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The Boston Massacre
On March 5, 1770 the Boston Massacre incident was caused when the colonists were upset at new taxes put upon the by the British.
There were taxes put on them for glass, lead, paper, and tea. A group of colonists did not want to pay those taxes and so the Britsh soldiers were sent and opened fire killing and wounding people. Everyone in the colonies heard about this event and the British took away some of the taxes, except for the tax on tea. -
The Boston Tea Party
The Boston Tea Party was one of earliest events in the war against Britain where a small group of colonists dressed up as Indians and dumped tea into the harbor. They did this to show British Parliament that they weren't happy with the increased price of tea and how British companies didn't have to pay tax on tea while Americans did. After the Boston Tea Party, Parliament responded with by passing more laws that limited their freedom which the colonists nicknamed the Intolerable Acts. -
The shot heard around the world
After the Boston Tea Party, the Boston harbor was closed many people lost their jobs. There were British troops everywhere. The colonists began to form their own military and called them the Minutemen. They were simple people like farmers, peasants and shop owners, not trained military people like Britain had. When it came time to fight, someone fired a shot but no one knew which side did it first and represented the beginning of the war. -
Paul Revere's Ride
The British soldiers were told to destroy the place where the colonists stored their weapons. Paul Revere and William Dawes were two men who rode ahead of the soldiers on their horses shouting, “The Redcoats are coming! This helped the colonist Minutemen to hide and later attack the British solders as they marched. -
Declaration of Independence
Thomas Jefferson was in charge of writing the Declaration of Independence. It was officially adopted by the Continental Congress and is known as the birthday of America. The Declaration of Independence states that a government has a responsibility to the people it governs, and talks about the rights of the people. It describes the abuses from the British government, and declares that the colonies were now a separate sovereign nation from Britain. -
Article of Confederation
The Continental Congress established these Articles stating that each colony was to act as an independent state and could pass laws within their territories. These articles established a central government that was weak, could not pass taxes, or raise an army. -
The Constitution
After all the problems with the Articles of Confederation, they decided to create a new constitution law that would form a new central government. This new federal government was much stronger than before and was divided between three separate but equal branches of government: the Executive Branch, the Legislative Branch, and the Judicial Branch. -
Bill of Rights
After the constitution was signed, there were 10 amendments were added to it, also known as the Bill of Rights. They gave more freedoms to the citizens of the United States like freedom of speech the right to bear arms or weapons. The new nation was to be have a President rather than a king which would be elected by the legislature, which was in turn elected by the people, also known as a republic.
