My Gatherfather´s History and Key Events in American History

My grandfather turned 100 years old in 1875. On the night of his birthday he pulled me aside and told me about his life; and significant moments in history which he found worth telling. He was born in Pennsylvania in 1775, “on the eve of the American Revolution”. His father was from Britain and his mother was from Ireland. They both came to the colonies because they saw opportunities here. Their form of transportation was by boat. When they arrived they had no money and had to become indentured slaves. They ended up working together, his mother said it was love at first sight, and when his father had the chance to pick who his woman would be, when he finished his contract with the owner, he chose her. They moved to a cottage and had a large planation in which they grew corn. In the beginning it was tough; the corn wouldn’t grow because the soil wasn’t good. Things eventually got better and their corn was growing. They sold it to their friends and neighbors; and anyone else who would stop by to buy some corn. But when the revolution came around, people weren’t buying as much as before because for some homes, the women were left to care for the fields and business’s while the husband went off to the war, having difficulties of their own. A few of my grandfather’s parent’s neighbors were single men, and when they went to the war, there was no one to buy their corn; and things were going downhill. They had to sell their slaves because they couldn’t afford feeding them anymore, so they had no choice but to do the work on their own.

He doesn’t really remember his father because he joined the revolution when grandfather was just 4 years old. He wanted to know what the whole fighting was about, so he asked his mother why this was going o...

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...nts that were added to the Constitution. The 13th amendment is an important amendment because it’s the one that abolished slavery, making it illegal, giving America that push to keep away from having slaves that would work for free. The 14th amendment gave the rights of citizenship and made everyone equal under the law. Lastly, the 15th amendment gave people voting rights no matter who they are, giving them a voice in the government. It’s the most significant out of all of them because it allows the people to choose who will represent their country, state, etc.

In approximately 1864, my grandfather and grandmother believed they had enough money to support themselves. So they sold their home and land, and decided to move to Pennsylvania to my grandfather’s home. He wants to end his life, where he began it, in that cottage. Where he knew what peace was, and memories.