The Revolution IGNITED: febrero 2011

THOMAS PAINE'S RADICAL PROPOSAL

Thomas Paine was an author, pamphleteer, radical, inventor, intellectual, revolutionary, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States.He has been called "a corsetmaker by trade, a journalist by profession, and a propagandist by inclination."

Born in Thetford, in the English county of Norfolk, Paine emigrated to the British American colonies in 1774 in time to participate in the American Revolution. His principal contributions were the powerful, widely read pamphlet Common Sense

He denounced the King and aristocrasts as frauds and parasites. He wanted the common people to elect everyone in the goverment. Thomas Paine depicked the King as the enemy, not Parliament. He hated the rigid class structure of britan for smothering the hopes of the poor who had no titles. He argued that a republic would award those who worked hard, instead of inheriting your power or priviledges.

Patriots and Loyalists Disagree

Though most people agreed with the boycotts of British imports there was a small minority that preffered the British rule. Many, if not most loyalists dreaded the Patriots and mobs. Some Loyalists didn't fight because they were not dissatisfied. They may have been wealthy or simply believed that Great Britain was justified in its actions. Patriots would insult Loyalists and mistrusted them because they did not believe in the Patriots' cause.

Despite mounting grievances, it is important to note that many Patriots considered themselves subjects of the King until the brink of war, and were often proud of being British. Britain had won the French and Indian War just a decade previously, and colonists were still experiencing national pride as a result of the important victory. In addition,

Britain

was widely perceived as one of the more progressive governments in the world. Interestingly, the emphasis on individual liberty that colonists so cherished as Britons added fuel to Patriot rhetoric – how could a government that proclaimed individual rights and due process for their mainland citizens ignore the will of their colonists?

Although many loyalists disafreed with the taxes, they believed that they had to obey the goverment. Loyalists feared that the resistance was going to start a war. They favored laws and order and considered Patriots vermin. Loyalists resented Patriots shooting down loyalist newspaper stands. Loyalism appealed to native americans and to enslaved people.

Loyalists opposed patriot causes becaus the preffered English rule, they considered Patriots brutal, they disliked the militia and most importantly, the favored law and order.

The Second Continental Congress

The battle of Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts provided an impulsion to assemble this time the delegates of all 13 colonies at the State House in Philadelphia. The second continental congress was lead by John Hancock who included the same delegates as the past continental congress but this time including Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania, John Hancock from Massachusetts and Thomas Jefferson of Virginia. All the colonies sent their representatives. This gathering of patriots involved John Adams, Samuel Adams and Richard Henry the leading lights of the revolutionary generation. The Congress included sixty-five delegates. At the Congress, they decided to completely break away from Great Britain. On May 15, 1776 they were determined to put the colonies in position of defense. They also agreed to organize the militia of the colonies better. After forming the army they called it the American Continental Army and on June 14, they officially appointed George Washington as commander-in-chief of the army who chose to serve the army without pay. As he knew hi army would face great trouble he wrote that Americans were "not then organized as a nation, or known as a people upon the earth. We had no preparation. Money, the nerve of war, was wanting." Aware of this, they were afraid to face such a grand empire as Great Britain.

But to pay the militia and its supplies they authorize printing of money and appointed to accomplish relations with foreign governments with the purpose of finding allies to fight the British.

Yet, in May of 1775 the majority of delegates were not trying to find independence from Britain and still be part of England with their requirements, except for radicals like John Adams. On July of that same year the Congress approved the Olive Branch Petition directly appointed to the king where they demanded King George III a peaceful resolve to the difficulties that the colonies had with Britain. The king rejected the petition and instead sent more troops to Boston and declared Britain in a state of rebellion in August.

As time passed the feeling and wish for independence grew stronger. Men in Philadelphia were now hunted for disloyalty. This led to the summer of 1776 when the formal declaration of independence was brought making the meeting of the second Continental Congress one of the most important government meetings in the history of the United States of America, since it decided some of the most important ideas that the colonists fought for in the Revolutionary War in the declaration of Independence wrote by Thomas Jefferson.

At the signing of the Declaration of Independence, John Hancock wrote his name first and biggest on the declaration. He said, "The British ministry can read that name without spectacles; let them double their reward." The reward he refers to is the one offered by King George III that was to be given to anyone who could capture one of the Sons of Liberty, especially Samuel Adams and John Hancock.

