The American Revolution

The Treaty of Paris officially ended the revolution, and recognized the United States of America as an independent nation.

When the British heard of the surrender at Yorktown, the House of Commons was in an uproar. They now were concerned of losing the war. The British prime minister North resigned and was replace by Lord Shelborne. Lord Shelborne wanted to negotiate an end to the war. He sent Richard Oswald to Paris to meet with the American representatives Benjamin Franklin, John Adams and John Jay. The Treaty of Paris was signed on September 3, 1782. The treaty was ratified on April 17, 1783, and it officially recognized American independence.

Under the terms of the treaty, Britain recognized the independent nation of the United States of America. Britain agreed to remove all of its troops from America. The treaty also set new borders for the United States including all land from the Great Lakes on the north to Florida on the south, and from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi River.
The United States agreed to allow British troops still in America to leave. America agreed to pay all existing debts owed to Britain. They also agreed not to persecute loyalists still in America, and allow those that left America to return.

Charles Cornwallis was born in London and studied at Eton and Cambridge. His first military experience came in the Seven Years’ War when he was commissioned as an ensign in the British army and served in Germany. In 1760, Cornwallis was elected to the House of Commons; two years later he inherited his father’s earldom and entered the House of Lords as Earl Cornwallis.

There were aot of reasons why the patriots won the war, there were lots of factors that helped them overcome and gain their independence.

Whe the war started th Patriots were outnumbered because the British had superior weapons and some of the colonists just didn´t want to fight because they want to keep some of the Empire.

The Americans were not just fighting for land they indeed fight for their right to live without oppression beacuse as the colonists prospered the British started imposing taxes on them.

The Americans were also fighting for ideals , this included freedom from corruption and rights for everyone.
The most known leaders are Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin and Alexander Hamilton.
Together with John Adamas, George Washington and Patrick Henry became known as th Founding fathers.

Another reason why the colonists won the revolution is because of the low morale in British troops, they were better trained and had more weapons than the colonists but some of them thought that it wasn´t a war worth fighting for. Low morale and lack of territorial familiarity led the Patriots win the Revolutionary war.

Most History notebooks overlook the roles of women during the American Revolution but little is covered on women´s contribution to the Independence.
Women played an important role in the American Revolution because they were fiercely active and they made gains for themselves.

In the colonial times women couldn´t do that much because the primary goals for a women were marriage and motherhood, and women were not expected to be participating in the war.

Despite their low right in society women did participate in the war.
They did alot of jobs like making the uniforms and worked at their homes as carpenters or shipbuilders while their husbands were at war.
Others transformed their houses into hospitals fro the wounded, one of the most famous helpers was Margareth Morris she did a great job in healing and herbal remedies.

On October 1774 , 51 women signed the Penelope´s Baker declaration to protest against English goods, they stopped drinking British tea and using British clothes. One difference between the Boston tea party is that every signer showed their identity by writting their original names.

A women called Synil Lundington announces the coming of the British and warned the soldiers about their arrival, this means that not only Paul Revere was the only announcing the coming of the British.

Women and men they both fought t the battlefield; women served as nurses, cooks and companions to their husbandas in the Continental Army. Their were some that fought with men at the battle.

Women like Deborah Sampson, Mary Hays best known as Molly Pitcher who did the work of her husband when he died. 

Born in Boston on July 25, 1750. Child of William and Mary Knox, he was a merchant captain.
At the age of twenty one he opened his first shop called the London Book Store. He was fascinated with everything about military but he focus on artillery.

He was a supporter of the American Rights, he became involved in the Sons of Liberty and was present for the Boston Massacre in 1770.
On June 16, 1774 he married Lucy Flucker, she was the daughter of the Royal Secretary of the Providence of Massachussets.
He voluntereed to serve the colonial forces in June 17, 1775 in the Battle of Bunker Hill , remaining in the military he served with Massachussetts forces in the Army, he soon came to the attention of the General George Washington they both developed a friendly relationship.
Washingtons´s army needed artillery so he asked Knox for help and he proposed the idea of transporting the cannons captured at the Fort of Ticonderoga in New York.

