Problems solved...

Abigail Adams

Minorities played a huge role during the war, and they were seeking for a reward. In fact, women wanted to be recognized for their contributions in the war. The wife of John Adams, Abigail Adams, sent him a letter while he was on the Constitutional Convention, asking him to please remember the ladies, to take them in account while writing the Constitution. But you know what? The only thing he did was ignore the letter. The only thing women gain was respect, but little by little that will become a big reward. In New Jersey, the widows were allowed to vote, but only in New Jersey the otheer states didn't recognize it. So poor ladies, they did such a hard work and the only reward they get is respect, but I guess that is better than nothing.

Another minority was crashed by the Revolution: the Native Americans. Nobody took them in account, since the Treaty of Paris declared that the Americans could settle westward then all their land was lost. The humble Native Americans lost a vast amount of land due to the war, but there was nothing they could do about it.

The last issue to be resolved was slavery. In the North everything was fine, they passed laws that banned slavery. But  they still had several slaves in the Southern colonies, but many planters began to free them voluntary, this practice was called manumission. Later on, in the Southern states they passed a law discouraging manumission, but still people began to free all their slaves including the 300 slaves George Washington owned from its plantation at Mount Vernon. Little by little, slavery was vanishing.

The Revolution did bring positive effects to the world, it triggered Revolution in several corners around the world,  the idea of liberty was well seen almost everywhere including France, Latin America, and Asia. The idea of liberty, is an idea every human should have, and we should admire the perseverance of the Patriots because in the end they did accomplish what Patrick Henry once said: Liberty or Death.

The War Effects...

The Treaty of Paris

The end of the war needed to be officialized, the Patriots did win the war due to the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown but what officially ended the war was: The Treaty of Paris. The Treaty of Paris was signed on September 3, 1783. The three American negotiators, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and John Jay, played really well their roll at negotiating and pushing for the points of national interest that guaranteed a future for the United States. Two main points of the treaty were British recognition of U.S. independence and the new boundaries that would allow famericans to settle West the Appalachians.

The treaty was named for the city in which it was negotiated and signed. The last page has the signatures of David Hartley, who represented Great Britain, and the three American negotiators. Once Independence was  officially over, the Americans were at the beginning of the end. They had a nation to build. But not everything was fine back in the U.S. because the treaty affected the Loyalists in many ways, even though the British were trying to keep their allies by setting conditions, it was a vain effort. The Treaty stated that the Loyalist couldn't return, plus they were being mobed. And in the end, the British didn't recognized their Loyalists, they just left them behind, breaking many Loyalists dreams. The Loyalist situation didn't have much importance as slavery did. They still had the slavery issue to be resolved. The Revolution created many ideals  and inspired several slaves to demand freedom. Slavery was popular in the Southern states but it was not seen right in the Northern states. Since many slaves joined the Continental Army, they feared the fact that black people were getting guns because they thought that could come back and take revenge on them. But they wouldn't, the only thing they looked for was: emancipation. The honorable Americans were being called hypocrites by the British, they said that how come they've been fighting for freedom and they're holding slaves, taking away their freedom? Demanding equal rights for everybody and not doing so. So, slavery and other minorities became quite an issue after the end of the War.

FINALLY, the war is over.

Washington's Plan

What a great summer was about to begin on 1781. George Washington moved most of his troops south; he had a great plan on mind. He planned to trap General Charles Cornwallis in Yorktown, but the timing was crucial being at the right place at the right moment, he needed some help from the French fleet to prevent and block the British from evacuating by sea through the Chesapeake Bay. George Washington knew the French were coming but he had no idea at what time. So that was the plan but how did it happen and went so well? The coordination was a stroke of luck. The French made a crucial difference, even the French soldiers and navy outnumbered George Washington’s army, so they definitely had a big army. The battle of Yorktown consisted of many small confrontations; in July 1781 the British marched to Yorktown they expected reinforcements to come from New York so meanwhile they settled near Chesapeake Bay. The French general Lafayette trapped the British on the Peninsula until the Continental Army and more French troops arrived in late August. The French and Americans created a semicircle around the British also blocking them from escaping by land, so there was no way out. Meanwhile General Charles Cornwallis was trying to escape; he even sent soldiers that had smallpox to from his camp into the lines of the colonial soldiers, hoping that the colonial soldiers would get infected and give him a chance. But he failed, leading him to surrender, so on October 19, 1781 it was over. He sent a drummer boy and a soldier with a white flag to Washington offering to surrender. On October 19, the official papers of surrender were signed. In the final act a colonial band played an old British tune called, “The World Turned Upside Down”. Indeed it turned upside down for the British, but a fresh start awaited the perseverant Americans.

