George Washington / Presidency and Final Days

George Washington had just returned to rest in Mount Vernon, when he recieved the news that he was elected unanimously to be the first President under the Constitution for the United States of America on April 30, 1789, with John Adams as Vice-President. Washington proved that he was an able administrator and excellent delegator. He served in this position for eght years.

After retiring from the presidency in March 1797, Washington returned to Mount Vernon, where he dedicated to farming. He served as the senior officer of the United States Army. But every story has to come to an end, one morning he awoke with a bad cold, fever, and a throat infection called quinsy that turned into acute laryngitis and pneumonia. The great leader was in a seriously bad condition. Washington died on the evening of December 14, 1799 at his home, at age 67.
George Washington started as a surveyor and ended as a President, he showed great strength, courage, and character. He was one of the best leaders that the United States ever had, and will be remember for ever and ever.

George Washington / Role in the American Revolution

After directing the militia and loosing a couple of battles against the british, George Washington proved himself extremely valuable to the americans when he was appointed, by suggestion of John Adams, as Major General of the Continental Army. He assumed the responsability to train and command the army in the revolution against the british. This was not an easy task for him, just think abouted, a new army against the best army of the world! He lost battles in many cases, and sometimes they even had to run for their lives and take refuge on freezing camps with short abundance of food.

When the british took over Philadelphia (which was at that time the capital of the U.S.), Washington and his army had to camp in Valley Forge. During this period of time another character showed great importance, Baron von Steuben, who trained the patriots to be a well equiped and disciplined army. The british were leaving, Washington attacked them, and forced them to leave to New York. After 1781, the french and americans captured the british army in Virginia, and the Battle of Yorktown practically ended the fighting with an American Victory where the british had to surrender, and with the Treaty of Paris, Britain recognized the Independence of the United States of America!!!

George Washington/ Beginnings

Called by the Americans, "The Father of our Nation", chief commander in the Continental Army, and most important, first president of the United States of America, George Washington was one of the most influential characters in the American Revolution. This man was admired by his courage and his skills on being a fierce warrior and leader.

He was born on February 22nd of 1732, child of Augustine Washington. His father died when he was still a kid, so he was guarded and educated by his brother, Lawrence. He tought George everything about farming and army. He loved to farm, but all of his brother´s influence made him desire the army.He soon got a job as a surveyor, where he aquired valuable knowledge. After his brother died, he inherited lands, duties, and his favorite place, Mount Vernon.

Then, he was assigned adjuntant general in the Virginian militia. Soon after this, Washington asked to assess French military strength and intentions, and delivered the message to the French Canadians at Fort Le Boeuf, in the French and Indian War, where he showed his talent as a Lieutenant Colonel.

The Second Continental Congress!!

May 1775...
This time, delegates from ALL thirteen colonies met in Philadelphia (Pennsylvania) were they asumed total responsability for the war that was now occurring at Lexington and Concord, so they decided to send armed volunteers from the southern and middle colonies to aid the patriots at Boston.
Because of the sudden need for a more prepared army to fight the British, congress decided to create the first CONTINENTAL ARMY, that was comanded by George Washington, he had been a general in the French and Indian War ( on the British side).

July 1775...
After three months of bloodshed and battle, congress decided that it was enough, so they sent an Olive Branch Petition to the King of Britain, in hopes that he would cease the killings, but the king rejected the petition and sent more troops to the colonies. :( Bad Bad King!

Battles Break Out at Lexington and Concord!!

April 19, 1775
War broke out in Lexington and Concord--these were county towns west of Boston--provoced by Thomas Gage, who had sent troops to arrest Samuel Adams and John Hancock and also to retrieve the stockpile of weapons they had stored, but, the colonists had been warned in advance of this attack by a man called Paul Revere ( he is known for yelling "the british are coming!")
The Patriot fighters (patriots were the people pro-revolution) or militia (full time farmers and part time soldiers) joined together and went to meet the British troops to drive them back to Boston. At early hours of the morning, 70 patriots were gathered in Lexington Green waiting for the troops, when the troops got there they ordered them to disperse, the patriots didn't give in so the troops started shooting at them and killed 8 of the patriots and marched over to Concord to retrieve the weapons--which had been moved before so they found nothing-- and then they marched back to Boston. On their way, they encountered the minutemen, that attacked the troops from the troops killing 200 british soldiers and later that same afternoon they reached Boston.

