George Washington

George Washington was born on February 22, 1732, in Westmoreland County, Virginia. Washington is really famous because he served as a general and commander in chief of the colonial armies during the American Revolution. Of course, George Washington is mostly known for becoming the first president of the United States. He served as a president from 1789 to 1797. Although he helped plan the nation's new capital city that was named for him, he never lived there. New York City and, later, Philadelphia were the nation's capitals while Washington was president. George Washington died on December 14, 1799, in Mount Vernon, Virginia.

A really interesting fact about him is that George Washington was one of the tallest president of the United States, at six feet, two inches tall, and 200 pounds. Some of George Washington's favorite dishes were cream of peanut soup, mashed sweet potatoes with coconut, and string beans with mushrooms. George Washington used to bred hound dogs that he treated like members of his family. He even gave some of them unusual names. Some of these names were: Tarter, True Love, and Sweet Lips. Another interesting fact about George is that toothaches bothered him for years. When he was 57, he had all his teeth pulled. From then on, he wore ivory false teeth set in a silver plate.

George Washington started school when he was six years old. He left school at 15 years old to become a surveyor because his mother couldn't afford to send him to college. George Washington's father was Augustine Washington and was born in 1694. Augustine married Mary Ball in 1731; she was his second wife. George was the eldest of Augustine and Mary's six children. George Washington's family was part of Virginia's middle class. At 26, George married Martha Dandridge Custis, a widow who already who already had two children, Jackie and Patsy. Washington never had any children of his own.

The Second Continental Congress

The Second Continental Congress

On May of 1775 , times had change in a sharp way. Concord and Lexington make big changes in everything and now with the Redcoats were once again fighting Boston, the Second Continental Congress convened in Philadelphia. But the professional imperial army were already attempting to arrest all patriot leaders. 

The members of the Second Continental Congress were ready to met at the State House in Philadelphia. Between their members we can find : Thomas Jefferson that was from Virginia, Benjamin Franklin from Pennsylvania and also John Hancock of Massachusetts. They Start their reunion with a battle of Lexington and Concord, it was about the fresh in their memories.

Most of the delegates were not seeking independence from Britain. Only radicals like John Adams were of this mindset. For that July Congress approved the " Olive Branch Petition " and it was a direct appeal to tha king. But Some delegates from America pleaded with Goerge III , because they wanted to declared their loyalty to the crown in a peaceful resolution. The king refuse and instead of that he declared the colonies to begin a state of rebellion. The Americans felt less like the English men. So the Continental Congress was now delt in a serious way.

The Sons of liberty

The sons of liberty

During 1765 some American cities notices that there were some secret groups forming to stand up and defend their rights. One of them were " the sons of liberty" they take their name from a a speech that the Colonel Isaac  Barre said in the British parliament , there he refer to The colonials like the sons of liberty.
They were a secret group or underground organization ,patriots that opposed British taxes ,there leader was Samuel Adams.

The sons of liberty adopted a flag , in the 1767s , they called it the rebellious. It was a stripes flag , red with white. And it has 9 vertical stripes that represent the loyal nine.
With everything know and with already a flag , they start planning a boycott, to motion all this things that had taxes on them ( newspapers ,tea , legal documents , etc) .
But even after they boycott these products , the parliament continue to push these items, but changing the word taxes to "duties" . All this only motivates them to stronger protest and even violence.

With no more to do , they start " Tarring and Leathering"  this was a very violent way to obtain what they deserve. This consist in taking the tax collectors, cover them with leather and forced them to drink hot tea. In a few time most of the tax collectors quit.
But this was only one of their protest. Because injustice continue , they later led up to the Boston Massacre.

Coercive Acts

The Coercive Acts were also known as the Intolerable Acts by the colonists.
These acts were a series of laws that were passed by the British parliament in the year of 1774. These laws were related to the British colonies in America. These acts were actually punishments that King George III put on the colonies. He did this to the colonies because he wanted to punish the colonists for dumping the tea into the Boston Harbor. Four acts were issued in response of the Boston Tea Party, as I said before. The British Parliament hoped that by applying these measures, the colonists will lose their trend of resistance to parliamentary authority.


The Boston Port Act was the first of the four acts that were known as the Coercive Acts. On 1774, the British parliament passed the Boston Port Act closing Boston's port. It also demanded the colonists to pay for all the tea that was dumped into the Boston harbor during the Boston Tea Part in December of 1773. The other four were a new Quartering Act, the Administration of Justice Act, the Quebec Act, and the Massachusetts Government Act. The Quartering Act was established on June 2, 1774. The Quartering Act of 1774 was similar in substance to the Quartering Act of 1765.