What a Victory :)

Almost over...

As the war continued, the Red Coats expected some support from their fellow Loyalists in the South; especially from the farmers in North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. They wanted and needed this support but all they did was waste it. They kept making the same mistake using the same wrong war strategies; they still thought they were fighting a conventional War, instead of also supporting the Loyalist militia.

Bernardo de Galvez

In the south they won most of the battles, and they captured major sea ports in the South. In the late 1778 the British captured savannah, Georgia. During the spring 1780, they captured Charleston, South Carolina and at the same time they captured 5000 Patriot soldiers, that summer the British crushed another Patriot army in Camden, South Carolina. All these are major sea ports. Meanwhile in the Gulf of Mexico, Bernardo De Galvez attacked the British forts in the Gulf Coast region. In 1780 he attacked Mobil, Alabama, which was a British fort. In 1781, they took Pensacola, British West Florida. All this effective Spanish moves in the Gulf were making the British send troops to the Gulf to defend, but as they strengthened the Gulf they were weakening the troop in the East Coast .Even though their British had several victories in the South they didn’t control the countryside, a brutal, bloody civil war took place between the Patriots and the Loyalists, both sides killed civilians. In October 1780 at King Mountain, South Carolina, the Patriots crushed the Loyalist militia, they executed many of their prisoners, so they were not only losing people they were also losing territory, many neutrals and Loyalists were turning their backs on British and pairing with the Patriots, the Loyalists were blaming the British for not aiding them when needed. The British gained a lot of enemies in that area. Obviously General Charles Cornwallis was frustrated for all this conflicts and the fact that he was having a hard time achieving his goal of controlling the South. The Continental Army was small in the South but they had 2 great commanders: Nathaniel Greene and Daniel Morgan. In 1781 they faced 2 huge losses to the British, one in Cowpen, South Carolina and Guildford Courthouse, North Carolina. After this General Charles Cornwallis decided to go north Virginia but he had no idea of what was about to happen…

King Mountain Battle

Pretty Funny :)

After the hurricane, comes the rainbow...

Valley Forge

The struggle continued, the remarkable army faced a very difficult winter from 1777 to 1778, the scenario was on Valley Forge(outsides of Philadelphia). George Washington reported Congres that 1/3 of 10,000 soldiers had no warm clothing and no shoes. Washington was worried for his army, he only saw 3 possible ways out: 1. Starve to death 2.Army would dissolve 3.Army would disperse. But never lose hope, Friedrich Wilhelm August Heinrich Ferdinand von Steuben (born Friedrich Wilhelm Ludolf Gerhard Augustin von Steuben; September 17, 1730 – November 28, 1794), also known as Baron von Steuben, he was a Prussian born military officer, he was a volunteer that offered to train the Continental Army. In June 1778, the British evacuated from Philadelphia through New Jersey into New York, they retreated due to the Battle of Monmouth, in this Battle the Continental Army showed all the skills they've been learning at Valley Forge, and demonstrated their huge improvements. Still, the British had nothing new to show, how boring... they only had New York as a stronghold and that was it. The war began moving South. 

Baron Von Steuben

What a great Christmas gift...

Washington's troops were devastated after the series of battles they fought and failed, so this were desperate times. But Washington was ready he had his plans set and was ready to execute them, he needed to counterattack and win this battle. He was a really clever man, on December, 26 1776;, Washington led his Continental Army across the icy and cold roads of Delaware about 9 miles north of Trenton. The weather was terrible and the river was pretty tricky. Huge winds combined with snow, and rain produced impossible conditions. Another of the difficulties, a big number of Washington's troops marched through the snow without shoes and warm clothing.

The next morning they attacked the south, giving the Hessian garrison a surprise and invading the town. After the intense fighting, and the terrible loss of the commander, the Hessians gave up. This became known as the Battle of Trenton, and gave the Patriots and supporters a huge moral boost, this was a great victory and became widely know and remembered as the Crossing of Delaware.

