Essay about Birth of the Republic

What follow are the events and tensions leading up to the Boston Massacre on March 5th, 1770. The soldiers and the colonists were quarreling and there were high tensions amongst them. In the days leading up to the massacre the soldiers may have plotted against the colonists of New England. There was a fight that took place at the ropemakers, which is considered to be one of the most influential encounters between the soldiers and the New Englanders. There are several different accounts of how this conflict took place. According to Captain Preston, “[o]n the [2nd] instant two of the 29th going through one Gray's ropewalk, the rope-makers insultingly asked them if they would empty a vault. This unfortunately had the desired effect by provoking

The Navigation Act of 1651 was an attempt to put more control over where and who England could trade with. It was decided that only English ships could carry goods that were going to and from the colonies. The English government was trying to have a close watch on England’s Imports and Exports. This

The 18th century can be marked as a period of internal and external struggle for the American colonists. From improper representation, to unfair taxes, such as the Stamp Act, to being overall abused by Britain, the colonists were justifiably angry. From this anger, the slogan “No taxation without representation” was born and quickly began to emerge from the lips of almost every colonist all across America. The demand from colonists everywhere for no taxation without representation weighed heavily as a symbol for democracy, as it revealed the mindset of many – Britain was using the hardworking colonists and took their money without even giving them a say – and laid the foundation for the American revolutionary war, allowing more arguments and

The Boston Massacre took place on March 5th, 1770. This historic event was caused because of an ongoing conflict between the British soldiers and the people of Boston. According to George Hewes account, “Crowds of artisans and laborers joined the elite in protesting British policies, although their differing points of view revealed the divisions within colonial society.” People were upset over the British passing the Towsend Act, which was a surplus of unpopular taxes. The people of Boston also resented the British troops, who were also looking for jobs.

Navigation Acts- During the reign of Charles II, these acts were devised to allow English control of colonial trade. The Navigation Act of 1651 required hat goods be carried on ships owned by English or Colonial merchants. Later on, the acts kept the British sugar trade in hands of British merchants.

This would be the Boston Massacre on March 5, 1770, and it would start out in the form of a mob. This mob would go on to harass a British sentry and would invoke other british soldiers to

Beginning on March 5th of 1770, several men grouped around a sort of British redcoats and began to curse at them while throwing snowballs at their frames. This angered the soldiers, and even scared them a little bit as well. In reaction they fired their weapons and watched the patriots fall to the ground. In the description of Paul Revere’s engraving, The Bloody Massacre in King Street states, “When the shooting ended, several people were dead and more were wounded.” This engraving had been sent throughout the colonies, therefore raising awareness of the tragedy that had happened just weeks before. In particular, it made the redcoats look guilty and the colonists to be innocent. This was probably because in the engraving, the patriots were on the ground, injured and defenseless while the soldiers held their guns high, in perfect bodily conditions. Thus giving it its name, the “Boston Massacre.” This gave the colonists the idea that the British were cruel and unjust, which made them want to fight back even

On 19 April 1775, the battle begun. The colony protected by local militiamen was vastly outnumbered, armed with only 77 men including “minutemen,” named for their ability to be ready to fight in a minute’s notice were

England made any town meeting, except authorized by the governor illegal, and housed British soldiers in select public buildings. In Massachusetts the British military governor, General Gage, ordered his 3,500 British soldiers in Boston to seize armories and storehouses in Charlestown and Cambridge. After the seizure, 20,000 colonial militiamen mobilized to protect other military supply depots and in the town of Concord the famous defensive force, the Minutemen, were organized.2 With these acts Parliament declared that Massachusetts was in open rebellion. British Secretary of State, Lord Dartmouth, quickly ordered Gage to send his soldiers on a search and destroy mission to capture colonial leaders, and military supplies in Concord. “At the same time Gage would attempt to find, capture, or kill John Hancock and Samuel Adams.”3 The stage was set for the first major engagements of the American Revolution.

Between 1763 and 1776, tensions between the colonists and Britain built steadily. Britain’s fear that the colonies were headed towards independence led them to the institution of major reforms that severely limited the colonies economically and politically. The inevitable backlash to these policies led to even more stringent ones, which convinced the colonists that the British were actively attempting to infringe on their rights as Englishmen. However, “Until a few months before it happened, nearly all colonists denied that they desired independence..”(LEP,197). Thus, the general population of colonists were not interested in breaking from the mother country until they felt that their rights were being obstructed.(LEP).

The Boston Massacre is one of the most controversial events in American history that occurred in Boston before the American Revolution. Certainly, it has a fundamental role in the development of America as a nation, which led it to have a huge motivation for revolution. A heavy British military presence and having very high taxes in the country were some of the main reasons that made Boston citizens very irritated. Thus, there were already many disagreements and tensions between inhabitants and the British that could have led to the Massacre. In this essay, I will carefully analyze three primary sources, and compare these to the interpretation given by HBO’s John Adams. In my view, these sources can be

BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS IN the 1760s was a hotbed of radical political activity and the scene of constant violent protest against British colonial policy. Much of the credit for the Revolutionary stance of Bostonians belongs to Sam Adams and a group that came to be known as his “Sons of Liberty” (or the “Boston Mob” as some called them).

The Boston Massacre took place on March 5, 1770, where and British soldiers were involved in an incident that took 5 lives. This event was a push in the minds of colonists to rebel against the British. Even before this, many colonists were defying unjust British laws. Being heavily taxed without a say in Parliament created tension between the two groups. Because of this, a group of colonists formed a secret organization called the Sons of Liberty. Their purpose was to fight against British taxation and to protect their own rights. Of these brave people, out came a silversmith and Patriot leader, Paul Revere. He also recreated the Boston Massacre into an engraving. “The Bloody Massacre” was a piece of war propaganda that didn’t accurately depict

In 1770 an extraordinary number of British troops were stationed in Boston. The Colonists didn’t understand why there were so many troops after the war. This added to the already existent tension. The colonists taunted the Red Coats and on March 5, 1770 the colonists threw snowballs resulting a hasty decision by the Red Coats to fire at the colonists. Five colonists were killed and nine were wounded. This night is known as the Boston Massacre.

In this essay I explain the evolution of American attitudes and ideologies—apropos of Britain—from 1764 to 1776. I do so by, first, beginning with providing the context and explaining the state of the relationship between America and Britain throughout the course of the years 1764 to 1774, which in turn, consequently lead up to and instigated the creation of Thomas Jefferson’s 1774 piece entitled A Summary View of the Rights of British America. Next, second, I situate and analyze this very piece, that being: Thomas Jefferson’s A Summary View of the Rights of British America, which is was a tract written before the Declaration of Independence, in which Thomas Jefferson (under his own personal authority/discretion) lays out—for the delegates of the First Continental Congress—a set of grievances directly against the King of England and his corresponding Parliament, and moreover, ultimately radically forewarns and threatens specifically the King of England to fundamentally change, alter, and lessen Britain’s stronghold on America or else something will be done on behalf of America. Finally, third, I reach to and evaluate another subsequent document, that being: the Committee of Five/Continental Congress’ 1776 Declaration of Independence, which is a statement written by the so-called “Committee of Five” (Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert Livingston) and the Continental Congress, which was to be adopted by the newly formed United States of