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Private Hugh White was the only one guarding the King's money inside the Custom House in Boston. Then came some angry colonists who were only there to bother him, and at one point White struck back and hit one of the colonists with his bayonet. Bells would start ringing and would bring many male colonists to White. White would call for backup, and would take a defensive stance. With all the commotion one soldier heard "fire" and the rest of them started shooting causing 5 deaths and wounding 6. -
The Boston Tea Party was a way for American colonists to voice their complaints about imposing taxes without representation. On that night, members of the Sons of Liberty disguised themselves to get on the docked ships to then throw over 342 chests of tea into the water. -
The Intolerable Acts were created to punish the Massachusetts Bay colony for the Boston Tea Party. There are 4 acts, the Boston Port Act allowed the Royal Navy to block off the Boston Harbor. The Massachusetts Government Act harmed the impartiality of the colony's judicial system. The Administration of Justice Act allowed trials to get moved to another colony or Great Britain. The Quartering Act allowed high-ranking military officials to demand better quarters and refuse unwanted locations. -
On September 5th, 1774, 12 out of the 13 colonies sent delegates to Carpenter's Hall in Philadelphia to start a resistance against the Intolerable Acts that the British imposed on them. In that meeting known as the First Continental Congress, were people who would be important in the future, such as, John Adams, George Washington, and John Jay. -
During the Battles of Lexington and Concord, the American troops learned that the British were planning to surround Boston by building fortifications near Breed's Hill. -
Joseph Warren, a member of the Sons of Liberty, was informed by a source inside the British high command that British troops were going to march to Concord. Joseph sent Paul Revere and William Dawes to inform residents and allies. Paul went to Charlestown and William went along the Boston Neck peninsula and then met up in Lexington. They set out again and Revere was captured by a British patrol and Dawes was thrown from his horse, forced to walk back to Lexington on foot. -
The battles of Lexington and Concord were the first fights to begin the American Revolution. On April 19, 1775, about 700 British troops arrived in Lexington and 77 militiamen prepared for battle, to this day no one knows who shot first but after the smoke cleared, 8 militiamen were killed and 9 were wounded and only 1 redcoat was injured. The British then arrived in Concord and they accidently had an out of control fire which caused the militiamen nearby to defend and make the British retreat. -
Armed conflicts began between American colonists and British soldiers in April 1775, and Americans were still fighting for rights as subjects to the British Crown. In mid-June 1776 a 5 man committee consisting of Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and John Adams, were writing a draft, mostly by Jefferson, that would state the colonies' intentions and declare its freedom from Great Britain. And on July 4, 1776, Congress would officially adopt the the Declaration of Independence. -
The First Battle of Saratoga was on the abandoned farm of loyalist John Freeman. The fight lasted hours, neither side had an advantage until German troops supported the British and the Americans retreated, but the British had twice the casualties than the Americans. The Second Battle of Saratoga was in Bemis Heights where Burgoyne tried flanking the Americans but were caught and forced to retreat slowly because of the weather. Burgoyne later was caught and he surrendered his army on October 17. -
The Treaty of Paris who was negotiated by Benjamin Franklin, John Jay, and John Adams with representatives of King George lll of Great Britain, formally ended the American Revolutionary War. In the Treaty of Paris, the British Crown formally acknowledged American Independence and surrendered most of its territory east of the Mississippi River to the United States, doubling the size of the new nation.