Famous painting of the Delaware Cros

For Washington's luck, he began 1777 with another victory. While he was moving his troops at the middle of the night, he encountered General Charle Cornwallis at the Battle of Princeton(January 3, 1777), this battle was fought on Princeton, New Jersey. There's ot much to say about this war, but what you need to know is that it gave a great victory to the Patriots and gave them a fresh new start. 

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However, he's luck didn't lasted long, in the fall of 1777 he lost his beloved Philadelphia to Howe's army, so now it was under British control. After this General John Burgoyne's army marched from Canada, ready to capture New York Hudson Valley. But to his fortune he fell into a Patriots' troop at Saratoga(September 19 and October 7, 1777) this consisted of several battles, and it was definitely a turning point in the war. Why? Well it made this whole situation popular, making the Continental Army gain support. France recognized American independence, and began helping the Colonials secretely, they saw this as a great opportunity to defeat their biggest enemy: Britain. Altough the French were afraid of making their alliance public, but they still sent shipments to the Patriots, and this kept the army going. French were really generous, for example Marquis de Lafayette provided military experts. After Saratoga, France decided to make their alliance public and they negotiated in February 1778, and this made the diplomatic genius Benjamin Franklin to come up to scene, he was an exceptional and simple American. It seems a great future was planned for the perseverant colonials, wanna know more about it? Wait for the next posts :)

fun huh?

Cruel Hessians and Memorable Women...

The British troops were being commanded by Lord William Howe, a not-so brilliant man because he kept on attacking the same way, even though it wasn't effective. The British had this idea that they were fighting another common British war, but they were wrong they were fighting: a revolutionary war. But Howe had some really good ideas in mind, he thought that if he captured Philadelphia, the Patriots capital; and the major sea port, Boston, he would finally win the war. But they were planning to win it on a really dirty way. They hired German mercenaries, which is a professional soldier hired by a foreign army, as opposed to a soldier enlisted in the armed forces of the sovereign state of which he is a citizen, they were called The Hessians. They wew no-hearted soldiers, they were well-trained and German, they would do anything to eliminate the enemy. No doubt that the word "assassination" comes from the word "Hessian".

The Hessians

Since the British had this brutal soldiers by their sides which were a great strength, but the Patriots also had a great strength by their side: George Washington. He loved his Continental Army and took care of it, he knew he couldn't take the risk of putting his army out there into a major battle. Unfortunately, George Washington lost most of his battle but his skillful retreats kept his army alive. Also the support of Patriot women made this army keep shining, a few of the several supporting women standed out; one of them was Deborah Samsson Garnett(December 17, 1760 - April 27, 1827) better known as Deborah Sampson, she received a military pension from Congress due to her brave work, that consisted on impersonating a man in order to serve in the Continental Army, ahe served 17 months in the army.

Deborah Sampson

Another famous women was Mary Hays McCauley aka Molly Pitcher, known for her brave actions at the battle of Monmouth. She was born near Trenton, New Jersey on October 13, 1754. Her task consisted on delivering water to the troops while they were at war(because they got tired, obviously) and sometimes she was brave enough to fire the cannon of her husband. She an many other women are definitely American heroines that we should always remember.

Molly Pitcher

It's on...

The colonists needed to demonstrate their Independence, and as said before, one thing was declaring it on paper and achieving it was a different story. They had to win a series of battles and a bloody war in order to defeat the world's biggest empire. Britain had 4x the population of the colonists which was about 2.5 million, so can you imagine the amount of British people against a few colonists who truly seeked Independence? 
The British didn't take the colonists seriously, until they defeated them at Concord. The British repeated the same mistake once again at the Battle of Bunker Hill, this battle was fought on June 17, 1775, a few days after George Washington was elected the Commander of the Continental Army. Despite the name, the battle was really fought on Breed's Hill not on Bunker Hill.

Battle of Breed's Hill

 The colonials were ready to attack, they had fortified the hills around Boston, they wanted to push the British outside the Port. The British had a new commander: Lord William Howe, born on August 10, 1729 on Britain. He planned a frontal assault right at noon, making his army struggle because they were wearing this red coats below the hot sun of noon and carrying heavy artifacts, and walking uphill... Absurd right? The Patriots had a clever tactic, they hide in trenches and attacked the Red Coats. The first two charges the Patriots won, and the British won the third charge, but just because the Patriots ran out of ammunition. Even though the Red coats won, the Patriots gave the British wake-up call. So the British better get ready for the next encounters...

The Real Deal...

