The American Revolution
The American Revolution
The American Revolution was an experience no one could forget. The major event that started it was probably the Boston Tea Party.
The Sons of Liberty dumped 342 crates of tea in the Boston Harbor. They did this because of the parliamentary act that restricted the colonists to purchase tea. In Boston, April 1, 1774, King George III and the Parliament closed the Boston Harbor due to the Boston Tea Party. In London, Benjamin Franklin felt the wrath of the British government. The tea party, Franklin’s anger in the Parliament, and the closing of the harbor made both the British and the colonists angry.
Relationships between the two were loosening after Britain tried to get the colonists to pay for the tea they dumped. The 1765 Stamp Act, to try to provide the funds to keep peace with the Native Americans, was repealed because the colonists hated it. The British Government made new acts providing the same idea. The colonists loathed all these.
In April 1775, the first battles fought were at Lexington
and Concord. George Washington takes charge of the Continental Army. July 4,
1776, in Philadelphia, the Declaration of Independence was signed.
The Battle of Bunker Hill
George Washington and his Continental Army spent a grim Christmas week. The war had left 6,000 rebels tired, footsore, and hungry. George Washington ordered his army made a surprise attack on Christmas Eve in Trenton. This was when he crossed the Delaware River.
Thomas Paine, who wrote the essay called "Common Sense," which helped to inspire the colonists to independence the year before, wrote another essay called "The Crisis" which Washington ordered to be read to his troops. In the meantime, the British were planning a big Christmas feast.
On Christmas Eve, during the feast, Washington’s troops attacked the drunk, tired, and unprepared British. This was one of the first major battles won by the colonists.
On October 17, 1777, near Saratoga, New York, the British army of about 7,000 soldiers surrendered to a combined force of the American militia and the Continental regulars. News about the British’s defeat spread quickly and now, the French government would take it seriously about joining the conflict on the American’s side. Rumors said that Louis XVI needed proof that the Americans were strong enough to join sides with. The defeat at Saratoga could perhaps be the proof.
October 19, 1781, Yorktown, Virginia, Charles Lord Cornwallis signed orders to surrender his British army to the combined Americans and French force outside of the Virginia tobacco port of Yorktown.
After six and half years of fighting, the war could finally be over.
