Synthesis of notes, ppt, and video

Can small events predetermine a much bigger event? The King of England ruled the colonies in America. The Parliament began to place many acts on the colonists that restricted what they could and couldn’t do. This angered the settlers and they thought they were being treated unfairly. They also claimed that their requests for Parliament to change come of these acts were ignored. The act that angered colonists the most was that they were being given high taxes. Colonists thought that they, and not Parliament, should decide how much taxes should be. They thought that they should also decide if they got taxed at all. There were also some incidents of the British and Americans fighting in the colonies. Some colonies decided to prepare for the war that they knew would eventually happen. They armed themselves with firearms and ammunition to protect themselves and their colony. These small events led to what would be known as the American Revolution. This period in history is when American colonists decided to fight back against the British and get more freedom that they thought they deserved. The American Revolution ultimately resulted in the American colonies breaking away from British rule to govern themselves. I think that past events predicted the start of the American Revolution.

“What do we mean by the Revolution? The war? That was no part of the Revolution; it was only an effect and consequence of it. The Revolution was in the minds of the people, and this was effected, from 1760-1775, in the course of fifteen years before a drop of blood was shed at Lexington” (J. Adams to T. Jefferson, 1815). John Adams is saying that the Revolution was only the outcome of the revolution that had been going on within the colonies for years. The tension between the British and the Americans had been slowing building up for years. British Parliament kept creating new acts that affected all of the colonies and that had bad results. The colonists’ anger finally spilled over when the British raised colonists’ taxes without first asking for their opinion. This was called the Stamp Act. Taxes were placed on items such as playing cards and newspapers. On May 23, 1774, the New York Committee sent a letter to Boston. The New York Committee is telling Boston that a committee of all the colonies must be created immediately. The committee will help to create American freedom and more independence from England. The suggestion comes from the recent strictures that British Parliament has placed upon them all. Samuel Adams stated in a letter, which the Boston Committee circulated around Boston, that the acts Parliament was forcing upon them was being used to separate the colonies. England didn’t want the colonies to join together to rebel against them. When the colonists decided to boycott all British goods, England decided that something must be done. British naval ships were placed in Boston Harbor. The ships blocked all trade coming to and from Massachusetts. Benjamin Franklin thought that this and that Stamp Act was wrong. He said that England made money from American trade, not taxes. It would be more beneficial to remove the Stamp Act and take the naval ships out of Boston ports. This is why he thought that the Stamp Act should be repealed. It was wrong for England to place such high taxes on colonists and to try and control their lives the way they did.

There were events in colonial history that led up to the American Revolution. British Parliament placed ludicrous acts on colonists that made them angry. Colonists said that they weren’t being treated fairly by Parliament and they shouldn’t have to pay taxes. In the Declaration and Resolves of the First Continental Congress, they state that they shouldn’t have to pay any taxes unless they say so. Colonists believe that they shouldn’t be controlled so much by England since they are not living there. They want their own rules and they have to own type of government, so they are able to rule themselves without Parliament’s help. Everything that England did to the colonists led up to the American Revolution. All the acts and regulations they created only added to the colonists’ anger that was already there. Colonies were always resentful of the way they were treated by England and one day they decided to do something about it. They fought back. They fought for their freedom and for their rights. Everyone knew the consequences but they didn’t care. Colonists just did what they knew was right.