Arriving at Ticonderoga, Knox began moving 59 guns down the Lake George and the Hudson river, the 300 mile journey took Know and his men 56 days to accomplish in the cold weather.
Following the victory at Boston, Knox was sent to Rhode Island and Connectitcut to see the construction of fortifications. Knox became Washingtons chief of artilleryand he was preset during th American defeats that followed that year.

For his service he was promoted to general, traveling to Springfield he established the Springfield Armory which operated for the rest of the war , becoming this a key producer of American weapons for almost two centuries.

Marching out from winter the army followed the British, who were evacuating Philadelphia and fought the at the Battle of Monmouth on June 28,1778.
On March 8, 1785 he was appointed Secretary of war by the Continental Congress he remained in his post until 1789 that George Washington named him Secretary of war in George Washington´s first cabinet .

Knox served as secretary of war until January 2, 1795. When he quit and returned to live with his family he died on October 25, 1806 three days later after acidentally swallowing a chicken bone.

A man called  Dr. Joseph Warren learned of the British plans and sent Paul Revere to alert John Hancock and Samuel Adams. Paul Revere promised to warn them when the British soldiers were approaching. Since he wasn't sure that he would be able to get out of Boston with the message, he made plans to alert people by putting lanterns in the Old North Church . He would light one lantern if the British were coming by land, and two lanterns if the British were coming by sea.

On  April 18th, the British troops were coming across the Boston Harbor to start their war at Lexington. Paul Revere hung two lanterns in the church. Then Paul Revere, William Dawes and Dr. Samuel Prescott ran to warn the colonists that the British were coming.

Paul Revere rode to Lexington and alerted Samual Adams and John Hancock. By the time the British soldiers reached Lexington, Samual Adams and John Hancock had escaped.

As the colonists were warned about the approaching of the British army , they gathered farmers and soliders which were called the minutemen beacuse they were trained to get their guns ready in a matter of minutes.
As the British Soldiers reached Lexingtonm the 75 armed Minutemen were expecting them ready to fire, the an unknown shot was the first to be heard and this began a massive shooting among the British and the Colonists.

As a result of this war Paul Revere was captured by the British and 49 Patriots died and 39 others were hurt.

George Wahington was born in Westmoreland County, Va., on Feb. 22, 1732.
He was the eldest son of Augustine Washington and his second wife, Mary Ball Washington, who were prosperous Virginia gentry of English descent.
 George spent his early years on the family estate on Pope's Creek along the Potomac River. His early education included the study of such subjects as mathematics, surveying, the classics, and "rules of civility." His father died in 1743, and then George went to live with his half brother Lawrence at Mount Vernon, Lawrence's plantation on the Potomac. Lawrence, who became something of a substitute father for his brother, had married into the Fairfax family, prominent and influential Virginians who helped launch George's career. An early ambition to go to sea had been effectively discouraged by George's mother; instead, he turned to surveying, securing (1748) an appointment to survey Lord Fairfax's lands in the Shenandoah Valley. He helped lay out the Virginia town of Belhaven (now Alexandria) in 1749 and was appointed surveyor for Culpeper County. George accompanied his brother to Barbados in an effort to cure Lawrence of tuberculosis, but Lawrence died in 1752, soon after the brothers returned. George ultimately inherited the Mount Vernon estate.

News of the fighting spread quickly, and Gage soon found himself besieged in Boston by an irregular but large force, which quickly dug itself in. Meanwhile, Gage was waiting for reinforcements. On 26 May they arrived, led by three major-generals who were to play an important part in the war - William Howe, Henry Clinton and John Burgoyne.

