Draft:The American Revolution

The American Revolution was a battle fought between the soon-to-be-Americans and Britain. At the time, King Henry III was the king of Britain. Just after the French and Indian war , King Henry wanted more money to replenish what he had lost in the war. So, he decided to raise taxes. The colonist's were not happy with this and wanted to start a rebellion. This is the start of the anger of the colonists. Then, in 1764, King Henry on behalf of the British parliament passed the stamp act. The stamp act said that any official document, newspaper, or letter had to be stamped. (Stamps costed 1 penny per sheet at the time.)After this, in 1767, the king passed the Townshend acts. This meant that the colonist's had to pay taxes on tea, paint, paper, glass, and lead. On March 5th, 1770, a problem involving the British army (Redcoats) and the innocent people of Boston, Massachusetts. Some people believe that it was started when a group of kids were throwing sticks, ice, and rocks at British soldiers. Then, the British soldiers got angry and tried to scare them off by shooting their muskets. One of the bullets, believed to be shot by Ebenezer Richardson, hit a boy named Christopher Seider in the head. This resulted in a fight between the townspeople and the soldiers. 5 died and 6 more were wounded.

A drawing created by Paul Revere that was posted in a local newspaper.

In 1773, the kind passed the Tea act. This meant that the colonists could only buy their tea from the British East India Tea Company. This was a way to help the company from going out of business. Later that same year, as a way to protest the Tea act, many Bostonians dressed up as Native Americans and threw hundreds of boxes of tea off a ship. The total estimated value of all the tea that they threw off was more than $1,000,000. (In today's money). This event was called the Boston Tea Party. As a way to punish the people of Boston, in 1774, the parliament passed the Intolerable acts. This was a series of four acts which were: the Boston Port act, the Massachusetts Government act, the Impartial Admin of Justice act, and the Quartering act. The Boston Port act was when Britain closed off Boston Port so no ships could go in or out. The Massachusetts Government act was when people like the king or people in the Parliament got more power. The Impartial Admin of Justice act was when people in the government would not be accused for crimes including murder easily and would not go to jail right away. Sometimes not at all even if they were guilty. Finally, the Quartering act was when soldiers were welcome into colonist's houses (quarters) at any time. The owners of the homes would also need to give them beds to sleep in and food and drinks. -No matter what. Then, on April 18, 1775, Paul Revere and other townsfolk went on horses to warn colonists that the British soldiers were coming. The reason that the soldiers were coming was so that they could capture Paul Revere. In the end, they did at Concord and continued on to Lexington. There, a group of Patriotic soldiers guarded their weapons. (The British came to steal those weapons.) Someone shot and this was later called the battle of Lexington and Concord. -The first official battle of the American Revolution. The first shot was called the "Shot heard 'round the world" by Ralph Waldo Emerson. The war finally ended after many battles in 1783 when both sides signed the Treaty of Paris and claimed that the Patriots won and that America was a free country.