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American revolution causes and interpretation
American revolution causes and interpretation
American revolution social political
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At long last, today the trials of the British soldiers finally concluded! It has been many months since the Boston Massacre occurred on March 5th. I remember that day extremely clearly. I was at my home in North Square when I heard loud knocks and shouts coming from outside my property. I was completely terrified to see what the predicament was! Five years ago a mob ransacked my house and almost killed my family and we barely escaped with our lives! It was only due to my support of the Stamp Act this happened. However, this time I decided to take the chance in order to find out what the dilemma was. As I opened my door I was greeted by colonists urging me to help them stop the violence and unrest which was being committed on King Street. …show more content…
They demanded I remove the soldiers, due to deaths and injuries they had caused. At first I didn’t believe the soldiers had hurt anyone. I rushed down to King Street, however, when I arrived I was shocked to learn of the deaths of 3 civilians by the British soldiers. I couldn’t believe it!! It was the job of the soldiers to quell disorder, not add to it! Anger consumed me as I entered the Old State House searching frantically for Captain Preston who was in charge of the soldiers. It was him who had apparently ordered the soldiers to fire. What stupidity to do such a thing! There had already been disorder before and this was well and truly the tipping point. As Lieutenant Governor, I was adamant justice had to be done! If I didn’t, the hate the citizens had for me would only grow. Eventually, I found Captain Preston. I said to him, “Do you know, sir, that you have no power to fire on anybody of the public collected together except if you have a civil magistrate with you give orders?” He claimed that the orders had not in fact come from him and a soldier had decided to do so on his own accord. Everything he told me that night was a complete contradiction. I was unsure of what to think, although I decided to trust him. In hearing all of what he had to say, I thought it best to find the council members and discuss further action to take. The members exhorted that I see the soldiers who had inflicted death and wounded the Bostonians be punished for their unnecessary actions. While speaking to the members of the council, the unrest outside continued. Something had to be done to calm them! I walked towards the balcony on the second floor to address the citizens. I was determined to see justice done and they needed assurance of that. As I approached the balcony the citizens saw me, but the rioting did not stop. Nonetheless, I spoke to them, saying, “Let the law have its course. I will live and die by the law." In spite of this I wondered what had led to the rioting, I was sure it was the Sam Adams and his patriotic gang, the Sons of Liberty. I had heard that handbills had surfaced in the city threatening the citizens. I was unsure of what exactly this was. The next day, the Sons of Liberty organised a meeting with the citizens and its members to discuss what had happened the evening before.
Without question, later that day John Hancock and Samuel Adams, leaders of the Sons of Liberty stood before me. I was filled with concern and worry, Samuel Adams was the great incendiary, and a combative patriot. He was a hothead and zealously fought for freedom of the colonists. Mr Adams did not believe in the significance of his majesty’s rule over the colonies. However, I am a loyalist, through and through! Hancock and Adams only further reinforced the citizens demands of the expulsion of the 14th and 29th regiments. I agreed this would be done as I had promised the council I would do everything in my power. However, I was very worried about the repercussions from parliament, although I believed justice needed to be applied in fairness. Instead, I allowed Colonel Dalrymple to decide on whether they be completely withdrawn Subsequently, he decided only one regiment would be removed. I was happy with this. Boston was still in need of some order!!
When those who had gathered for the town meeting and the Sons of Liberty heard the verdict, Samuel Adams was at my door once more. Asking, how was it possible for one regiment to be removed and not the other? He was adamant, saying that if some of the soldiers could be removed, then certainly all of them could! It occurred to me, Adams was right and I could only make sure both be completely withdrawn. I advised Colonel Dalrymple of what had happened and he agreed they regiments be
removed. Three weeks after the incident, I discovered an etching signed by Paul Revere of the Sons of Liberty. It was titled “The Bloody Massacre.” The soldiers were displayed as being in complete control, happy to be killing the civilians. Bostonians lay dead on the ground, with blood pouring from their bodies. I realised it’s purpose as propaganda to further push the colonists in revolt of the British rule. It angered me that the etching did not truly depict what had occurred that fateful night! I noticed the picture had been placed in several parts of the city with accounts of witnesses attached. I was in utter shock of the atrocities of that night. Since then, I have continued the receive mistreatment from the citizens. It enrages me that although I represent his majesty, I am considered the main oppressor and enemy of all the British does! I do not choose the law, instead I obey it! I realise now, that the events which happened on the 5th of March are only due to the influence of Samuel Adam’s and the Sons of Liberty’s intentions. They persist in causing problems with the citizens and our rulers. I am certain they will not stop until the British are removed from this land. The possibility of such a thing is simply impossible. We need the aid of the mother country. Without them, we cannot survive. Although I was born here, I will continue to follow and abide the British rule and their parliament.