Encouraged by his reinforcements, Gage decided to strengthen his position by capturing key hills that overlooked Boston on its island, and threatened the harbour. The Americans learnt of this plan, and fortified Breed's Hill on the Charlestown peninsular north of the harbour. The resulting battle of Bunker Hill (17 June 1775) was a disaster for the British. Although they did manage to capture the American positions, it was at the cost of half of their force killed or wounded.

Bunker Hill effectively knocked the main British army out of the war for the next year. For nine months it remained in Boston, now commanded by Howe, who failed to appreciate the weakness of the American forces facing him.

The british Government gets new ways to generate funds from the colonies claiming the defense they gave them.
Approved on April 5, 1764 the Sugar Act placed a tax of three pennies per gallon of mollases and some other goods imported from Britain.
This new law make the colonies economy go down in a bad way and now their Economy was suffering a hard ecomical crisis.


The approval of the Sugar Act led to protests from the colonists because they thought that the new taxes being inforced on them were taxes without representation because they had no legal representation so they denied themselves to pay for them.

The economic situation in America worsten throught the year with the application of new laws like the Cuarrency Act. This law prohibited the colonies from printing paper money. These forced British merchants to call in their debts.

The colonists were upset with a new law ;The Quartering Act which required colonial citizens to house and feed British troops, and then the American colonies began to boycott British Goods.

In December 16/1773, a group of men calling themselves the "Sons of Liberty" went to the Boston Harbor. The men were dressed as Mohawk Indians. They boarded three British ships, the Beaver, the Eleanor and the Dartmouth, and dumped forty-five tons of tea into the Boston Harbor.

When the colonists refused the Townshend Acts from the Government and refused to pay taxes on imported goods. The solution they found was that they should make a boycott on British goods except tea.


Few people realize that when the tea went overboard in Boston Tea Party on December 16/1773, the War for Independence was actually beginning, because the boston tea party was a rebellion against British goods and the tea that was like the most important good that British exported, the tea helped England in a good way but it left the colonists poor beacuse of the big amount of taxes.

Samuel was born in Boston in 1722. He was the cousin of John Adams. When he was young, his father wanted him to be a minister. Samuel went to work in a counting house, but he was not good at adding and he spent too much time talking to other people about politics. Later the people in Boston elected him to be a tax collector, but he didn't like taking money from people.
Samuel Adams and Patrick Henry were two of the first people to argue for independence. Sam wrote letters about independence and sent them to newspapers and leaders around the country. Samuel signed all the letters with different names so that the people who read the papers would think all of Boston wanted independence from England.
Sam convinced many young men that independence would be good for America. Paul Revere, John Adams and John Hancock were some of the men who agreed with Sam's ideas. These three men became more well-known than Sam, even though his ideas helped shape their thoughts on independence.
When the Stamp Act of 1765 ordered the colonists to buy stamps from England, Samuel started a protest. He told the mob what to do. In 1766, the Stamp Act stopped. Samuel said this after the Stamp Act: "If our trade be taxed, why not our lands, or produce. . . in short, everything we possess? They tax us without having legal representation." Another thing that started the Revolution was the Boston Tea Party that Samuel also helped plan.
Samuel Adams signed the Declaration of Independence.

The colonists called the Boston Port Act,Quartering Act,Administration of Justice Act, Quebec Act and Mass Government Act Intolerable acts.

Impartial Administration of Justice Act, which allowed the royal governor of a colony to move trials to other colonies or even to England if he feared that juries in those colonies wouldn't judge a case fairly
Massachusetts Bay Regulating Act made all law officers subject to appointment by the royal governor and banned all town meetings that didn't have approval of the royal governor
Boston Port Act, which closed the port of Boston until the price of the dumped tea was recovered, moved the capital of Massachusetts to Salem, and made Marblehead the official port of entry for the Massachusetts colony.
Quartering Act, which allowed royal troops to stay in houses or empty buildings if barracks were not available
Quebec Act, which granted civil government and religious freedom to Catholics living in Quebec.
These Acts were the harshest so far of all the Acts passed by Parliament. The closing of Boston's port alone would cost the colony (and the American colonies as a whole) a lot of money. The Regulating Act was aimed at curtailing revolutionary activities. The Quartering Act angered colonists who didn't want soldiers (especially Redcoats) in their houses. And the Quebec Act was a direct insult to Americans, who had been denied the same sorts of rights that the Quebec residents now got.

