America’s First Blow for Independence: The Gaspee Affair
All the events that lead up to that lead up to the Gaspee Affair are how the United States got their freedom and independence from Britain. Lieutenant William Dudingston and his ship, The Gaspee (a Royal Navy ship) was sailing of the coast of Rhode Island to enforce the maritime trade laws and to try and prevent smuggling. However, Dudingston and his crew spent most of their time harassing shipping and delaying ships, but what they didn’t know was how bad the tide would turn for them in the long run. What was the Gaspee Affair, and how did it lead to the American Revolution?
On June 9th, 1772, the Gaspee, a royal navy ship was sailing along the coast of Rhode Island. The Gaspee was
The Whitehaven Raid took place before the revolution, but it was still important. It occurred on April 10th, 1778 Jones sailed himself and his crew over to Whitehaven while capturing and destroying small vessels.
BOOM! CRASH! Those are the sounds the colonists loved hearing when fighting for freedom against the British. The colonists were very active in fighting for freedom during the colonial times. One of those events was the Gaspee Affair, also known as the The Burning of the Gaspee. The Gaspee Affair was one of many signs to King George and Parliament that they needed to do something about the colonies before the colonies could strike against England. The colonists were slowly becoming aggravated with Parliament. The Gaspee Affair was evidence of the colonists frustration with King George and Parliament.
The relationship between Britain and her Americans colonies slowly deteriorated between the 1750s and the beginning of the American Revolution. When the first British immigrants settled in America, the relationship of the colonies and their mother country was somewhat peaceful. In the following generations, however, their relationship became tenser as Britain imposed policies and taxes on unrepresented American colonists. The British believed they were right in doing so because they had large debts to pay from ongoing wars with France. These taxes caused uprisings among colonists which contributed to British occupation in America, leading to more rebellions. Eventually, the rift in the relationship between the colonists and the British led to the Revolutionary War and the formation of a new country.
Through many means of protest such as the Boston Tea Party, boycotting British goods and products, and the formation of many protest groups such as the Sons and Daughters of Liberty that made it possible for the colonists to fight off the English influence. The Boston Tea Party in Boston was a major factor when it came to the independence of America because it showed that the colonists could work together and formulate a plan such as disguising themselves as Mohawk Indians to intimidate the enemy and successfully dispose of hundreds of barrels of tea into the Boston Harbor. Now with cause comes effect, the cause was that the English had lost a lot of money and profit once the tea was disposed of, but the major reaction of the English was to retaliate. England had sent an increase in troops to the colonies to oversee what was happening with the formulation of protests and the British government had also passed the Intolerable Act, which closed down the harbor to repair any damage caused by the actions of the Boston Tea Party, and made it so that more restrictions were put on the colonists for their actions. As a result of this act being put into place, the colonists had also retaliated by forming the First Continental Congress which was a meeting of the delegates of the thirteen colonies except Georgia because Georgia was a state that homed debtors and criminals. As stated in Document E, “A Declaration by the Representative of the United Colonies of North America, now met in Congress at Philadelphia, setting forth the causes and necessity of their taking up arms.” This has showed that the colonists would do anything and everything within their power to rid the colonies of the oppressive and selfies rule of the British empire forever even if it meant violence and death would be a result of their
The colonists had failed to stop the British, but they got reinforcements. when the British got to Concord, there was no equipment to be taken. It was a decoy and the British had been tricked. When they turned around to head back, they were faced with the Colonial army to fight. The colonial army won and the American Revolutionary War had begun.
A voyage set in the direction of Virginia was set by captains Philip Amada and Arthur Barlow by the authority of Sir Walter Raleigh who was given permission from Queen Elizabeth II. They set sail in the month of April 1584 and reached in July of that same year, once they disembarked there was rejoice, gun shots flew into the skies, as well as a the people gave their appreciation to god for helping them arrive safely to Virginia. The initial picture made of Vir...
| 1775 | Boston Tea Party Ships and Museum. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Apr. 2014.
The American Revolution (1775-1783) was a war between England and the colonies which were settled earlier by the English. There were many factors and events that led to the American Revolution. The Revolution was mainly an economic rebellion that was fueled by taxation without representation following the French and Indian War. The English Parliament was more often than not considered cruel and unfair by the colonists. With conflicts over trade, taxes and government representation, the colonies were at a starting line of a revolution that would later transform into the basis of the United States of America.
