1783:
Asia, Europe, and Spain were places that Britain, France, and Spain often fought.
Britain and France had an argument which turned into a war because they had both claimed the Ohio River Valley.
Colonists fought against Britain with thousands of French soldiers.
Debts were a problem for Britain. They had won the war and land but it left them with huge debt problems.
British Army
(Source - Library of Leahy)
Each and every Patriot was furious that the British parliament had passed a new act called the Quartering Act.
Food, fuel, candles, and quarters (living places) were things that the colonists had to provide for the British soldiers.
Getting mistreated by the British soldiers was getting the colonists very angry. They didn’t want to have the British soldiers living in their colonies.
Having passed a new law called the Stamp Act, Patriots were mad that they had to have a special stamp on all their paper goods.
Ignoring the act, most Colonists didn’t buy the stamp and later on the act was repealed.
Jobs were taken away from the Colonists by the British soldiers.
Knowing that British soldiers disliked them, Colonists started yelling furiously and threw stones and snowballs at them.
Later on, 5 people were dead and 6 people were injured.
Many people were sad and enraged at what had happened. That event was called the Boston Massacre.
Nearly 3 years after, the British made a law that Colonists could only buy tea from one company, the East India Company, a British company.
On December 16, 1773, a group of men tore apart thousands of pounds of tea while dressed as Native Americans.
Protesters tried to damage nothing but the tea.
Battle of Lexington
(Source - Library of Congress)
Quickly, Paul Revere rode to Lexington to warn patriots that the British were coming.
Regulars shot without any command.
Smith rode out to the field to try to stop the firing. He was killed later on.
The British killed 8 minutemen and wounded nine.
Unfortunately for the British, British soldiers couldn’t fire at them until the Americans did because of the current rules.
Very surprised that the Americans were moving towards them without shooting, the British fired warning shots.
When the fight ended, the minutemen killed and injured over 200 British regulars.
EXactly 2 people were wounded at the battle of Fort Ticonderoga.
Yearning for victory, Arnold and Ethan’s men invaded Fort Ticonderoga.
Zooming through the fort, the Commander appeared quickly and surrendered the fort.
At Philadelphia, 65 delegates came to become part of the Second Continental Congress.
Before the congress could do anything , they had to take of an important task, making a more organized army to fight the British.
Choosing a leader to lead the new army was an easy task for the congress. George Washington became the new leader.
Deciding whether to declare independence from Britain was the most difficult task.
Even though they were fighting Britain, they still wanted to make peace with them eventually.
For the colonists, Thomas Paine’s words changed the minds of thousands of colonists to be independent from Britain.
George Washington and his troops passed copies around and read them.
He said it changed many people’s mind. Hardly anyone didn’t want to be independent from Britain now.
Declaration of Independence
(Source - Library of Congress)
In Philadelphia, the continental congress started started writing the Declaration of Independence.
Jefferson was known as a great writer and thinker so John Adams and Benjamin Franklin asked to write the Declaration of Independence.
Kindly presenting the Declaration, the congress approved it after two days of fighting over what it said.
Learning that the British planned to have the Charleston Peninsula, the patriots were very angry because it was a huge disadvantage to them. It was a huge disadvantage to them because Bunker and Breeds Hills looked over Boston and its harbor.
Many people died during the battle. A thousand or so were injured or dead from the British side. Although the British won the battle, too many people died to make a difference.
Neither Washington or his army gave up during the winter of 1777-1778.
Out of the British and the Americans, the British had less motivation.
People in the British army fought because it was their job, not because of their territory or rights.
Qualities of the British weren’t nearly as good as the Colonists. Colonists fought for their rights and futures.
Franklin in Paris
(Source - Library of Congress)
Ready to finally end the war, Britain and some representatives made a peace treaty called The Treaty of Paris. All this happened in 1783.
Seeing the United States as an independent nation, Britain gave them a large amount of land.
The patriots had won, they were known as Americans.
Unavoidably, now the Americans had to make a new government to protect their freedom and maintain order.
Verifying the Articles of Confederation, they found out it was to limited and was weak to keep order so they called a meeting to improve it. This meeting was called the Constitutional Convention.
When they met, they decided to describe a new government instead of improving the Articles of Confederation. The new government was called the Constitution.
EXactly 3 branches of government are in the Constitution. The Legislative branch, the Judicial branch, and the Executive branch. Each branch has its own job. The Legislative branch makes laws, the Executive branch carries out the laws, and the Judicial branch settles disagreements about the laws.
Years of taxes, battles, wars were what the Americans had to go through with until they could have their freedom.