Rev.+war+Af09

  Would You Have Fired the Shot Heard ‘Round the World?  Alicia- We would fight if we were in the minutemen's place at Lexington and Concord because we think the British were being unreasonable by raising taxes and making restrictions.  Marissa- There were unnecessary outbursts and rising of ridiculous taxes on tea and sugar. At one point, a tax convinced the people to start a revolt.  Alicia- It all started with the French and Indian War, or the Seven Years War when the British took control of the New World. It raged on from 1754 to 1763. This war was fought between Great Britain and the North American Indians. Most of the battles were fought in Canada. American colonists, including George Washington, took sides and fought with the British. The British won, winning the right the keep Canada and some other possessions in the New World. That is when the British began to take control.  Marissa- Then came the Sugar Act in 1733. A three-cent tax was put on foreign refined sugar. The taxes also increased on coffee, indigo, silk, molasses, and some types of wine. These taxes affected only a certain part of the population, but the people (merchants) that were affected, got very vocal. When those same taxes were raised in August of 1764, 50 Boston merchants agreed to stop purchasing those British luxury items. In both Boston and New York, there were movements to increase colonial manufacturing. There were many sporadic breakouts of violence, mainly in Rhode Island. Overall, there was not an immediate, high level of protest over the Sugar Act in New England or the rest of the colonies. But the big protesting would begin when the Stamp Act was passed later that same year.  Alicia- In March of 1770, Edward Gerrish, an apprentice, called out to a British officer, Captain Lieutenant John Goldfinch, outside of the Old State House in Boston, that he had not paid his bill. The two began to argue and a crowd began to form. The Bostonians began to throw snowballs at the British officers and argue with Private White, another British officer. ‘’ As the evening progressed the crowd grew larger and more boisterous with a momentary lull. The mob grew in size and continued harassing Private White. As bells rang in the surrounding steeples, the crowd of Bostonians grew larger and more threatening.” That quote was from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Massacre#Event. White knocked Gerrish on the head with his musket and got the Bostonians very angry. At one point, Private Hugh Montgomery, was knocked to the ground. He stood up and fired his musket and some other British followed. Eleven shots were fired, and three, Samuel Gray, James Caldwell, and Crispus Attucks, died instantly. One of the others, Samuel Maverick, died early the next morning. The last, Patrick Carr, died two weeks later. The British men that fired were convicted of murder. This became known as the Boston Massacre.  <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-themecolor: text1">Marissa- The final act was the Boston tea party. It was a revolt against Britain, who passed a law on tea, and the Bostonians did not want to pay. On the night of December 16, 1773, about 200 men from Boston, led by Paul Revere and Sam Adams, disguised themselves as Indians and dumped 342 chests of tea, off of British ships, into the Boston Harbor. In the end, there was nothing broken on the ship but a lock. The next day, the man who broke it went to the Captain of the ship and presented him with a new one. <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: black; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-themecolor: text1"> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: black; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-themecolor: text1">Alicia- In conclusion, the British misused their over seas power. They raised taxes, caused outbreaks and were responsible for colonist deaths. <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: black; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-themecolor: text1"> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: black; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-themecolor: text1">Marissa- The shot heard ‘round the world was fired, it was a good thing and, though it led to the 8-year long war, the Americans became independent from Great Britain. <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: black; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS'; mso-themecolor: text1"> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 110%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive">

[| http://www.socialstudiesforkids.com/wwww/us/frenchandindianwardef.htmb] http://www.socialstudiesforkids.com/wwww/us/sugaractdef.htm http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080912141707AAWVN8z <span style="FONT-SIZE: 110%; COLOR: #cc2af4; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive"> http://www.earlyamerica.com/review/2005_summer_fall/tax_or_not.htm <span style="FONT-SIZE: 110%; COLOR: #cc2af4; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar_Act#Effect_on_the_American_colonies <span style="FONT-SIZE: 110%; COLOR: #cc2af4; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Massacre#Event <span style="FONT-SIZE: 110%; COLOR: #cc2af4; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive">http://www.earlyamerica.com/ <span style="FONT-SIZE: 110%; COLOR: #cc2af4; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive">http://www.ushistory.org/ <span style="FONT-SIZE: 110%; COLOR: #cc2af4; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive">http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/teaparty.htm