The Plot Thickens...

General Thomas Gage---->

By this time, people in the colonies risked everything and finally found the strength to rise up againts Britain.

In the year 1775 the battles between colonists and the british army took a drastic turn, when General Thomas Gage was placed as governer of Massachusetts by Parliment, John Hancock and Samuel Adams joined together at a Provincial Congress, because they wanted to rule Massachusetts without Gage, so they began to stockpile arms and ammunitions and started to prepare for war.

There was a certain feel of patriotism rising in the colonists, and that would be their best defense against the british troops, because unlike the british, the colonists fought for what the believed in, they fought for freedom and justice.

They are all Liberty MAD!

In the year 1776 the American Colonies made 3 BIG decisions,
1. They declared Independance from Britain!
2. They chose a Republican model for their form of government!
3. They confederated the 13 colonies as the United States of America!!



The colonists had enough of the opression from the British empire, so the decided to take action!
They fought against the british troops, with their militia and they all began to feel like American people, and not as the dominated and subordinated colonies of the british.

" The distinction between Virginians, Pennsylvanians, New Yorkers, and New Englanders are no more. I am not Virginian but AMERICAN." -Patrick Henry*

First Continental Congress!!

The First Continental Congress, was an arranged meet of twelve of the thirteen colonies in America, in response to the Intolerable Acts imposed by King George of Britain.

Twelve colonies (except the providence of Georgia) sent delegates to Pennsylvania on September 5th, 1774 to discuss the grivances or problems that the colonies were having with the British parliment. This congress was assembled also, to discuss a boycott of British products in the colonies, and to send a petition to King George, so that he would look over the problems and fix them. This petition was denied by the King. :(

Some of the delegates that assited to this meeting were:

Massachusetts: John Adams and Samuel Adams.

Rhode Island: Stephen Hopkins and Samuel Ward.

Connecticut: Roger Sherman and Silas Deane.

New York: William Floyd and Isaac Low.

New Jersey: William Livingston and John Kinsey.

New Hampshire: John Sullivan and Nathaniel Folsom.

Pennsylvania: John Dickinson and Samuel Rhoads.

Delaware: Thomas McKean and George Read.

Maryland: William Paca and Thomas Johnson.

Virginia: Patrick Henry and George Washington.

N. Carolina: William Hopper and Joseph Hewes.

S. Carolina: Edward and John Rutledge.

Liberty`s Kids: "The Intolerable Acts" (2/2)

Liberty`s Kids: "The Intolerable Acts" (1/2)

The Boston Port Act

The Boston Port Act, the first of the acts passed in response to the Boston Tea Party, closed the port of Boston until the East India Company had been repaid for the destroyed tea and until the king was satisfied that order had been restored. Colonists objected that the Port Act punished all of Boston rather than just the individuals who had destroyed the tea, and that they were being punished without having been given an opportunity to testify in their own defense.

The Massachusetts Government Act

The Massachusetts Government Act provoked even more outrage than the Port Act because it unilaterally altered the government of Massachusetts to bring it under control of the British government. Under the terms of the Government Act, almost all positions in the colonial government were to be appointed by the governor or the king. The act also severely limited the activities of town meetings in Massachusetts. Colonists outside Massachusetts feared that their governments could now also be changed by the legislative fiat of Parliament.

The Administration of Justice Act

The Administration of Justice Act allowed the governor to move trials of accused royal officials to another colony or even to Great Britain if he believed the official could not get a fair trial in Massachusetts. Although the act stipulated that witnesses would be paid for their travel expenses, in practice few colonists could afford to leave their work and cross the ocean to testify in a trial. George Washington called this the "Murder Act" because he believed that it allowed British officials to harass Americans and then escape justice. Some colonists believed the act was unnecessary because British soldiers had been given a fair trial following the Boston Massacre in 1770, with future Founding Father John Adams representing the Defense.