Captain Thomas Preston’s vision of the Boston massacre was an incident were a British soldier accidently fired his weapon and his men then followed after resulting in the death of five Bostonians including free black sailor Cripus Attucks. Starting the story Captain Thomas Preston admits that the arrival of the Majesty’s Troops were obnoxious to the inhabitants. Troops have done everything in their power to weaken the regiments by falsely propagating untruths about them. On Monday at 8 o’ clock two soldiers were beaten and townspeople then broke into two meetinghouses and rang the bells. But at 9 o’ clock some troops have informed Captain Thomas Preston that the bell was not ringing to give notice for a fire but to make the troops aware of the attack the towns people were going to bring upon them.
However, the author 's interpretations of Jefferson 's decisions and their connection to modern politics are intriguing, to say the least. In 1774, Jefferson penned A Summary View of the Rights of British America and, later, in 1775, drafted the Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms (Ellis 32-44). According to Ellis, the documents act as proof that Jefferson was insensitive to the constitutional complexities a Revolution held as his interpretation of otherwise important matters revolved around his “pattern of juvenile romanticism” (38). Evidently, the American colonies’ desire for independence from the mother country was a momentous decision that affected all thirteen colonies. However, in Ellis’ arguments, Thomas Jefferson’s writing at the time showed either his failure to acknowledge the severity of the situation or his disregard of the same. Accordingly, as written in the American Sphinx, Jefferson’s mannerisms in the first Continental Congress and Virginia evokes the picture of an adolescent instead of the thirty-year-old man he was at the time (Ellis 38). It is no wonder Ellis observes Thomas Jefferson as a founding father who was not only “wildly idealistic” but also possessed “extraordinary naivete” while advocating the notions of a Jeffersonian utopia that unrestrained
...e gun, it seemed, the greater the owner‘s pride in it.” (McCullough 33) The Continental army certainly did not look like an army yet these people were brought together in this fight for freedom and prevailed even winning the support of Americans who had no hope the British would be defeated.” Merchant Erving had sided with the Loyalists primarily because he thought the rebellion would fail. But the success of Washington‘s army at Boston had changed his mind as it had for many” (McCullough 108). The reader must comprehend the power of this accomplishment for the rag-tag army. “Especially for those who had been with Washington and who knew what a close call it was at the beginning-how often circumstance, storms, contrary winds, the oddities or strengths of individual character had made the difference- the outcome seemed little short of a miracle.” (McCullough 294).
This chapter provided information from the trial of Captain Thomas Preston. The chapter asked the question, “What really happened in the Boston Massacre”. Chapter four focused on the overall event of the Massacre and trying to determine if Captain Preston had given the order to fire at Boston citizens. The chapter provides background information and evidence from Preston’s trial to leave the reader answering the question the chapter presents. Although, after looking through all the witnesses’ testimonies some might sway in Captain Preston’s favor, just the way the grand jury did.
“Join, or Die.” “Don’t Tread on Me.” These are two mottos often used by Revolutionary supporters and fighters from about 1754 to 1783, and even sometimes today it is still used. These were battle cries that patriotic men would scream with all their might before charging onto the battlefield, where they might take their last breath. Nearly five thousand men gave their lives, for freedom’s sake. Their sacrifices were not done in vain, as the war was ended on September 3rd, 1783. This sense of victory and accomplishment is what lead these new Americans to further establishing their country, making their mark on history, and creating a new identity for themselves, as free men and woman.