By Spring 1776, Thomas Paine's ideas had a great impact on American Independence. As Congress saw the change on public ideals, they created a committee to draft the document that would declare American Independence, the committee was composed by John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Robert R. Livingston, and Roger Sherman. They had a complex tax, because they had to explain the reasons why they wanted Independence.
On July 2, by the votes of 12 of the 13 colonies, with New York not voting, Congress adopted the Lee Resolution and begins consideration of the Declaration of Independence, written by the Committee of Five. 2 days later, at the afternoon church bells ring out over Philadelphia announcing the approval of the Declaration. 


The Declaration was written by Thomas Jefferson, and this emerged thanks to Paine's ideals and declared the King as a tyrant. In the Declaration they included a long list of colonial grievances, and advanced the idea that every men is born with natural rights: life, liberty, and property; this rights cannot be taken away, Jefferson referred to them as "unalienable rights". This statement was completely different to the reality society was suffering, but it still created a sense of hope and joy in the people. But the easy part is done: declaring it on paper, now the hard part has to come: achieving it. They faced several challenges, but they will fight for what they want and deserve: freedom.

Loyalists against Patriots, and some Common Sense...

Most colonists supported the Continental Congress, and supported the boycott of the British imports. But we have some traitors here... the Loyalists. The Loyalists were a minority of colonists that actually supported and prefered the British rules among all, they are "loyal" that's why they're called Loyalists. They favored law and order imposed by Britain, and they dreaded the Patriots, because they were afraid of them, but still looked at them as illegal and brutal.
Although a lot of Loyalists opposed the Parliament taxes, they thought that Parliament should be blindly obeyed no matter what. During the Summer of 1774, two old friends who were lawyers, had a curious encounter, they took a walk to discuss the current crisis, this friends were John Adams, a Patriot, and Jonathan Sewell, a Loyalist. During the conversation Sewell warned Adams, that they should only incline for Britain and follow what Britain says, Adams a little disturbed replied, that he was going to die or to survive with and for his country. But the question is why did Loyalists completely opposed to Patriots ideals and causes? Well, because the Patriots didn't allow free speech, the disliked the militia drafts, they banned Loyalists newspapers and they feared oppression from the Patriots; poor Loyalists.

Published by Thomas Paine in January of 1776, Common Sense was an instant best-seller, in the colonies and in Europe. It had several editions in Philadelphia, and was republished in all parts of what will later become America. Because of "Common Sense", Paine became pretty famous.

Thomas Paine

Paine's political pamphlet brought the revolutionary feeling to its peek point into ideal focus by denouncing King George III and all British aristocrats as parasites and frogs, he referred to the King as the enemy of the American liberty. He wished that common people had the right to elect ALL the government, to create a republic that would offer new opportunities and allow the free trade with whomever they wanted. He was a visionary, freedom among all. To conclude, he said: "the cause of America, is the cause of all human kind: to be free".
Later on, we will discuss about the direct effect this little pamphlet had on a whole country(almost).

Front cover of "Common Sense"

FINALLY, the war begins.

On 1775, the dispute between Britain and the colonists took a radical turn. Following the path of General Thomas Gage, who was a British Military Commander, was named Governor of Massachussetts. John Hancock, Samuel Adams, and other colonial leaders got together in a Provincial Congress, in here they governed Massachussetts without Gage. They also began to stock-pile arms and ammunitions, meaning they were preparing for some intense battles and wars, one of them was the Battle of Lexington and Concord.

The Battle of Lexington and Concord consisted of two battles that began on April 19th, 1775. British troops were sent to Concord to capture Samuel Adams and John Hancock, but both men had already been warned about the British attack. That night of April 19th, Paul Revere went through Concord warning everybody about the British attack, telling them "the British are coming". So when the British came to attack the Minutemen, Americans who were"ready to fight in a minute," were ready and waiting to attack at Lexington. The Americans were holding back when someone fired a shot, and the British troops started to attack the Minutemen. Nobody knows who fired the first shot. The British killed many Minutemen and many more got hurt in this Battle at Lexington. The rest of the Minutemen ran into the woods. After this battle, the British found out that Hancock and Adams had escaped. So the British marched to Concord searching for ammunition. While the British went to look at a near farm for weapons, they encountered a group of Minutemen at the North bridge of Concord. There was a huge fight, and the Minutemen won, making the British retreat. The Battles of Lexington and Concord were battles that are known because they took away many lives. At the end of the battles, the British had lost about 272 soldiers, while the Colonists lost about 94. The Revolutionary War had begun.