The American Revolution was sparked by a myriad of causes. These causes in themselves could not have sparked such a massive rebellion in the nation, but as the problems of the colonies cumulated, their collective impact spilt over and the American Revolution ensued. Many say that this war could have been easily avoided and was poorly handled by both sides, British and American; but as one will see, the frame of thought of the colonists was poorly suited to accept British measures which sought to “overstep” it’s power in the Americas. Because of this mindset, colonists developed a deep resentment of British rule and policies; and as events culminated, there was no means to avoid revolution and no way to turn back.
That day would happen on March 5th 1770. On this evening, a British guard was patrolling a custom house, some colonists began taunting the soldier and soon a crowd of angry colonists arrived. The British officer decided it would be necessary to call in more troops. Later, around eight soldiers arrived to support the guard, by this time the mob grew to about three hundred people. A colonist kicked one of the soldiers down, and the soldier fired upon the crowd. After a short pause, the other British troop fired on the colonists. Thanks to the press and art of Paul Revere, this event is now known as the Boston Massacre. The Boston Tea Party, one of the most famous events of per-revolution America. The British imposed a tax on all tea and this united the colonists in an agreement against the tax. The Sons of Liberty once again mobbed up and threatened the shop owners to not support the tax. Throughout the colonies, agents of the Tea Act were forced to resign. When this didn't seem to be enough, the Sons of Liberty devised a plan at the liberty tree in Boston. On the night of December 16th a group of men dressed as Mohawk Indians, boarded four British ships carrying tea and dumped it all into the harbor. This tea never landed and therefore this tea was never
The Boston tea party was a brief incident among many, composing, economic, and political crisis that ultimately caused a revolution. These events consisted of The French and Indian war, the Stamp Act, the Townshend Revenue Act, the Tea Act, and of course the Boston Tea Party. The incident caused by the colonies infuriated the British government therefore as punishment parliament responded to the abuse with the Coercive Acts of 1774 . When the thirteen colonies once again decided to resist the British troops revolution spread. “We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.” This act later on lead to the American Revolutionary War, were years later independence was
The connection between Britain and the English colonies was that of the ruling of the colonies by the king of Britain, King George III and his parliament. The king’s ruling was very unfavorable for the colonists because of his tyrannic dictatorship and unjustly taxations. The mere thought of an island ruling an entire continent thousands of miles away with poor communication and lack of supervision of the colonies by the king, did not work in favor of the colonies nor for Britain. Three contributing factors for the outbreak of the American Revolution were (1) the king’s taxes, (2) neglect of the 13 colonies and (3) England’s mercantilism policy. King George III and his decisions were one of the major causes that had the English colonists fumed with anger towards Britain and this eventually led to the American Revolution.
...ks. They ambushed the ship and dumped 342 chests of tea into the Boston Harbor. They called this event the Boston Tea Party.
Many people have the misconception that the American Revolution occurred because British colonists did not want to be British citizens any longer. This may have been the case for a select few, but many British colonists desired to maintain their status as British colonists and citizens. The foremost reason that the colonists began protests, boycotts, and petitions against the British was because they believed their innate rights as British citizens were being violated. The American Revolution occurred due to a chain of events and a complex set of intertwined reasons.
The American Revolution marked the divorce of the British Empire and its one of the most valued colonies. Behind the independence that America had fought so hard for, there emerged a diverging society that was eager to embrace new doctrines. The ideals in the revolution that motivated the people to fight for freedom continued to influence American society well beyond the colonial period. For example, the ideas borrowed from John Locke about the natural rights of man was extended in an unsuccessful effort to include women and slaves. The creation of state governments and the search for a national government were the first steps that Americans took to experiment with their own system. Expansion, postwar depression as well as the new distribution of land were all evidence that pointed to the gradual maturing of the economic system. Although America was fast on its way to becoming a strong and powerful nation, the underlying issues brought about by the Revolution remained an important part in the social, political and economical developments that in some instances contradicted revolutionary principles in the period from 1775-1800.