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Causes of the Revolution

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Biography: Paul Revere


Description:
An American patriot and silversmith, Paul Revere was born in Boston, Jan. 1, 1735, and died May 10, 1818. Revere became a legendary hero at the start of the American Revolution, when he rode from Charlestown to Lexington, Mass., on the night of Apr. 18, 1775, to warn the countryside of approaching British troops.

Born in Boston on January 1, 1735, this hero was the son of a silversmith. Like his father, Revere learned how to make all kinds of things. He was able to supplement his income in the economic depression before the Revolution by creating tools, copper plates, and even fake teeth. Besides working as a silversmith, Revere was a soldier for a short time during the French and Indian War. The British and the French were at war over territory in North America.

In August 1757 he married Sarah Orne with whom he had eight children. Shortly after her death in 1773 he married Rachel Walker, and together they had another eight children.

In the 1770s, Revere became a strong supporter of American independence. He was a member of the 'Sons of Liberty', a group of patriots in who took their name from a debate on the Stamp Act in Parliament in 1765. He joined with 50 other revolutionaries in the Boston Tea Party, an event in 1773 when American colonists destroyed many crates of tea on ships in Boston Harbor. This event was a protest against the English tax on tea in the colonies. The colonists didn't have any say about the new taxes. And they didn't have anyone in the English government to support their cause. This was called "taxation without representation." The incident has been seen as helping to spark the American Revolution.

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Samuel Adams Quote:

Samuel Adams
American Patriot & Politician

1722 - 1803

"If ye love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude
greater than the animating contest for freedom, go home from us
in peace. We seek not your counsel, nor your arms. Crouch down
and lick the hand that feeds you; May your chains set lightly upon
you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen."

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Biography: Samuel Adams


Samuel Adams was born in Boston, Massachusetts on September 27, 1722.. He was a leader of the fight against British colonial rule, and a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Adams was a cousin of John Adams who became the second President of the United States.

Adams' father, a deacon of the church and successful brewer, played a prominent role in Boston politics. When Samuel was a young man, the royal government ruled the senior Adams' investments illegal, ruining him financially. This may have been the cause of Samuel's animosity toward and opposition to colonial authority.

Samuel Adams graduated in 1743 from Harvard College with a Master of Arts degree. After college he entered private business, and throughout this period was an outspoken participant in Boston town meetings. When his business failed in 1764 Adams entered politics full-time, and was elected to the Massachusetts legislature. He lead the effort to establish a committee of correspondence that published a Declaration of Colonial Rights he had written.

Adams was a vocal opponent of several laws passed by the British Parliament to raise revenue in the American Colonies. By 1773, Adams and his Boston associates had pressured England to rescind all these measures but one, the Tea Act. The Tea Act granted the British East India company a monopoly on the sale of tea to the colonies, and included a tax paid to the British crown. Opposition reached its peak on December 16, 1773 when a group of Bostonians dumped a British cargo of tea into Boston Harbor. This act of resistance is referred to as the Boston Tea Party.

The British Parliament responded to the "Boston Tea Party" by passing a set of laws referred to as the "Intolerable Acts." These laws included the closing of Boston Harbor and the restriction town meetings. Adams then urged a general boycott of British trade by the American Colonies.

In 1774 the Massachusetts legislature send Adams and four others as its representatives to the First Continental Congress. Adams served Massachusetts again at the Second Continental Congress where he was an advocate for independence and confederation for the American Colonies.

Adams served Continental Congress until his return to Boston in 1781. He initially opposed the new Constitution of the United States, but finally supported its ratification in Massachusetts. Adams served as Governor of Massachusetts from 1793 to 1797.

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Boston Tea Party


What was the Boston Tea Party?
It all started:
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.

The British East India Company had controlled all tea trading between India and the British colonies. As a result of the tea tax, the colonies refused to buy the British tea. Instead, they smuggled tea in from Holland. This left the British East India Company with warehouses full of unsold tea, and the company was in danger of going out of business.
The British government was determined to prevent the British East India Company from going out of business. It was going to force the colonists to buy their tea. In May 1773, Prime Minister North and the British parliament passed the Tea Act. The Tea Act allowed the British East India Company to sell tea directly to the colonists, bypassing the colonial wholesale merchants. This allowed the company to sell their tea cheaper than the colonial merchants who were selling smuggled tea from Holland.

This act revived the colonial issue of taxation without representation. The colonies once again demanded that the British government remove the tax on tea. In addition, the dockworkers began refusing to unload the tea from ships.

The Governor of Massachusetts demanded that the tea be unloaded. He also demanded that the people pay the taxes and duty on tea.

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Intolerable Acts


What are Intolerable Acts?

The Intolerable Acts were laws that were really punishments that King George III put on the colonies. He did this to the Colonists because he wanted to punish them for dumping tea into the harbor at the Boston Tea Party. The Quakers petitioned King George to repeal or end the acts, but he said that the colonies must submit to these English laws.

These are the Intolerable Acts.

• The Boston Port Bill became effective on June 1, 1774. The King closed Boston Harbor to everything but British ships.
• The Quartering Act was established on March 24, 1765. The King sent lots of British troops to Boston. The colonists had to house and feed the British troops. If the colonists didn't do this for the British troops, they would get shot.

• The Administration of Justice Act became effective May 20, 1774. British Officials could not be tried in colonial courts for crimes. They would be taken back to Britain and have a trial there. That left the British free to do whatever they wanted in the colonies and to the Colonists.

• Massachusetts Government Act became effective on May 20, 1774. The British Governer was in charge of all the town meetings in Boston. There would no more self-government in Boston.

• The Quebec Act was established on May 20, 1774, This bill extended the Canadian borders to cut off the western colonies of Connecticut, Massachusettes and Virginia.

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Boston Massacre


This was an incident that Brittish troops killled 5 colonists that were unarmed. These lead to the American Revolution. This also lead to a lot of civil wars

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enlightment ideas

BARON DE MONTESQUIEU:
believed that all has to be made of rules and laws that never changed, and with these government will have more control over society and improve life.
these 3 governments:
monarchy
republic
despotism
a government to succed most have balance powers.

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