The Quartering Acts

The Quartering Acts applied to all of the colonies, and sought to create a more effective method of housing British troops in America. In a previous act, the colonies had been required to provide housing for soldiers, but colonial legislatures had been uncooperative in doing so. The new Quartering Act allowed a governor to house soldiers in other buildings if suitable quarters were not provided. While many sources claim that the Quartering Act allowed troops to be billeted in occupied private homes, historian David Ammerman's 1974 study claimed that this is a myth, and that the act only permitted troops to be quartered in unoccupied buildings. Although many colonists found the Quartering Act objectionable, it generated the least protest of the Coercive Acts.

The Quebec Act

This was an act imposed by the British Parliament to the governance of Quebec which implied the following components:

* The province's territory was expanded to take over part of the Indian Reserve, including much of what is now southern Ontario, plus Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin and parts of Minnesota.

* The oath of allegiance was replaced with one that no longer made reference to the Protestant faith.

* It guaranteed free practice of the Catholic faith.

* It restored the use of the French civil law for private matters while maintaining the use of the English common law for public administration, including criminal prosecution.

Bostonians Raiding a British Ship

Boston Tea Party

After the colonies complained about the taxes, the British decided to take away taxes on everything except the tea. Once again, the colonies were unhappy with these measures, so they decided to take action.

In 1774 a ship of the British East India Company arrived at the Boston Port carrying lots of tea for importation. A group of colonies disguised themselves as Indians and bordered the ship; they raided it and threw all the tea into the Boston Harbor Sea Shore. These actions angered the Parliament and the Crown, so to punish the Bostonians the Parliament shut down the Boston Harbor, until they paid for the tea and impose the coercive acts.

Taxation Without Representation

Taxation without representation was a term used in the 1700’s, when taxes were being levied to the American Colonies and they lacked a direct representation in the British Parliament.

The colonies felt that this was an unfair conspiracy from the British to take Money away from them and destroy the American Liberty.

This was the main reason why the colonies decided to respond violently against the British Government and protect their rights

Prime Minister George Grenville

The New Taxes Upset the Colonists

A war between the French and Indians increased the colonial debt. People in Britain were paying more taxes than the colonists, but then the parliament decided that the colonists should pay more taxes.

To make colonists pay more taxes the parliament decided to create the Sugar, Quatering & Stamp Acts. But the colonists would bribe the costum officials so they would not pay the costum dues.

The Prime Minister George Grenville in 1764 proposed to inforce the tax laws. The Sugar Act lowered the duties in molasess (a thick syrup produced during the refining of sugar). He assigned new tax officials & persecuted the smugglers and created courts to collect duties. The Quatering Act was created in 1765 and required colonies to give soldiers a place to sleep, eat and rest after the Freanch-Indian War. With this the colonists lost the right to rule themselves. Finally on March of 1765 the Stamp Act was created, which established that no one could sell anything without the Royal Stamp.

A Government Meeting

Differences in Colonial Governments

The British constitution was a formal document. They had Royal Charters & Informal Charters such as the Mayflower Compact. Two thirds of free colonial men paid taxes and voted, and only one fourth of men in Britain were allowed to vote.

A political upheaval (protest) came up in 1760 to increase the powers at expense of Royal Governors. The aristocrats stayed in Britain, but they lacked of aristocracy members of assembly, which were wealthy and were all related somehow, most of the men that belonged to this class were wealthy planters or merchants, and even with all these things Britain wanted control of the colonies again.

Revolutionary War Veteran Service Records Pertaining to Crawford County, Arkansas

Causes of the Revolution

The British wanted to be in control of the colonies, so the American Colonists rebelled against the British government, even thought they had believed that the british form of government was a model.

There was a british man named Lord North who believed that there should be no equality between colonies and the British Empire, and most Britons agreed with him and this thought caused the civil war.

Informatic Video from the American Revolution 1775-1783