Charles Louis de Secondat was born in Bordeaux, France beign from a wealthy family.He went to college and studied science and history, eventually becoming a lawyer in the local government.The Baron died and left de Secondat his fortune, his office as president of the Bordeaux Parliament, and his title of Baron de Montesquieu.
He gained fame with his Persian Letters, which criticized the lifestyle and liberties of the wealthy French as well as the church. But his most famous work was the book On the Spirit of Laws.
Montesquieu believed that all things were made up of rules or laws that never changed.
He argued that the best government would be one in which power was balanced among three groups of officials. He thought England - which divided power between the king,Parliament, and the judges of the English courts. Caelled the idea of dividing government power into three branches the "separation of powers." He thought it most important to create separate branches of government with equal but different powers. That way, the government would avoid placing too much power with one individual or group of individuals. He wrote, "When the [law making] and [law enforcement] powers are united in the same person... there can be no liberty." According to Montesquieu, each branch of government could limit the power of the other two branches. Therefore, no branch of the government could threaten the freedom of the people.
He also felt that women did have the ability to govern. "It is against reason and against nature for women to be mistresses in the house... but not for them to govern an empire. In the first case, their weak state does not permit them to be preeminent; in the second, their very weakness gives them more gentleness and moderation, which, rather than the harsh and ferocious virtues, can make for a good environment." In this way, Montesquieu argued that women were too weak to be in control at home, but that there calmness and gentleness would be helpful qualities in making decisions in government.

The colonists were protected by the British and didn´t pay that much and profit tradding. The colonists enjoyed the political benefits-rights.The Parliament began to raise taxes to the colonists,so they protested and eventually it became a war and it´s called the Amrican Revolution.

The colonists political heritage
The colonists believed that Britain had the best government on Earth.The British Liberty included the due process of common law taht is the law administration of justice according to the established rules and principles. Including a trial by jury were they decided if you were culpable or innocent, and freedom of press from the prior censorship.
The American colonists also developed political practices and social beliefs that have had the major influence on the history of the United States.They made strides toward democratic government,and they placed a high value on indiviual freedom and on hard work.


New Taxes Upset Colonists
The King and Parliament decided the colonies should pay for part of the French and Indian War and the costs for keeping British soldiers in North America. In 1764, Parliament passed a law that came to be known as the Sugar Act. This law said the colonists must pay a tax or tariff on many goods coming to the colonies from other places. When a colonist bought a pound of sugar, he had to pay an additional amount or tax money. The tax or tariff money went to the British government to pay for the British soldiers.
The Sugar Act of 1764 was a tax on all imported products. The colonists imported many products they could not make or grow themselves. They imported sugar, molasses, paper, glass, lead, paint and tea. All of these imported products had a new tax.Also in almost everything that was printed named the Stamp Act.
Colonists were upset about the new taxes they had to pay. But they were more upset that the King and Parliament had taxed the colonies without their consent. Remember, the colonies were not allowed to send representatives to Parliament to speak for them.

Lord North was born in April 13, 1732 and died in August 5,1792.
He studied in Eton and Trinity College.He was part of the Parliament, 1756; Served on the Treasury Board, 1759; as Joint Paymaster-General, 1765; as a member of the Privy Council, 1766; as Chancellor of the Exchequer, 1767; as Prime Minister, 1770.
He was admired for his deep loud voice, his oratory skills, and his quick wit in negotiation and debate. North's strong suit was in financial and economic matters. He nearly recovered Britain from a crushing national debt following the Seven Years' War. However, the War of Independence overtook him. He resigned in March of 1782. He died on 5 August, 1792; forever remembered as the minister who lost America.