The Treaty of Paris

          In the independence war 80,000 british men were killed. After 7 years of war the people was tired of the taxes they didn't want them anymore. In 1782 Benjamin Franklin negociated peace with the British. The independence of America was recognized, and France was left out of the treaty. At the end later that year british also signed peace agreements with France and Spain.

In the treaty they had 10 articles that declared that all past misunderstandings would be forgotten and all the intentions both parts had.

1. Acknowledging the United States to be a free, sovereign and independent nation, and that the British Crown and all heirs and successors relinquish claims to the Government, property, and territorial rights of the same.
2. Establishing the boundaries between the United States and British North America;
3. Granting fishing rights to United States fishermen in the Grand Banks, off the coast of Newfoundland and in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence.
4. Recognizing the lawful contracted debts to be paid to creditors on either side.
5. The Congress of the Confederation will "earnestly recommend" to state legislatures to recognize the rightful owners of all confiscated lands "provide for the restitution of all estates, rights, and properties, which have been confiscated belonging to real British subjects.
6. United States will prevent future confiscations of the property of Loyalists;
7. Prisoners of war on both sides are to be released and all property left by the British army in the United States unmolested (including slaves).
8. Great Britain and the United States were each to be given perpetual access to the Mississippi River.
9. Territories captured by Americans subsequent to treaty will be returned without compensation.
10. Ratification of the treaty was to occur within six months from the signing by the contracting parties.

Patriot's Strength

      For someone to win something they must have some strength and advantages. Even though British had more positive things by their side, for example, they had more experience in wars, as well as more supplies and they also had more people to fight the war, but they didn't count with things that the Patriots had in their favor. Patriots had advantages because they knew the zone better, they had perseverance. Another positive things is that they had all of the woman support. And their main strength was their leader, George Washington. The war was long and hard but patriots never gave up because they knew that they also had things by their side which will in some point help them to defeat the British.       The war was fought in America, so patriots knew their territory and they used that fact in their favor. British where new there and even though they had more people it was no equal to knowing where they were fighting. One of the most important strengths the patriots had was George Washington he knew how to lead the continental army and knew how to fight. He knew when and were to fight, he even knew when to stop fighting. All his strategies led to the Patriots winning the war and then became president.                                                                                                                      

Declaring Independence

         In May 1775 all the 13 colonies sent representatives to Philadelphia. In the congress they took responsability of the war in Boston between the british. People from the Middle and South colonies went to Boston to give support the patriots and help them fight. They also created a new army and named it "Continental Army". The new commander was George Washington. Most of the people i the colonies wanted to remain loyal to crown but didn't want to pay taxes. In July 1775 colonists sent the "Olive Branch Petition" to the king asking for peace. When the letter got to the king, he rejected it and instead of not fighting with them anymore, he sent even more troops to America.

In January 1776 a powerful book came out the swung the colonists toward Independence, the book was named "Common Sense" by Thomas Paine. He was a tax collector and an artisan, many of the ideas written by Paine were expressed in the Declaration. Thomas radical proposals were:
1. Declare independence from England
2. Make a republican state government (democracy)
3. A union of the 13 states
Thomas Paine said that the Aristocrats and the King were parasites. He also wanted all the government to be elected, not just a part. Paine said that the king was the enemy of American liberty, that he hated social classes and he destroyed poor peoples hopes. If they were free they could trade with whomever they wanted, he also wanted their independence to inspire and that all men should fight for freedom.

In spring 1776 Paine's ideas got very strong, people were becoming more sure about declaring independence Congress selected a committee to draft a document declaring independence.
July 2 the congress voted that America was free. July 4 they approved the Declaration of independence.
Thomas jefferson wrote the declaration then became the third president of the United States. The first part stated the theory, the second stated why, the third the complains and the final Declaring Independence. In the declaration was also stated that all men were created equal, also that they had the unalinable rights. England did not accept the declaration and war started. Many troubles were caused by Declaring Independence.

War Erupts

War starts when colonists declare independence and British dont agree with this 

The Colonists Declare Independence

The congress elected a community to draft a document declaring independence. This document
would explain reasons for declaring independence. On July 2,1776, the Congress voted that america was free. Two days later, on July 4,they finally approved the Declaration of Independence.
The Declaration of Independence was written by Thomas Jefferson, later becoming the third president of the United States.