A famous poet, Ralph Waldo Emerson, called the Battle of Lexington as "the shot heard 'round the world," because this battle gave start to the Revolutionary War.

Second Continental Congress

On May of 1775, once again all the colonies assembled in Philadelphia, and Congress assumed responsiblity for the war. Volunteers from the Middle and Southern colonies marched North to support the Patriots in Boston. Congress chose George Washington as the commander of the New Continental Army. George Washington was idyllic, he had served as a colonial officer in the French and Indian War, he was born in Virginia, the wealthiest and biggest colony at that time, it was convenient for Congress to place a Virginian as the commander. New England urged Virginia's help in order to win the war. In this Second Continental Congress some radical members wanted to declare Independence, but not everyone was ready and well-prepared. Congress still had some hope on declaring peace first, so in July, 1775 they sent an "Olive Branch Petition" to King George, which obviously he "proudly" rejected, and instead sent more troops to Boston.

Coercive or just Intolerable?...

The "party" the Patriots celebrated, obviously outraged Parliament, they thought they deserved to be punished, so they passed a series of acts, the Coercive Acts, one of them was the Boston Port Act and consisted on closing the Boston Port in Boston Harbor, leaving the colonists without any trade meaning no ships came in or came out until they payed for all the tea they've dumped, including taxes; this act was passed in March 31, 1774. This was just one of the acts, but still the colonists were furious. In addition to the Boston Port Act, they passed the Quartering Act again on June 22, 1774; because of the troops they sent to "keep calm" in the colonies. Another act was the Administration of Justice Act on May 20, 1774; which basically consisted on this: if a soldier committeed a crime, they wouldn't go to the trial in the colonies, rather they took them back to England to trial. After this acts came the Massachussetts Government Act on May 20, 1774; which you already know about, but to refresh your memory it consisted on assigning the colony under the control of an appointed governor. Later on, they passed the Quebec Acts on June 2, 1774; which founded in extending the Southern Part of Canada.
The astonished and angry colonists referred as this acts as the "Intolerable Acts" while Parliament called them "Coercive Acts". For your convenience here is a list of the acts:
1) March 31, 1774 - Boston Port Act
2) May 20, 1774 - Administration of Justice Act
3) May 20, 1774 - Massachussetts Government Act
4) June 2, 1774 - Quebec Acts
5) June 22, 1774 - Quartering Act

First Continental Congress

Meanwhile, in rural Massachussetts, the crowd reacted angrily due to the Intolerable Acts, they had guns and forced the Courts of Law to shut down, assaulted anyone that accepted a job from the governor; they attacked you if you talked in favor of Parliament, and even you where exposed to being tarred and feathered. This anger just became bigger and bigger everyday, Parliament kept pushing and colonists would not accept it, because they wanted to have it their way.
But other colonies offered support to their fellow colonists, they viwe this acts as a threat to their freedom, so by Fall of 1774, delegates from all the colonies met in Philadelphia to begin the First Continental Congress. The Virginia delegates included Patrick Henry, who delivered a strong speech, better recognized for the phrase: "Give me liberty, or Give me death". He expressed that no differences existed between the colonies, because in the end they are all American. To create pressure on Parliament to withdraw the acts, Congress decided to boycott all the England imports and the Patriots established new governments that included common everyday people, over the Parliament and the Crown. By 1774, John Adams had already made the decision that he lived in a new country named America. On the other hand, most of the colonists hoped to remain with the British empire and opposed to this break out. What will happen next?

Massacre at Boston, plus a weird "party"...

