Cause of War
After the French and Indian War ended, Great Britain owed a lot of money.
Part A-Explain what 'debt' means and describe how this debt caused the King to tax the colonies.
Part B- How did this change the way colonists felt about the King?
A- A debt is when someone owes somebody else money. Since the king was in debt, he taxed the colonists so they would have to give him their money, and him paying off his debt wouldn't come out of his pocket.
B- The colonist felt angry and betrayed by the king. They felt it was unfair for him to take them on essential items Britain would send to the colonies.
Colonists said, "No Taxation Without Representation."
Part A: In your own words, what does that mean?
Part B: Why did they want to vote on their own laws?
A- The colonist had no representation in parliament. Since Parliament was the one deciding who would be taxed, the colonists felt it was fair that they had representation within Parliament. Without any representation, they should not get taxed.
B- They wanted to vote on their own laws because they wanted to establish their own rules for the colonies so that they could start to break away from the king, who was trying to control everything that was going on and being unfair to the colonists.
The Declaration:
Part A: Why was the Declaration of Independence written?
Part B: What was it telling the King?
A- The Declaration of Independence was written because the colonists wanted to separate from Great Britain.
B- This document formally tells the King that the 13 colonies were separating from Great Britain.
The King made a rule that colonists could not move west of a certain line on the map.
Part A: Why did the King make this rule?
Part B: Why did it make the colonists angry?
A- The king made this rule because he wanted to keep peace with the indigenous people who lived west.
B- They were angry because they had fought in the French and Indian War and felt they had earned the right to that land.
Describe what happened during the Boston Tea Party. Explain why colonists felt this dramatic protest was necessary to show their feelings to the King.
The Boston Tea Party was an outward display of disagreement with the taxes they had to pay on the tea. The king passed the Tea Act, under which the colonists could only get tea from the East India Company, and they were taxed. The Sons of Liberty wanted to show Great Britain that they didn't want the tea if they didn't have a say on anything, and they were tired of being taxed. So they took all the tea they were receiving in Boston Harbor and threw it over the edge of the boat into the Harbor.
Part A: Why is the Battle of Saratoga called a 'turning point' in the American Revolution?
Part B:Explain how this American victory changed the course of the war.
It is a turning point because it was one of the first major battles that the colonists had won.
Winning gave them a morale boost and proved to the colonists that they could win a major battle, maybe even the war.
Explain the difference between a Patriot and a Loyalist. Give one reason why someone would want to be on each side.
A patriot was a colonist who wanted to fight Great Britain to gain their independence. I think someone would want to be a patriot because they were tired of being controlled by the king. A loyalist is a colonist who was loyal to "The Crown" (The King) and didn't want to separate from Great Britain. I think someone would be a loyalist because they were scared of how the king would react, and they didn't want to get hurt.
Part A:What happened at the Battle of Yorktown?
Part B: How did George Washington’s army and the French navy work together to win?
The Battle of Yorktown was the last major battle in the Revolution. It was where General Cornwallis surrendered to George Washington. The Army and the Navy worked together by blocking off Boston Harbor so that Cornwallis and his soldiers couldn't leave and had to continue to fight the colonists.
Part A: What was the name of the very first plan of government for the United States?
Part B: Why did the leaders make the government weak at first?
The name of the first plan of the government of the United States was the Articles of Confederation. The leaders made the government weak at first because they didn't want a repeat of how the king treated them. The king had a lot of power over what the colonists did, and they didn't want to have to relive that.