Written in the Declaration of Independence, the famous phrase, "All men are created equal", created
a lot of confusion and many different problems. That phrase stated that all men (including slaves), were created equal. Slaves wanted to have the same rights as white people and of course, this people were not agreeing with what the slaves were believing. This causes a huge controversy  Also, woman wanted to start voting and have the same rights as men.



In this document were a lot of things such as why they should be independent and how they would manage to accomplished it. Another thing that appeared was many grievances about the King. There were a lot of complains. The good thing was that they became independent and this inspired a lot
of younger generations that they really could full fill their goals. Everything seemed to be going
the way they planned, but England would not accept this declaration and so war begins.  

Boston's Tea Party

             Colonists didn't want anymore taxed to be levied on them without representation. Adam Samuel made the Committees of Correspondence to Communicate in 1773, by 1773 many other colonies not only Boston had this committee. This made parliament to withdraw all the troops and back down all the taxes except the one for tea.  The tea boycotts decreased the economy, and increased problems to the British East Indian Company. The parliament passed a law that the British East Indian Company should sell tea directly to the colonists. Even though English tea was cheaper colonists bought Dutch tea that was more expensive. Colonists thought parliament was tricking them, but continued buying the English tea.

Colonists refused to pay the Townshend Act. In boston when three ships got to the harbor full of tea, the colonists saw the opportunity to mess with the british. On the evening of December 16, 1773 the men that called themselves "Sons of Liberty" planned a boycott against the british. They dressed themselves as Mohawk Indians. They went to the boston harbor and boarded the three British ships, the Beaver, the Eleanor, and the Dartmouth. Once inside they dumped forty-five tons of tea into the Boston Harbor. This was the massage to the English men saying they wouldn't accept any taxes without representation. As you might imagine the parliament, the king and all the engish men didn't react very well to what they have done. 

All of the british government was very disappointed with the colonists that did this. In response to the disaster Parliament passed the Intolerable Acts. This acts said that they will close the Boston Port until all the debt of the dumped tea was paid. in the end they didn't free themselves from the British because they had to pay. Also the intolerable Acts served as on of the reasons that led to the American Revolution. It also helped for the revolutionaries in the thirteen colonies to fight for their independence because the wouldn't tolerate British controlling them.

Tactics Against the British Taxes

     Colonists didn't know what to do, they where looking for ways to stop the British Parliament from taxing them, so they decided to come up with 3 tactics they would use to protest.
     One of the tactics was intellectual protests which consisted of them giving speeches and trying to make their opinions and thoughts being heard. For example they used to just go out side in the streets and say what they really thought about taxes, obviously they where against it so all they said was negative and it was affecting the Parliament because it made other people developed doubts about them. This caused an impact because British where not used to hearing things that where against them and much less in such a public way. Things that where being said was because people from the Parliament support it but now that the colonists came without any worries and they did a huge mess and challenge the British Parliament by speaking out loud.  This made the british parliament very angry and they took another actions about it which made things worst.

      Apart from intellectual protests, colonists also made economic boycotts. This tactic was very successful because it made British worry since their economy was totally going down. This economic boycotts consisted of an nonimportation agreement. What colonists did was that they resist from buy things from the British, things like clothing, tea, carbon and a lot of other stuff that brought them a lot of economic benefits. Colonists considered that it was to expensive to buy those things and that they still had to pay taxes, so they just started to say no. This is when women in colonies played a huge roll, thanks to their help when they make their own cloth and made their husbands and sons cloth, also they started to help in jobs that just men used to do. British Parliament thought that the nonimportation agreement was not going to last long but they where very wrong, colonists notice that they actually wouldn't die without all of those British things. They started to be less depending of British and that is one of the reasons that made de British even angrier because they where used to rule everything and everyone.

   Problems that seem to have no way out lead to frustration. That is exactly what happened to colonists,   since taxes where getting higher and higher and it seem like something that would never end and they thought it was totally unfair, well they started to use the last tactic they had, which was violent intimidation against the British and everyone that supported them. Colonists started to burn houses that belong to people who supported the British, also they burn house of taxes which definitely showed the reason they where doing it and it was kind of a message to British Parliament. Other violent act they used was that if you where in favor of taxes they grabbed you and throw you hot tea in their throat so they make them suffer in a non human way, so that would make that people afraid of colonists and maybe they would stop supporting the British.