...itish government. In Boston, the site of a bloody confrontation between British redcoats and Americans citizens less than 10 years before, emotions ran high. Boston was a center of agitation and finally on the night of December 16,1773, the course of world history was changed. A revolutionary event was on the horizon. As once patriot mournfully observed, “Our cause is righteous and I have no doubt of final success. But I see our generation, and perhaps out whole land, drown in blood.” (Liberty, 2) The rest is history.
...t Washington paid the troops with $10 in coins, so many of the troops didn’t quit after they were paid handsomely and they stayed and trained, so they may have the freedom they deserve. The british will now taste the colonists bullets and be defeated. The troops had the toughest times in their lives, they had not meat, no clothes, and rotting skin. But they still had their spirits, even when they were sick they had fought a massive winter for their lives. They thought that their independence for every colonist was more significant than their lives, in other words they put the innocents lives first, because without sacrifice there is no victory. 6 months we were at valley forge and we made it out, with many troops and about to give the british a war they’ll never forget. This war is will determine which side gets their desire, total control or freedom to all colonist.
In the world’s lens during the 1760s, the British empire had a clear and prominent control over the colonies. However, by the mid-1770s the Americans became enraged enough to declare war against the British for independence. Due to Britain’s massive imperial presence around the globe, the British civilians had a strong inclination for a successful outcome. Instead, the colonists pulled a surprising victory from what should have been a swift defeat. While the British had an abundance of advantages, they lost the Revolutionary War because the British army underestimated the colonists’ perseverance for freedom.
In December 1782, the officers based at Newburgh, New York, agreed to petition Congress for the pensions that they were not receiving. Just after Christmas, Major General Alexander McDougall, along with two colonels, brought their protest to Philadelphia (Ferling, 249). In early January 1783, amongst rumors of mass resignations, a three-man delegation of officers went to Philadelphia to place before Congress a petition that compiled their repressed grievances (Chernow, 432). The petition stated that many officers had become poor, or missed out on the opportunity to become rich, as a result of years of service. Many officers health was in danger as well(Ferling, 249). Pay and half-pay, however, was the least of the officers concerns in Newburgh. Most officers were anxious about returning to a regular lifestyle. For all, the end of hostilities meant re-entering a society tha...
The Boston Massacre was one the most controversial massacre in American history that teased the coming of the American Revolution. People were taunting a British soldier who was standing “in front of the Boston Custom House” who got very frustrated to the point where he hit somebody. The soldier got overwhelmed by people who came after he hit one of them, called help from his fellow soldiers. When Captain Preston and his soldiers arrived at the scene, people were coming from everywhere, some were trying to fight them and some were just there to watch. Then, one of the soldier shot at the people and his fellow soldiers started shooting after, which killed five people. This what ended it up being called the Boston Massacre. Some might say that the murderer were the soldiers who shot the people, but the real murderer is
“And I hereby further declare all indented servants, Negroes, or others (appertaining to Rebels) free, that are able and willing to bear arms, the joining of His Majesty's Troops, as soon as may be, for the more speedily reducing the Colony to a proper sense of their duty, to this Majesty's crown and dignity.”
One night, on March 5, 1770, a street fight occurred between a group of American patriots and some British soldiers stationed in Boston. The Americans harassed the troops by yelling and shouting names at them and throwing snowballs and sticks. A crowd formed and in the noise and confusion, weapons were fired. In the end, ...
Journal of the First Congress of the American Colonies, in Opposition to the Tyrannical Acts of the British Parliament. Held at New York, October 7, 1765 (New York, 1845), pp. 27-29.
On March 5, 1770, five colonists lost their lives in what American history would deem their fight for liberty; however, several British soldiers were placed on trial for murder when they were only fighting for their lives against an anger mob. John Adams, who would become our second president, defended these soldiers in an attempted to prove their innocents. The trial was held on American soil and the outcome did not fare well for the British soldiers. Adams was able to keep them from receiving the death penalty, however both soldiers were “branded” for life as murders. Boston was a cauldro...
The esteemed patriot and my good friend and neighbor, Samuel Adams, tells me that he has received word from “A Virginian who wrote home from London that King George’s own House of Commons says he is ‘very obstinate’ and ‘shan’t continue to reign with any peaceable conduct toward the colonies’.” (Langguth, 28)