Another surprise is that David McCullough, best known for Rushmore-size biographies of underrated presidents, wrestles America's founding year into a taut 294 pages of text, describing the trying months that followed the heroics at Lexington, Concord and the Battle of Bunker Hill. The result is a lucid and lively work that will engage both Revolutionary War bores and general readers who have avoided the subject since their school days.…
The Boston Tea party was a political protest that took place on December 16, 1773 after the colonists got fed up with paying taxes on British tea. The British parliament put taxes on their imports to America. After colonists thought this was illegal and unfair, the British parliament stopped taxing all goods except tea. Few years later they passed out the Tea Act, which brought out the East India Company to relieve their debt. This company actually earned a lot of money by trading with America but the colonists thought this would put local British tea sellers out of business due to no customers. This led the Sons of Liberty to overthrow 342 crates of tea from the East India Company into the Boston Harbor.…
Raphael 's study of the actions of Western Massachusetts farmers in the second half of 1774 is convincing in its portrayal of a truly revolutionary movement that succeeded in ending both British colonial rule and the politics of deference accorded to the wealthy American-born minions and agents of British imperial rule in 95% of Massachusetts. The author made this book easy to read. He broke down all the chaos in a manner that anyone can enjoy and understand. It shows that the Revolution was started and won by all the people of America, not just Washington, Jefferson, and…
Professor Joanne Freeman unravels her plan for her class to make them be aware of the how the American Revolution came about but to get passed most but not all of the dates and facts of the war. Freeman explains that the American Revolution entailed some remarkable transformations like, converting British colonists into American revolutionaries. This lecture examines the American Revolution from a broad perspective. The best part about her lecture is that she breaks it down into five easy steps to understand, and for her being a professor at Yale she probably is one of the top favorite teachers just because of how easy she breaks her lectures down. Freeman relates herself to one of the Founders, John Adams, because he wasn’t up to the status quo of every other Founder as she states it. John was humorous…
The benefit of hindsight allows modern historians to assume that colonists in British America united easily and naturally to throw off the bonds of tyranny in 1775-1776. The fact that "thirteen clocks were made to strike together" (p.4) surprised even the revolutionary leader John Adams. Prior to the mid-1700s many residents of British North America saw themselves in regional roles rather than as "Americans", they were Virginians or Bostonians, regional loyalties trumped any other including those as British colonial citizens. In T. H. Breen's work, The Marketplace of Revolution, he offers an explanation for the sudden creation of a unique American identity. In his words, "What gave the American Revolution distinctive shape was an earlier transformation of the Anglo-American consumer marketplace" (p. xv). Breen contends that before Americans could unite to resist the British Empire, they needed to first develop a unity and trust with one another in spite of their regional differences. "The Marketplace of Revolution argues, therefore, that the colonists shared experience as consumers provided them with the cultural resources needed to develop a bold new form of political protest" (p. xv). The transformation of the consumer marketplace allowed the colonists of British North America to create a unique British and the American identity that would later result in revolution and the formation of a new nation. This trust based on consumption, Breen concludes, was absolutely necessary for the boycott movement to be an effective tool against the British government. "Unless unhappy people develop the capacity to trust other unhappy people protest remains a local affair easily silence by traditional authority" (p.1).…
Leading up to the fierce and fiery confrontations at Lexington and Concord, a tumultuous period of debate and negotiation ensued regarding the preferred response of the colonies to British encroachment on their rights. The meeting of Virginian representatives in March of 1775 would prove to be a fruitless affair; that is, until a young, ardent lawyer by the name of Patrick Henry delivered an impassioned oration, with the intent of elucidating upon the reality of the situation: that the then-colonies were being driven to militant opposition of their royal overlords, and that to continue on passively would be to “retreat...[into] submission and slavery.” In his speech, Patrick Henry persuades the convention, and thereby the people, of the necessity of revolution through his employment of metaphorical imagery, stylized religious and mythological allusions, and a slew of rhetorical questions. In a blaze of libertarian sentiment, Henry incited the passions of the delegates and set the stage for the most glorious revolution in the history of mankind.…
In Woods Pulitzer Prize winning account of U.S. society during the time of the American Revolution, he shows how the Revolution was not merely a coup de taut but a complete remodeling of social structure and organization. In Woods opinion the American Revolution was as radical as any revolution in history. The Revolution was very different from other revolutions, in that the British monarchy was being replaced by an American Republic and not another tyrant. “In fact, it was of the greatest revolutions the word has known, a momentous upheaval that not only fundamentally altered the character of American society but decisively affected the course of subsequent history” (Woods 5).…
