English/History: April 2008

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

John Quincy Adams

John Quincy Adams was born on July 11, 1767, in Braintree, which is now Quincy Massachusetts. He was the son of Abigael and John Adams. John Quincy was a son of the Revolution which began when he was seven years old. His father was the man at the second continental congress that nominated George Washington to lead the Continental Congress. He spent most of his early life over seas with his father. In 1776 when he was nine years old the Common Sense was written by Thomas Paine, which was an article written to say why the colonists should go to war against Britain. Also when he was a young boy the Declaration was written and signed by, Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin, John Hancock and many more. He graduated from Harvard at the age of 26 then he became a lawyer.
George Washington appointed Adams as minister to the Netherlands from 1794 to 1796. From 1817 to 1825 he served as Secretary of State in the cabinet of James Monroe. He tried to make amendments to the Constitution in 1839, saying that no person that was born in America would be born a slave. There was many good things that John Quincy Adams did for the revolution. He later went on to become the sixth President of the United States.
John Quincy participated in the revolution because is father played a major role in it. So he was pretty much born into it. He wanted to do things for his country and do things to make his father proud. He really wanted to be living without being controlled by England. He knew what had happened at the Boston Massacre, he had heard about it. He saw the famous propaganda picture made by Paul Revere. He didn't want to live in that, he didn't want his family to live in it, to grow up in it like he had done.
Adams has gotten fairly good recognition, being the president and all of the stuff he did in the Revolution. He could have a little more though. Before he died he wrote what was going to be on his headstone. He didn't put anything about being the sixth President on there, he didn't feel that it was an important event in his life. All of the other stuff he did in the Revolution he did put on there. This shows that he deserves some recognition. He was a good man and did well for himself when he was alive.

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Boston Massacre essay # 1

Gentlemen of the jury, i propose that the defendant Captain Preston is guilty of the murder of the five civilians.

It all started with a teenager, Edward Garrish, talking to a British soldier that was on guard that he owed a barber for a haircut. The soldier hit the young man with the butt of his gun in the young mans face. People started crowding around and snow and or ice was thrown at the soldiers that came in to help out their member. This group of 6 or 8 soldiers was led by Captain Preston. There was some yelling names and eventually a soldier fired his gun and the killing broke out.
Captain Preston told his men to load and ready their guns. Someone did say fire, it is not yet determined who, but we have several witnesses that say they think it was the Captain. Even if not Preston who gave the command then he should have had better control over his men and prevented the shooting from happening. There was someone that, "damn your bloods, fire!" A way that he could have solved the problem is to just shoot one shot up in the air.
This man should be punished, he should not be brought to death but he should be tortured. He should be displayed in front of the town and then be tared and feathered and have to ride the pole and then go hungry and with no food until he dies.
This will tell the King that we the colony are under control and that we need none of there help. We will not tolerate anything like this.

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Revolution and War

1763-1789

Revolution Notes

1763—Proclamation Act

Its was a line which was the Appalachian Mountain that separates each side and what each side gets.

1764—Grenville Acts (direct tax)

Sugar (molasses, wine)
Stamp
Quartering
Currency

Virtual/ Direct Representation

It was the first attempt for Britain to get back money from the war, so they tax sugar stamp,ext

1765—Stamp Act Congress

Sons of Liberty
Samuel Adams
Paul Revere
John Hancock
Propaganda
Boycotts
Lobsters (Lobster-backs, Thomas Lobster)

A group of people having a meeting about stamps. And talking about the problems.

1766—Declaratory Act

Britain takes away all taxes but say they have all rights to use taxes the way they choose.

1767—Townsend Acts (indirect tax)

Charles Townsend
Writs of Assistance (search warrants)
Revenue used to pay Royal officials in the colonies
Tea Act (glass, paper, paint) support British East India Company

It was a second attempt to tax the colonies.

1770—Boston Massacre

March 5, 1770
Local reaction (primarily)
5 dead colonists
John Adams defends British soldiers/5 exonerated-2 convicted
Convicted men discharged and thumbs branded

It was a riot that was turned into propaganda ,which made the British look bad.

1773—Boston Tea Party

November 30, 1773--Dartmouth sails into Boston Harbor
December 16, 1773--Tea dumped into harbor
340 chests of tea dumped (value of 10,000 British pounds)

tea was dumped into the water which was damaging other peoples property.

1774—Intolerable Acts (Coercive Acts in Britain)

Close the port of Boston
Shut down Provincial and Town Governments
All offices appointed
Named General Thomas Gage as Governor
Gave all western lands north of the Ohio R. to Quebec, allowed Catholic Church to practice

The third tax try, but instead of getting their money they closed down towns and ports.

1774—1^st Continental Congress

September to October (7 weeks)
Carpenter’s Hall, Philadelphia
New England—John Adams, Paul Revere, Silas Deane
Virginia—Washington, Patrick Henry, Peyton Randolph, Richard Henry Lee
Pennsylvania—John Dickinson, Joseph Galloway (Plan for American council under Parliament, to avoid war)
New York—John Jay, James Duane
Maryland—Samuel Chase (future Supreme Court Justice), Charles Carroll (richest man in Maryland, Catholic)
Declaration of Rights—rejects Parliamentary authority over internal colonial affairs, colonies manage own defense, united aid to Boston if Intolerable Acts continue, absolute boycott of British goods to be enforced rigidly

A group of people that represented their own states.