Colonies revived protests, boycotts, and intelectual protests in 1768. As usual, the biggest riots took place in Boston, the Massachussets legislator published a circular letter announcing the Townshend Acts, very little legislators payed attention to this "wake-up call", until the governor dissolved the Massachussetts legislature, and the governor passed the Massachussets Government Act, which consisted on taking control of the colony through an appointed governor. Elected assemblies were closed, and town meetings got banned. During this tense situation, the custom officers seized for a merchant ship called "Liberty" on June, 1768, so they could smug the ship. The ship was owned by a wealthy merchant called John Hancock, and he was a prominent colonial politician, this seizure set off riots against custom officers. Parliament needed(or at least try) to stop this riots, so they sent 4,000 troops to Boston, although the population of Boston had about 16,000 people. The presence of the troops angered the colonists, and increased it even more because the soldiers were poorly payed, so they also need some extra profit and the only way of getting this was havind a second job, so they began taking off the jobs from the unschooled colonists, they would compete for this jobs. All these situations made the anger on the colonists bigger and bigger, so, one night in March 5, 1770; a group of colonists throwed snowballs and rocks to some members of the troops, that were guarding the customs house, the soldiers killed 5 colonists. This was an unfair act, because the innocent colonists were just mocking the soldiers, there was no need to shoot at them and kill them. One of the victims was Crispus Attucks, who was a sailor and an escaped slave; he was half Indian, half African American. This was called as the "Boston Massacre" also known as "Boston riot" under the control of Samuel Adams, whom later organized a network of local committees of correspondence through Massachussetts , it consisted on organizing how to spread the news among the colonies. This system provided leadership and promoted unity and cooperation, by 1773, several other colonies had created committees that helped build the sense of patriotism again. Once again, Parliament backed down and withdrew the troops from Boston, also removed most of the Townshend Acts duties, except one: TEA. Even though they removed most of them, the colonists kept smuggling and boycotting the Dutch tea, this meant the situation was just getting worse.

"Boston Massacre"

The boycott worsened the financial situation of the British East India Company. In order to "help" the company and encourage the colonists to pay taxes, they passed a "useful" law that allowed this company to sell the tea directly to the colonists, but Parliament didn't understand that, that wasn't a problem, the problem was they had no representation on Parliament. This law instead of helping, it contributed to the riots, because the colonists protested that Parliament just wanted to trick them, this also affected the Dutch tea smugglers, because they couldn't smuggle and earn money anymore. Even though the tea was cheaper, they refused to buy it just to disobey Parliament. Later, the Davison Newman Company sent a ship loaded with tea to the Boston Harbor, therefore that night of December, 16, 1773 the Boston Patriots dressed up like Indians and boarded the ship, and dumped absolutely all the tea into the Harbor, this succesful and controversial riot became known as the "Boston Tea Party".

"Boston Tea Party"

What about the Girls?

Homespun

After the local committees agreed to imply the nonimportation agreements, which consisted on boycotting any type of goods imported from Britain. Women played a very important role, because they were not allowed to buy the cloth that was imported from Britain, so how are they going to make the cloth? All by themsleves they had to homespun the threads in order to make the cloth, they made this kind of substitute. Every colonists admired them and felt proud thanks to their work, because they also gave up a lot of comforts in order to progress and fight for their rights. So, the women that made this became known as the "Daughters of Liberty". In other words and adding some extra information; The Daughters of Liberty were a successful group that showed and proved women's involvement and development in politics could be helpful to the country. As common support to boycott British goods increased, "Daughters of Liberty" joined this cause to condemn British importation. The Daughters of Liberty used their skills to weave yarn and wool into cloth known as "homespun". They were recognized as patriotic heroines for their success and they earned respect, which made the United States less dependent on British textiles. In the countryside, Patriots defended the non importation movements of 1765, and 1769, the Daughters of Liberty continued to support the resistance. In many small towns women spun wool into homemade cloth. In 1774, the Patriot women tried to influence a decision made by the Continental Congress to boycott all British goods. The decision to boycott British goods was thanks to the Patriot women who were determined to increase demands for homemade clothing. Even though is not often recognized, the organizations created by women were very influential and important during the war. Decisions made to boycott of British goods would not have been possible if the women had not made a substitute for the imported textile. The "Daughters of Liberty" were working from sun up to sun down to show their commitment. The Daughters of Liberty were one of the many groups of women who fought for woman's equality and tried theirbest always, they gained respect.  