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     Intellectual protests and economic boycotts may not be accepted but they did where justify because thing where being unfair but colonists went a little bit far because they had no right to do that. All this tactics what did was to start the revolutionary war because neither British nor Colonists where giving up.
  

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About Us

This blog was created for a US History class project about the US Revolution. We are working on groups of 3, the members of this group are Maria, Karla, Maria Fernanda. We will be posting new information every 2 fridays about all the problems, and the important facts and people that were involved during the revolution.

Son's of Liberty Song

Saving the Colonies

Saving the Colonies 

      Stamp Act congress established a non-importation agreement. This affected the colonist merchants because they couldn't import, so eventually they couldn't get things from the British and neither could sell them things. Since their economic problems where developing and increasing very fast they had to do something drastic. As we all know, back then women were not taken seriously but this time they were necessary. Because of this, woman took a roll in colonies and they created the "Daughters of Liberty" which was a group of woman who got all together and participate in boycotts against the British because they were not in favor of taxes. This group of people got inspiration of the Sons of Liberty which was establish short time before the Daughters of Liberty.

      They started creating materials for fabrics and all that kind of stuff, like clothing and homemade materials. This help the colonies in a huge way because now the need of them to buy British things was less. Woman gain a lot of respect for their effort since they saved the colonies and people started to give them more importance. For the colonist in those times that woman that were part of the Daughters of Liberty were considered as patriotic heroines because of their braveness and loyalty to the colonies. Thanks to this woman this colonies were each time less dependent of British textile, and obviously this help their economy because they didn't had to spend money buying things to the British. This woman also helped a lot during wars, they used to make uniforms and bullets for the colonist that went and fight. It is obvious that they had a huge impact in the entire world and they made the British Parliament take a second thought about de non-importation agreement.

      Later in they year of 1766, parliament finally repelled the act because they were feeling like they were loosing power against woman and that the act was not working any more since colonist were still doing good. So when then they repelled the act colonist were very glad and thought that every thing was going to go great again but the the parliament didn't want to look like they were just giving up so they established another law saying that they had all the right to tax the colonies. And again the problem developed and even worst. Fights and discussion were getting more dangerous for everyone and no one knew what to do. 

Colonial Protests

Colonial Protests

Since colonists opposed to new taxes because they didn't have any representation, they resisted in three

different ways:

1. Intelectual protests

2. Economic boycotts

3. Violent intimidations

All three forces combined to make British back down. This caused a political surge. 

All 9 colonies gathered together for a union. People knew them as "Sons of Liberty".

Tax collectors were violently tortured and attacked by Sons of Liberty. Because of this, no one wanted

to collect taxes because they were afraid of them. To show their power, Sons of Liberty, tear apart the 

governor´s house, Thomas Hutchinson. 

Problem With New Taxes

Problem With New Taxes

           The problems with taxes started when parliament levied taxes new taxes on the colonists, and they had no say in what was imposed on them. The problems was not paying the taxes, it was that the colonists didn't have any representation on the parliament. The acts that causes many problems on the colonists were the sugar, quartering, and stamp acts.

The sugar act is also known as the American Revenue Act. They already had have a sugar act before, in 1764 parliament passes a modified version of this act. Prime minister George Grenville was the one who proposed to start following he sugar act for colonies to pay taxes to maintain the troops they were sending to the colonies to protect them. The protection of the colonies was expensive since they had to give food, home, and all the necessary things they needed to maintain themselves and their families at home. This act not only increased the taxes on sugar and molasses, but also in coffee, indigo and wine.

The "Model" Governments

The "Model" Governments

The colonists believed Great Britain Had the best government. One of the things they thought 

this way was because of process of common law. This consisted about the administration of 

justice according to established rules and principles.Also, they had freedom of press and paid 

taxes that were levied by representatives. British government was divided into three different

branches that you can see them now at days as well: 

1. Executive  

2. Judislative 

3. Legislative

The parliament was divided into House of Lots and House of Commons. Problem with Britain was 

that they didn't had a written and formal constitution, but instead, they had a list of laws and traditions 

that people would follow.

13 Colonies: America the Story of Us