The Administration of Justice Act was passed by the British parliament on May 20, 1774. According to this act British officials could not be trial in colonial courts for crimes. They would be taken back to Britain and have atrial there. That left the British free to do whatever they wanted to do in the colonies. The Quebec Act was passed on June 22, 1774. The Quebec Act extended the Canadian borders to cut off the western colonies of Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Virginia.



The last of the Coercive Acts was the Massachusetts Government Act. This act became effective on May 20, 1774. The British governor was in charge of all the town meetings in Boston. There would be no more self-government in Boston. Many colonists view these acts as a violation of there rights, therefore, they organized the First Continental

The Sugar Act

The Sugar Act

 Under the Molasses Act colonial merchants had been required to pay a tax of six pence per gallon on the importation of foreign molasses. But because of corruption, they mostly evaded the taxes and undercut the intention of the tax that the English product would be cheaper than that from the French West Indies. This hurt the British West Indies market in molasses and sugar and the market for rum, which the colonies had been producing in quantity with the cheaper French molasses.

 The First Lord of the Treasury, and Chancellor of the Exchequer Lord Grenville was trying to bring the colonies in line with regard to payment of taxes. He had beefed up the Navy presence and instructed them to become more active in customs enforcement. Parliament decided it would be wise to make a few adjustments to the trade regulations. The Sugar Act reduced the rate of tax on molasses from six pence to three pence per gallon, while Grenville took measures that the duty be strictly enforced. 

The act also listed more foreign goods to be taxed including sugar, certain wines, coffee, pimiento, cambric and printed calico, and further, regulated the export of lumber and iron. The enforced tax on molasses caused the almost immediate decline in the rum industry in the colonies. The combined effect of the new duties was to sharply reduce the trade with Madeira, the Azores, the Canary Islands, and the French West Indies (Guadelupe, Martinique and Santo Domingo (now Haiti), all important destination ports for lumber, flour, cheese, and assorted farm products. The situation disrupted the colonial economy by reducing the markets to which the colonies could sell, and the amount of currency available to them for the purchase of British manufactured goods. This act, and the Currency Act, set the stage for the revolt at the imposition of the Stamp Act.

Taxation without representation

One of the major causes of the American Revolution was that the Colonists did not have representation in parliament. This happens during the 1750's and the 1760's in Britain. There major slogan was ''no taxation without representation'' in other words, if no one represents them in the parliament, they would not pay taxes. During this time, there were 13 colonies. From 20 British citizens only one of them had representation in the parliament, but any of them belong to the 13 colonies.

After king George III taked throne of Britain in 1760. They start implying new laws including the Stamp Act, this was know as a British good. This allowed the british to put taxes in the newspaper, legal documents, dice and even the almanacas. Of course this were not benefical to the Americans. And this money that was earned from all this taxes was not giong to the colonies, it was back their mother land. Because these new acts and laws were only in benefical to the King.

The people that lived in the 13 colonist were in a big conflict, because they didn't have no one who represents them in the British parliament. They didn't even have the opportunity to vote for how will they be represented or taxed. We can said that the British government was total free to tax them in everything they want. They even taxed them in tea. But from all this illegal treatments comes their revolution at the merchants resist.

The Boston Tea Party

BOSTON TEA PARTY

The Boston Tea Party was basically the destruction of British tea. This was a political protest made by the Sons of Liberty in Boston. The Tea Party was the end of a resistance movement against the Tea Act. This act, passed by the British parliament in 1773 stated that the colonists should pay taxes for the tea. Obviously, colonists objected to the Tea Act because they believed that violated their rights. Previously, other acts were passed but were dropped. The only tax left was the one of on tea. Colonists believed they shouldn't pay taxes if they didn't have any representation in the British parliament. They called this "Taxation without representation". 

Colonists wanted to emphasize their point in Avery public way so they conceived a plan. In 17773, the Davidson Newman Company of London sent a ship loaded with tea to the harbor at Boston. A group of colonists disguised themselves as Mohawk warriors. Disguising their individual faces was imperative because of the illegality of their protest. That evening a group of 30 to 130 men some disguised as Mohawk warriors boarded the vessel full of tea. Over the course of three hours, these men dumped in the Boston harbor about 324 chests of tea. 

 

 The help of Samuel Adams in planning the Boston Tea Party is suspected. But he immediately tried to defend this act by saying that the Boston Tea Party was a protest in which the people defended their rights. Samuel Adams tried to say that every government need a constitution, written or not. In February, 1775, Britain passed the Conciliatory Resolution, which ended taxation for any colony. The tax on tea was repealed with the Taxation of Colonies Act 1778. The Boston Tea Party was a key event in the growth of the American Revolution.