1775— January

William Pitt urges Parliament to withdraw troops from America because the idea of managing the colonies through force was “too ridiculous to take up a moment of your lordships’ time”

He was the smartest person in that room but no one believed him and they made him leave.

1775—April 19 Lexington and Concord

Gen. Gage sends 700 men to Concord to seize the powder supplies
Paul Revere and William Dawes raise alarm the night before
Town of Lexington is on the way to Concord
Minutemen are assembled on the town common
“Shot heard round the world”
18 colonials killed and the rest run away
British march on to Concord and find the munitions were moved overnight
Minutemen ambush the British the whole way back to Boston
430 Redcoats make it back to Boston
30,000 Colonists surround Boston

1775—May

Gen. Howe, Gen. Clinton, Gen. Burgoyne
5,000 British troops
Ethan Allen, “Green Mountain Boys” seize Fort Ticonderoga
Henry Knox uses canon to lay siege on Boston
Benedict Arnold (Connecticut) takes Fort Crown Point to impede an invasion from Canada

1775—May 10, 2^nd Continental Congress

Sam Adams pushes for Independence
John Dickenson (Penn.) urges restraint
Agree to form Colonial Army
Delegates unanimously agree to Washington as Commander of Continental Army (John Adams suggestion)

1775—June 17, “Battle of Bunker Hill”

Actually fought on Breed’s Hill
Gen. Howe leads assault without canon support (his canon had been matched with wrong-sized cannonballs [Amherst at Ticonderoga])
Militia waited to within 30 yards (some say 15 yards)
Militia target British officers
Militia ran extremely low on ammunition
On the third assault, led by Gen. Howe, British troops overtake the colonial position
Britain losses almost 1000 men (about half the attacking force)
Colonials lose about 500 men

Britain lost 2 men for every 1 the colonists lost.

1776—January, Common Sense

Written by Thomas Paine
120,000 copies sold in three months

1776—March

Gen. William Howe evacuates Boston
July 2, lands in Staten Island, New York (Loyalist base)

1776—Declaration of Independence

June 7, Richard Henry Lee (Virginia) introduces legislation to declare independence from Britain
Before voting on Lee’s proposal Congress appoints five-man committee to draft a formal Declaration of Independence (Thomas Jefferson, 33, does most of the writing)
June 28, Declaration presented to Congress
July 2, Congress approves Lee’s legislation to declare the United States of America independent of Great Britain
July 4, Congress officially adopts the Declaration of Independence
The Declaration intended to:

Undermine loyalty to King George III
Outline basic principles of representative government
Establish the “right” of rebellion

War

1776—August, Brooklyn Heights, New York

Largest Naval group Britain will launch until the 20^th century
British victory, city falls to England
As winter came “sunshine patriots” left the American Army
Initial colonial enlistments due to expire

1776—December, Battle of Trenton

Howe believes war almost won
1,400 Hessians stationed at Trenton
Colonel Rall (Hessian) builds no fortifications
Washington “Crosses the Delaware” Christmas night
2,500 men; 18 artillery guns
Surprise attack at dawn
106 Hessians killed, 918 captured
No colonial casualties
Washington retreats in secret to avoid Gen. Cornwallis counter-attack

1777—January, Princeton

Washington ambushes British troops
Colonial victory establishes this will not be a quick war for Britain

1777—September-October, Saratoga

Gen. Burgoyne plans a three-prong attack on colonials at Albany
Plan does not consider the terrain, forcing British troops to march through swamps, lakes, hills and forests full of rebels
Two of the three “prongs” never arrive (Howe goes to Philadelphia instead, St. Leger retreats to New York afraid of Benedict Arnold)
Sept. Burgoyne crosses Hudson River
Oct. 17, Burgoyne surrenders
Establishes American Army as real threat
Helps secure open French Alliance
Turning Point of the War

1777-1778—Winter at Valley Forge

Under-funded troops
Low morale
10,000+ troops
4,000 troops listed as “unfit for duty” due to poor supplies (boots, blankets, coats, etc.)
2,500 troops die of disease (typhus, typhoid fever, dysentery, pneumonia)
George Washington mentioned a lack of shoes so severe that the men's "marches might be tracked by the blood from their feet”
Local farmers would sell produce to Brits who could pay cash

1779—February, Vincennes

1780—August, Camden

1780—October, Kings Mountain

1781—October, Yorktown

British Gen. Cornwallis
American Gen. Washington (also “Mad” Anthony Wayne, Baron von Steuben)
French Gen. Rochambeau (also Marquis de Lafayette)
Essentially a French Naval victory
Last significant battle of the war

1783—Sept. 3, Treaty of Paris

Britain recognizes American independence
America gets all land from Atlantic coast to Miss. River, Great Lakes to Florida
Fishing rights to the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and off the coast of Newfoundland
America must pay debts to Britain
American congress would “earnestly recommend” all Loyalist property returned (States ignore this request)

Qaurter Notes