In the book, "The Minutemen and Their World" by Robert A. Gross, a closer look is taken at the American Revolution by examining the lives of the people that live in Concord, Massachusetts. By researching and interpreting diaries, court records, colony records, genealogies, and private papers Gross begins to describe a society before, during, and after the American Revolution. He furthermore succeeds in creating a well-written historical text that is easy to read, interpret, and enjoy. It can be thought that Gross accomplishes this by giving the reader a better sense of the life of a person during the American Revolution. Also, the author presents the fact that not only were the people of Concord undergoing a Revolution to fight for their independence, but they were also undergoing social, economic, agricultural, and religious revolutions.…
Revolution Begins: I have only heard of General Gage twice. We heard he was in Massachusetts as a Commander of British Northern Soldiers. The Tea Party Act, and the Suspension of Boston trade, was a huge setback to majority of the people who lived and depend on it especially our neighborhood. I walked to the city streets everyday and it was deserted, since there have been British troops been hostile to colonialists and subsequent killings by soldiers. I can home one night, two days ago and I opened the door. When I turned around I heard boots marching by, I opened the door and went in. Through the bedroom window I looked outside and I saw a band of redcoats British soldier marching…
In the book An Empire on the Edge, Nick Bunker addressed a clearer idea and understanding of not only the American Revolution, but also the Boston Tea Party and all the events that caused these major riots to happen. Bunker obviously wrote this book to show that even though it was a struggle and a fight for the United States to gain independence, they exerted their best efforts and ultimately succeeded. The many struggles and trials that they had to go through to get America to be the way it is today is astonishing. The book shows how many Acts, Crisis’, and Wars have shaped the United States throughout these long years. It shows how any people are willing to help the Americas gain their sovereignty, “Long before the general arrived in Boston, and even with the war a year away, we find young patriots in America already committing lines to paper that might have sent them to the gallows if any British spy had read them” (281). However, the years leading up to the…
In the 242 years it’s been since December 16th, 1773, The Boston Tea Party still continues to influence American Society to this very day. A famous protest by colonists against British taxes, Massachusetts citizens, disguised as Mohawk Indians, climbed aboard the three ships docked at Griffin’s Wharf, The Dartmouth, The Eleanor, and The Beaver. Utilizing the hatchets they carried with then, they tore open 342 crates of tea and dumped it all into the Boston harbor. Leading up to the incident, the crippling debt from the lasting French and Indian War and the impending demise of Britain’s treasured East India Company became the most powerful catalysts to spur the rebellious action. More so, following the destruction of the tea, the King, and Parliament,…
In the story "John Adams and the Coming of the Revolution”, author David McCullough discusses how John Adams was asked to defend the British soldiers in court of the soldier’s accusation of man slaughter, following the Boston Massacre. Being such a problematic case that could ruin his reputation, John Adams accepted to defend the soldiers because of his experience in difficult cases, and his strong principles and beliefs. John Adam’s reputation did not even tarnish because of how skillfully he handled the case gaining the respect of the people of Boston.…
Alfred F. Young’s The Shoemaker and the Revolution is simply a triumph story. Where a man is just not a man but symbolizes a “revolution” in itself. Through the eyes of George Robert Twelves Hewes, the shoemaker; we take a closer look into what events lead to the Revolution and what the people affected by it truly felt. Young’s argues that the three main regards to the defiance of Britain were the Tea Party, Boston Massacre, and the Tarring and Feathering of John Malcolm. This changed the everyday working class colonist (all colonists) to political activists and changed their political and social views dramatically. For example when John Hancock invited Hewes to his home on New Year’s Eve and he was happy to oblige because Hancock was a man that Hewes respected. Many years later that is not the case. Hewes defied towards the Lieutenant Hancock on his ship and refused the take of his hat. Other reasons that not only colonist like Hewes the Shoemaker defied against the British but also common working people. The disrespect that the Red Coats showed these workers made them resist their authority and rebel. In the shoemakers case when giving shoe repair to Sergeant Burk; the officer refused to pay. Many colonists were fed up and they wanted to make a change, take a stand. Like Hewes did, many citizens started to volunteer for rebellious acts such as the night of December 16, 1773 also known as the Tea Party. The Boston Massacre was no different. After that happen, Hewes and other colonists did not go home in sadness; they went home in anger to only come back and fight for what they believed in Liberty and Equality. Protest and boycotts were the rave of the towns because the colonists did not rest until they had change. Hewes lived the dream; he became a militant like he always wanted fighting for America the country they now called their own. These experiences not only changed Hewes…
In your answer be sure to address the political, social, and economic effects of the…
Young, Alfred F. The Shoemaker and the Tea Party: Memory and the American Revolution. Boston: Beacon Press, 1999. Print.…