Causes of the Revolution People

John Adams Boston lawyer who defended British soldiers accused of murder for the Boston Massacre in 1770, even though he got them off, he became one of the revolutionary leaders from Massachusetts

Sam Adams Leader of Boston Sons of Liberty leader who founded the committees of correspondence, was hiding in Lexington when the British march that direction in April, 1775

Crispus Attucks African American sailor victim of the Boston Massacre in March 1770

Benjamin Franklin Delegate to the Continental Congress from Pennsylvania who was part of the committee assigned to draft a declaration of independence in 1776

King George III King of England from 1760-1820, began sending troops to the American colonies in 1765, approved numerous laws that taxed and tried to control the colonies

John Hancock Head of the Massachusetts committee of safety, was hiding in Lexington in April 1775, president of the 2nd Continental Congress and the 1st to sign the Declaration of Independence

Patrick Henry Member of the Virginia House of Burgesses who supported the break from England, declared in 1765, “I know not what course others may take. But as for me, give me liberty or give me death.”

Thomas Jefferson Delegate to the 2nd Continental Congress from Virginia, part of the committee to draft a declaration of independence in the summer of 1776. Did the actual writing of the Declaration of Independence

Richard Henry Lee Virginia delegate who introduced the resolutions on independence in June 1776

James Otis Massachusetts lawyer who claimed that Parliament didn’t have the right to tax the colonies since they had no representation there, coined the phrase “No taxation without representation”

Thomas Paine His pamphlet Common Sense, published in early 1776, argued that the time had come for America to break with England

Paul Revere Boston silversmith who is remember for riding to warn the countryside that the British were coming in April 1775

George Washington Delegate from Virginia who was chosen by the Second Continental Congress in May 1775 to lead the new American army

Phillis Wheatley America’s 1st African American poet, born in 1753, she wrote poems celebrating the patriot cause

Abigail Adams Early advocate for women’s rights; a sharp observer of the political scene, she shared concerns about the future of the American government with her husband in a series of letters to “remember the ladies.”