The Liberty People

Sons of Liberty

Colonists opposed to the unfair(for them) Stamp Act. Later on, this opposition created a strong feeling of union among every colonist, they thought they had the power to fight this together, the ones that disagreed to pay British taxes called themselves Patriots. Since this situation emerged, every citizen demonstrated more interest in politics due to this a group created an association called the "Sons of Liberty", this was a secret organization that, as you know, they formed to  protest the Stamp Act. This idea created success in most of the colonies, one of the most famous and successful leaders was Samuel Adams, whom also was the cousin of John Adams(Second official President of the United States), this association was created in Boston, Massachussets. The poor tax collectors had to suffer the consequences because even though they didn't had the fault, they got assaulted by the colonists. On August, 1765, something awful happened, the Sons of Liberty organized a mob and destroyed the house of a tax collector. This mob was like a wake up call for the other tax collectors, because it created a sense of fear in them. But someone had to denounce this riots, and that was the job of Massachussets lieutenant governor, Thomas Hutchinson, he insisted that the colonists had the LEGAL duty(like obligation but legal) to pay the taxes imposed by the Parliament. After he denounced this, the colonists were NOT happy, so they organized another mob in which they destroyed Hutchinson's house, therefore nobody in Boston dared to talk about the taxes. By the end of the year their where no tax collectors, but why? How bad did the colonists treat them? Well, the colonists had this method called tarring and feathering which consisted in the Bostonians to pour hot tea all the way down the throat of the innocent tax collector, this caused burns and sometimes lead to death, However, the goal of tarring and feathering was mainly humiliation, not death, and not many deaths were recorded. Usually, people were scarred for life by the hot tar and resulting injuries from the removing, marking them to other members of the community as victims of tarring and feathering. The victims also died as a result of lynchings, in which they were tarred and feathered, went around town, and then they hung.

Tarring and Feathering

Interesting Fact "No Stamp Act"

A Virginia family's teapot said at the front "No Stamp act" making it clear how they refused and opposed to the 1765 Stamp Act.

No representation, NO TAXATION.

In the 1760's, the Brit Parliament levied new taxes on the colonies. The 1764 Sugar Act, the 1765 Stamp Act, in early 1765 the Quartering Act, the colonists argued every single act because they knew that they had no voice in Parliament, so they shouldn't impose taxes directly because they thought Parliament did not had the right. Many colonists refused to pay this type of taxes, but the empire needed money to maintain the colonies and to protect the lands they just had won. But since colonies did not elect representatives in Parliament, these taxes were illegal it was what they call "taxation without representation." Government officials were attacked to prevent the tax collection and the colonists refused to import British goods until they vanished this unfair acts. In 1768, Brits came to Boston to punish the angry colonists for the resistance to the law, and conflicts created between the Bostonians and the soldiers. The worst event was called the "Boston Massacre" of 1770. All the colonists believed that the Stamp Act was the beggining of the conspiracy of the British officials to destroy the liberty of many Americans. The arguments of  the angry colonists confused the British Parliament, thinking that the colonists were selfish and narrow-minded, because they didn't want to pay the money that supposely would help their colonies. But still the Americans continued protesting, and expressed their protests in three different ways: 
1. Intelectual Protests
2. Economic Boycotts
3. Violent Intimidation
They expressed their thoughts in many ways, this revolution is just starting... keep in touch to see what goes next.

The French and Indian War/The Seven Year War... whichever you want to call it.

This war is not a part of the actual American Revolution, yet it is important. First, why is it called the French and Indian War? Don't even think it was a war between the French and the Indians because you will be completely wrong, this war consisted in the French allied with the Natives against the British troops that where commanded by the famous George Washington. And obviously it is referred as the Seven Year War because it lasted for seven years. In which the British where losing at the beginning, the French destroyed forts on Lake Ontario and Lake George. The Indians raided(invaded) the frontier, but not for long because on 1758-59 Britons gained power and blocked the shipments, weakening the Indians which lead this poor Natives to abandon the war. So now it is, Britain against France. French got the forts protecting the Saint Lawrence River invaded by the Brits. In 1759, Britain captured Quebec, a strong French position, and in 1760 they captured Montreal. The Britons where unstoppable, this invasion caused the French governor-general to surrender Canada including all the forts surrounding the Great Lakes(Michigan, Erie, Superior, Ontario, Huron). But on 1753, the Treaty of Paris was signed and ended the war, and obviously, Brits took the victory and increased their territory. The Mississippi River became the boundary between the British claims, French claims, and Spanish claims. After the French War ended in 1763 abundance and tranquility came into the 13 Colonies, which made some profit from supplying the efforts of the military empire. The ports of New York, Charleston, and Boston were booming, but still many people lived on family farms and earned profits from the agricultural products, since they were the main export. There was little industry, other manufactured goods were imported from Britain. Each colony had the right too choose its own law-making assembly and had its own governor, most of them were appointed by the king. At this time, the colonials were proud of being British subjects, but since Britain was at peace with France and had possession of Canada they intended to protect their land and keep growing, under any circumstances. Little by little, this triggered the Revolution...