the Declaration of Independence

What was the Stamp Act?

In the year 1765-1766, the British parliament, Great Britain’s Legislative Branch along with King George the 3rd, passed a law requiring American colonists to purchase special stamped paper. In the 13 colonies, Great Britain had a large debt from the French and Indian War and they needed to collect revenue, incoming money from taxes. The British parliament decided to pass the laws without representatives from the colonists, creating the Stamp Act.

Who were the Patriots, Loyalists, and the Neutralists?

In the 1760’s and 1770’s, the Patriots, Loyalists, and the Neutralists were 3 groups of people who had different beliefs and views on how America should be. In the 13 colonies, the Patriots wanted separation from Great Britain because they didn’t want a small island like Great Britain to control a large continent like America and that the British laws abused their rights, while the Loyalists wanted to stay loyal to Britain rather than fighting a war, but there was also the Neutralists who wanted to stay out of the conflict because they didn’t agree with fighting, so they were neutral to both sides. The Patriots protested against the Loyalists, but they thought there were other big problems than the Patriots, which the Neutralists stayed out of, but some were on both sides, which this issue lead to the American Revolution.

The French and Indian War

In the time period of 1754-1763, the French and Indian War, a conflict that fought over control of land and trade in North America, especially the Ohio River Valley, was fought between Great Britain and the French with the help of Native American allies on both sides. The war was fought because of competing land claims, the desire for dominance in the fur trade which was the trade of beaver pelts, and the European rivalry between Great Britain and France. In the end, the British was victorious and the war was concluded by the Treaty of Paris (1763) which was an agreement to make peace which lead to the French giving up territory east of the Mississippi River to Great Britain.

What was the Stamp Act Congress?

In October of 1765, representatives, also called delegates, from 9 colonies meet in New York City to have a meeting t discuss how to have a unified response to the Stamp Act, a British tax on everyday items of colonists.

What was the Boston Massacre?

On March 5 of 1770 in Boston, Massachusetts, there was a violent confrontation outside of the Customs House against British soldiers and American colonists in Boston in which British soldiers fired their guns into a crowd of colonists who were protesting, which killed 5 people. There were high tensions between the British and the colonists because the colonists were infuriated at the unpopular taxes that the British troops enforced from the Townsend Acts, a series of laws, so to show their anger, a crowd of colonists confronted British soldiers to open fire because of confusion and panic, which then future leader, Samuel Adams and Paul Revere helped spread the news about the event. There was many different perspectives of the event like how Captain Thomas Preston said that the colonists were at fault because they were threatening British soldiers, but the Boston Gazette and the Country Journal said that the British was to blame because they intended on killing people, and there are many other eyewitnesses of the event who did record their perspectives, but still today, no one knows what really happened on March 5 of 1770.