The American War of Independence

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The American War of Independence
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Topics

• Colonies
• War
• Problems
• The Boston Massacre
• The Boston Tea Party
• The Battle of Lexington and Concord
• The Declaration of Independence
• Peace

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Colonies

• British founded colonies in the 1600 century
• 1732 they had thirteen
• Massachusetts,
• New Hampshire,
• Rhode Island,
• Connecticut,
• New York,
• Pennsylvania,
• New Jersey,
• Delaware,
• Maryland,
• Virginia,
• North Carolina,
• South Carolina,
• Georgia

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War

• Britain and France fought over land in America
  between 1754 and 1763
• British troops were supported by the colonists
• Britain won all the land east of the Mississippi

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Problems

• War was expensive for Britain
• Britain was in dept
• Colonies should pay war dept British fought for
  them
• Colonists were not allowed to produce anything
• Colonists had to pay taxes to Britain for
  everything they imported
• The colonists demanded more rights but not
  independence
• British Parliament refused the demand and sent
  troops to America
  
  

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The Boston Massacre

• 4000 British soldiers were sent to Boston,
  (population 16,000) the centre of protest
• Many people threw stones at soldiers
• Soldiers defended themselves and shot into the
  crowd
• Five people were killed
• The event was called a massacre by the colonists

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The Boston Tea Party

• Only the (British-owned) East India Company was
  allowed to sell tea to the colonies
• Three ships with tea arrived in Boston harbor
• 60 men dressed up as Indians and went secretly on
  the ships
• They opened the barrels with axes and threw the
  tea into the sea
• They damaged nothing else

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The Battle Of Lexington and Concord

• Angry Americans refused to pay taxes
• British went to war with them
• The plan of the British was to
• capture Sam Adams and John Hancock (the two major
  trouble makers) in Lexington and
• march to Concord
• destroy the Minutemens (elite soldiers) supplies

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• British troops left Boston
• Colonist Paul Revere saw a lamp in the Boston
  Church
• The lamb signaled the start of the British attack
  to him
• Revere rode to Lexington and Concorde to warn the
  Minutemen
• When the British troops arrived in Lexington, the
  American troops were ready
• The first battle of the Revolutionary War began
• 342 People died ( 274 British soldiers, 95
  American Patriots)

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The Declaration of Independence
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• On July 4, 1776, the thirteen States declared
  their independence
• The declaration contained a list of things the
  colonists disliked and suggestions for these
  problems

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• The British reaction was to declare war
• August 1776 British soldiers occupied New York
• December 1776 George Washington stabilized the
  situation of the colonists because of his victory
  in the Battle of Trenton
• France supported the Americans with weapons

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Peace

• British got supplies-problems
• France, the Netherlands and Spain fought for the
  Americans
• The British army surrendered after the siege of
  Yorktown, Virginia
• Paris 1783 The British army accepted the
  independence of the ex-British colonies in America

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• Sources
• English G 2000 pp. 30-31
• Wikipedia
• http//www.alexandriacentral.org/cove/revolution.h
  tml