The Battle of Lexington and Concord

The first battle that started off the American Revolution took place in Lexington, Massachusetts west of Boston. On April 19, 1775 war erupted with General Thomas Gage seeding 700 soldiers to destroy guns and ammunition the colonists had stores in the town of Concord, and to arrest Samuel Adams and John Hancock, two of the colonial leaders. In the patriot movement who had gathered in a provincial congress in Massachusetts to govern Massachusetts without Gage. In attempt at secrecy Gage did not tell his officers about his plans until last minute.

However through a man called Dr. Joseph Warren, the colonists where able to learn about British plans, sending Paul Revere to warn Adams and Hancock. He made a plan alert the people and placed lanterns in the Old North Church steeple. He would light one lantern if the British were coming by land and two lanterns if the British were coming by sea. As the British troops were approaching, Paul Revere hung two lanterns in the church steeple. Then Paul Revere, William Dawes and Dr. Samuel Prescott rode to warn the colonists that the British were coming.

Paul Revere rode to Lexington and alerted Samuel Adams and John Hancock. By the time the British soldiers reached Lexington, Samuel Adams and John Hancock had escaped.

As colonists expected a battle against the British, they organized a militia of full time farmers and part time soldiers who were called minutemen because they had to get prepared in a matter of minutes to quickly respond to British troop threats.

When the British soldiers reached Lexington, Captain Jonas Parker and 75 armed Minutemen were there to meet them. Then a shot made by someone unknown was heard, this began a massive shooting among the British and colonists. As the British soldiers fired, they killed 8 Minutemen and injured 10 more. Paul Revere was then captured by British scouts but other messenger managed to warn other people. While soldiers went to Concord, the colonists were moving arms and ammunition to new hidings in other towns. As British soldiers marched back to Boston, they were assaulted by Minutemen from behind. By the time the soldiers reached Boston, 73 British soldiers were dead and 174 more were wounded.

As a result 49 patriots were killed, and 39 others were hurt.

PINK PANTHER - PAUL REVERE

Road To The Revolution

INTOLERABLE Acts

The Intolerable Acts were commonly known in England as Coercive Acts. They were introduced in 1774 as a reply or punishment form the Parliament to the colonists to the Boston Tea Party. These series of laws were sponsored by British Prime Minister Lord North and encouraged by King George III with the purpose of restoring order in Massachusetts.

The Intolerable Acts, as they were known in America, included the following:

Boston Port Act (March 31) : The king closed Boston Harbor to everything but British ships, boycotting the colonists, until the East India colony was paid for the lost tea on the Boston Tea Party.

Quartering Act (June 22) : To enforce this measure the British sent troops and warships to Boston and allow soldiers to inhabit n colonial buildings at expense of the colonists.

Quebec Act (June 2) : British expanded the boundaries of the province of Quebec, the southern border of Canada and cut off the western colonies of Connecticut, Massachusetts and Virginia. People that lived in that area lost heir land.

Administration of Justice Act (June 2) : British officers that committed crimes in the colonies had to go to trial in England.

Massachusetts Government Act (May 20) : Consisted in taking away right of self-government. Government positions were appointed by the governor or directly by the king. Strict limits were placed on the town meetings. This was established with the intention of forcing Boston out of resistance.

In rural Massachusetts, people reacted to the British action with violence. They were armed with clubs and guns to force the courts of law to shut down. They also assaulted anyone that accepted an office under the governors commands or spoke in favor of the parliament. And used tarring and feathering to torture the victims.

The Boston Tea Party

As a result of the American protests, the Parliament terminated the Townshend Act (1777), they removed British troops from the colonies and took away the taxes except tea to show their supremacy and dominance over the colonists. The colonists demonstrated their displeasure by boycotting the tea and buying smuggle tea from Holland instead.

In 1773 the parliament passed the Tea Act which provided the following:

Tea was allowed to be shipped in East India Company ships directly from India to the American colonies without any intermediate, bypassing the colonial wholesale merchants.
A duty of three pence per pound was to be collected on tea delivered to America; this tax was considerably less than the previous one.
The tea was to be marketed in America by merchants selected by the East India Company.

This gave the British East India Company (who sold the tea) to avoid economic failure by having a control in the importation of tea into the colonies.This changes made the tea much more cheaper than the smuggle tea, this made the British think the colonist would willingly pay the tax since they were able to pay a low price for tea. However if the colonists paid for the duty tax on the imported tea, they would be recognizing the Parliament's right to tax them. When the East India Company sent shipments of tea to Philadelphia and New York the ships were not allowed to land. In Charleston the tea-laden ships were permitted to dock but their cargo was retained on a warehouse for 3 years until it was sold for colonial patriots to finance the revolution. On Monday morning, the 29th of November, 1773, a handbill was posted all over Boston, containing the following words: "Friends! Brethren! Countrymen!--That worst of plagues, the detested tea, shipped for this port by the East India Company, is now arrived in the harbor.

