence created a large amount of resentment among the British colonists and was one of the factors leading to the American Revolutionary War.

The French and Indian War

Conference between the French and Indian leaders around a ceremonial fire

War fought between Great Britain and its two enemies, the French and the Indians of North America. Most of the battles were in Canada. American colonists, including George Washington, fought with the British in this war, which lasted from 1754 to 1763. The British won the war and won the right to keep Canada and several other possessions in the New World.

Columbus Day

Columbus Day, which is annually on the second Monday of October, remembers Christopher Columbus' arrival to the Americas on October 12, 1492. This holiday is controversial because the European settlement in the Americas led to the demise of the history and culture of the indigenous peoples.


Officially, the people of the USA are invited to celebrate the anniversary of the discovery of their country with church services and other activities. In some towns and cities, special church services, parades and large events are held. Most celebrations are concentrated around the Italian-American community. The celebrations in New York and San Francisco are particularly noteworthy. In Hawaii Columbus Day is also known as Landing Day or Discoverer's Day.

Not all parts of the United States celebrate Columbus Day. It is not a public holiday in California, Nevada and Hawaii. Moreover, Native American's Day is celebrated in South Dakota, while Indigenous People's Day is celebrated in Berkeley, California. 

For more information on Native American's Day click here.

America Rocks!!!

Since we are going to start studying the American Revolution....
Here are some videos to get you in the mood.

Starting with one of my favorite bands, Pavement, covering School House Rocks.
Pearl Jam and Neil Young

Ray Charles
David Bowie
Don McLean
Sam Cooke
Jimi Hendrix
Marvin Gaye
West Side Story
Odetta
Animaniacs
The Clash

Chapter 5 Vocabulary and Terms

repeal

the removal or reversal of a law
to take back a bill or law

militia

a small army of ordinary citizens

boycott

to refuse to.... buy something, use something, or take part in something as a form of protest

tyranny 

cruel or unfair control over other people; cruel or unfair government

allies

countries that agree to support one another during a time of war

Patriots

Americans who believed the colonies could govern themselves

Loyalists

Americans who were deeply loyal to the king