The Revolutionary War

Analyze the Photograph...

Before the U.S.A. King George of Britain had 13 colonies in North America. People had come to live in them so they could have some freedom and to start a new life. The people who had decided to live in the colonies were the rebellious type- people who wouldn’t let anyone boss them around!

French and Indian War In 1754, Great Britain and France broke out in war over control of North America. (It’s called the French and Indian war because the French and Native Americans were on the same side- allies.) Great Britain won the war, but it had cost them huge amounts of money. King George decided to get Great Britain out of debt by making the colonists pay outrageous taxes…uh oh!

$$Taxes$$ The Declaratory Act stated that Britain could tax the colonists anytime they wanted to. The Stamp Act put a tax on all legal documents-this means that even newspapers were expensive! The Sugar Act taxed…sugar.  A few years later, there was even a tax on tea, called the Tea Act.

Not Only Were There Taxes, The Proclamation of 1763 made all the land west of the Appalachians off limits to the colonists. This might not have been so bad if a lot of the colonists weren’t already there! The Quartering Act forced the colonists to let soldiers LIVE with them. Many colonists wondered why King George wouldn’t pay for the soldiers’ houses with all their tax money!

The Boston Tea Party Once, the colonists got so angry that a group of them dressed up as Indians, snuck on a ship, and dumped all the tea on the ship into the Boston Harbor. It was their way of rebelling against the taxes and all the other demands of King George. Needless to say, this “Tea Party” made him pretty angry and he put even more restrictions on the colonists.

Trying to Keep the Peace The colonists put together a group of leaders called the First Continental Congress. They asked King George to take back some of his rules and give the colonists their freedom back. He refused. Bad move, George.

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! The colonists had already been assembling an army of about 5,000 men. At the Second Continental Congress, the Declaration of Independence was written. With liberty and freedom from King George and his ways as the goal, the Revolutionary War began! Schoolhouse Rock