Three ships from London, the Dartmouth, the Eleanor and the Beaver, sailed into Boston Harbor from November 28th to December 8, 1773. Loaded with tea from the East India Company, they were all anchored at Griffin’s Wharf but were prevented from unloading their cargo. Claiming the tea to be returned or to face payback, the Sons of Liberty under the leadership of Samuel Adams met to determine the ships´ luck.

On a night of December 16, 1773 the Boston patriots took matter into their own hands. They disguised as Mohawk Indians and with the spirit of freedom ignited they headed towards Griffin's Wharf and the three ships. Quietly they boarded the 3 ships and dumped the tea into the sea. By nine o'clock p.m., the Sons of Liberty had emptied a total of 342 crates of tea into Boston Harbor.

Most colonists applauded the action while the reaction in London was furious and vigorous.

Patriot Leaders

Colonists violently opposed the Stamp Act creating a fragile sense of American Unity. Those who oppose the British taxes called themselves patriots everywhere showing great interest in politics.

To lead the power of protest people made an association called:

SONS OF LIBERTY

Members of these alliances were mostly middle class and upper class representation. They saw themselves as organizers against specific governments and not as disrupters of royal authority.

The first group was made in New York with Isaac Sears and Alexander McDougall, who were both merchants, sailors, and political figures, as their leaders. In Massachusetts the association was organized by Samuel Adams, an American statesman and political philosopher, and Paul Revere and American silversmith.

One of the first inputs to the union was the non-importation agreements which consisted on a series of restrictions toward the British merchants. This made the Stamp Act be abolished in 1766 as a petition from the British merchants who were losing money from shipping goods that were not being received. Custom officers could not collect taxes from restricted goods or goods that were never sold. If these officers did receive the shipping, they´d be forced to make public humiliating confessions about the misdeed.

This lead to the Townshend Act in 1767 supported by Charles Townshend, the crown chief financial officer who tried to levy indirect taxes to colonists on everyday objects: glass, paint, lead, paper, and tea. The colonists fought against the taxes encouraging the writings of Samuel Adams and John Dickinson who pointed out that these laws were inconsistent with established English constitutional principles. The Massachusetts assembly was dissolved for sending a circular letter denouncing the Townshend Act. The Boston merchants again boycotted the British goods, they seized a merchant boat ordering I June 16, 1768 for smuggling, the ship belong to a wealthy merchant called John Dickinson a prominent colonial politician. The confiscation of the boat set up riots against custom officers to suppress the riots. The crown sent 40000trooops to take control of the city of Boston and the city only ha 1600 people. For over a year the presence of British troops inflames popular anger especially because poor paid soldiers took away unskilled worker´s jobs. On March 5, 1770 an attack from the colonists toward the Custom House in Boston took place under the leadership of Samuel Adams where nervous soldiers fire against the colonists killing 5 of them. This assault was called the Boston Massacre.

Another way of contribution to the protests was through Committees of Correspondence which was coordinate d by Samuel Adams, made for contacting other colonies, encouraging resistance and organization to fight the British through hand-written letters carried aboard ships or by messengers on horseback to spread their analysis of current events. By 1773 several other colonies had created their own committees creating a colonial unity against Great Britain.

Violence, Protests, and New Taxes

There were three tactics that the colonists used to protest against British taxes.
One consisted of colonial leaders using enlightenment ideas in their sermons and speeches, they also spread their cause by handing out pamphlets that promoted protesting against unfair taxes.
Another method they used that was probably one of the most effective were economic boycotts. They agreed on non-importation agreements from England. Now the women played an important role, since they couldn't import the material they used, they had to make it. It was because of all their contributions that they were named Daughters of Liberty.
The third way that colonists protested was much more physical. They used Violent Intimidation to get their point across. Mobs destroyed the homes of tax collectors and they used tarring and feathering as well.

Tarring and Feathering was a punishment that went back to the Middle Ages with Richard the Lionhearted and the Crusades. Tarring and feathering was successfully used as a weapon against the Townshend Duties (including the tea tax which led to the Boston Tea Party). In Parliament they hotly debated how best to punish the Bostonians. one member argued that "Americans were a strange set of people, and that it was in vain to expect any degree of reasoning from them; that instead of making their claim by argument, they always chose to decide the matter by tarring and feathering." Fearing that the practice was getting out of control and was harming their image, Boston leaders called a halt to the practice.