THis is the american revolution

1. B Y : K I N G S T O N Y I P
ROBIN BANK’S JOURNAL
AMERICAN REVOLUTION

2. FEBRUARY 17TH, 1765
The Stamp Act
British also taxed
colonists on
newspapers
Stamp Act protests
The Stamp Act

3. FEBRUARY 17TH, 1765
The British were so cool! They were always colonizing and expanding their territories. That was why I liked them, they were
courageous, unstoppable, and had the strongest army in the world! However, my opinion of them shifted slightly. This was because the British
passed a new act called the Stamp Act. My name is Robin Banks, and I was ten when my family and I immigrated to America a few years ago.
We live in Boston. Father quit everything back in England so our family would be able to live a new life. I don’t like America; there are too many
people fighting over land; there is no peace over here. It was probably because America suddenly gained popularity, due to its new land. I just
wish I were back in England; it seemed more pleasant there.
When we came to America, the British were having a hard time with the Native Americans. And so that was the time when there
were wars between the French, British, and the native Indians. Since the British were usually mean to the Indians, they paired up with the French
and decided to attack the British. Eventually the British won the war because they received lots of help. Afterwards, the British taxed us
Americans the war because they owed debt. I wondered why the French chased us away; it would have been more intelligent if we both
teamed up to fight against the Indians. Therefore after the war we would be able to share the land equally.
The British seemed like they were quite desperate for money. The reason behind this was probably because the British were too
poor after the war, despite winning it. The British were in debt and needed money. I heard they spent billions of dollars by simply transporting all
those soldiers to help fight in the war. Was this a profitable war? Paying these taxes seemed unjust; I mean we were the ones who invested
large amounts of time in helping the British in the war against the French and the Indians.
Father disliked this new act, and so did I even though I didn’t pay taxes. I didn’t over react to the taxations compared to my
neighbors. They were always crazy and I heard that one of them was planning to beat down the tax collectors. The thought of that gave me
the chills. A week or two ago the British passed the stamp act and imposed direct taxes on us; we were required to pay tax for official
documents, newspapers, playing cards…etc. Every morning before father goes to work, he would drink tea while reading his morning
newspapers. However ever since the British passed on the stamp act, he wouldn’t allow himself to buy any more newspapers, we were on a
tight budget. He was always lost when others talked about the news, and constantly needed to question neighbors and colleagues when it
came to daily announcements.
We were forced to sell our goods to the British even though we were able to sell them somewhere else for a better price. This just
didn’t seem fair, my father was a merchant and he told me that it wasn’t easy selling goods. Father let me in a secret, he told me that us
Americans were doing business with other countries and re-selling those items in our country. He mentioned the term smuggling, however I
don’t consider this an act of smuggling, I believed that this was an act of intelligent business. Who else would think of this? It was good for us
Americans and good for merchants. This was a win-win situation, Americans enjoyed their goods and merchants enjoyed their money. Father
said it was deadly business, and said that I shouldn’t tell anybody about our little secret. He explained that the British would be fined and
imprisoned people that were smuggling goods into America. I became worried of father ever since.
Although it was terrifying to hear that people were getting caught when they imported goods to America, there was other
interesting news. Father said that based on what he heard, there was rumored to have an organization that consists of American men called
the Sons of Liberty. The Sons of Liberty were planning to rebel against the tax collectors. There was no evidence that this organization existed,
but I sure hope they did. I wasn’t as excited as other people when they heard this news, the British aren’t that bad. After all, they did help
defend us in the war. This ends today’s journal.

4. DECEMBER 18TH 1773
The Boston Tea
Party
The Boston
Massacre
British Lobster
backs
The Boston Tea Party

5. DECEMBER 18TH 1773
They called themselves his majesty’s soldiers; we referred to them as lobster backs. We Americans have been paying taxes for
almost the whole time we have been in America, and they still dare continued their actions? Those British imposed direct taxes on goods,
documents, and even tea. First the Boston Massacre, now this? The British expect too much from us colonists, its time to make our move.
It was only six years ago when the Boston Massacre happened. At the time I was only 13, and remembered little about the
event. I was standing around fifteen meters away from the mob. The mob of people consisted of middle-aged men throwing stone-hard
snowballs at the redcoats as they walked by. It was a cold evening, and I wasn’t in the mood for helping the mob of people attempting of
harassing the soldiers. I only watched from afar and observed. Suddenly gunshots rose from the crowd and my ears were blinded from the
deafening gunshot. I panicked, covered my ears and ran away in the opposite direction. The next morning neighbors could not stop talking
about the terrible event that happened in the previous night. It is rumored that five people have been killed in the massacre that night. Some
people even thought about challenging the British to a battle if they ever thought of crossing our land again. I felt useless that evening,
completely pathetic. I should have helped those men, why did I run away? Despite being an incident that happened a while ago, guilt swells
within me every time I think about that tragedy. I swore to never envy the British again.
Both my parents loved drinking tea in the morning, the only problem was they disliked drinking tea too. They did not take favor
from the tea made by the East India Company. Father would always complain that it was too bitter, and mother would always complain that it
tasted too tasteless. They liked to secretly buy tea from an American market. Although it was only secret to the British, almost every American
knew about the teashops that opened down the road, and would visit there fairly often. There were protests to send the tea back to where
they originated, but the British refused, this was what lead to the Boston Tea Party.
Just yesterday, I figured out about what the Americans were planning about. They planned to hijack a ship at the evening and
dump all of the cargo of tea off of the boat. Due to still being guilty from the event that happened six years ago, I decided to help the
Americans with this life-changing act. Father and Mother did not know that I partook in this; if they did know however, I would be grounded for
a whole week. That’s funny to me, because I’m already 20 years old. I do care for my parents and I respect all of the things they have done to
raise me, but I will not change my mind of not going to this occasion. Before half past nine, I snuck out of the house and ran to meet my fellow
allies. They consisted of men that were buffer and stronger than me; I somehow began to regret my presence. Hesitantly, I snuck up the boat
with a tall fellow and shoved a man out of the boat, and into the sea. He was not a red coat, but I still felt no regret, I knew these people
negotiated with the British, and that was all that mattered. Other began following the plan, and in less than ten minutes, the ships were ours. A
sudden sound of rumbling came from opposite of our direction, and from the distant we were able to pick out lobster backs riding on horses.
They stopped in front of the ships and ordered for us to stop our actions, or else we would be punished. Nobody said a word for the next few
minutes, and then somebody arose from the crowd, and dumped the first box of tea into the sea. We were all stunned to see this, but not long
afterwards, a second man threw another box into the sea. I followed the other men and began helping them throw all of the ship’s cargo into
the sea. The British raised their guns, but didn’t fire; they were in awe and were unsure of what to do. It was refreshing throwing all of boxes
away; it felt as if we were simply declaring independence through this simple event.
The next day nobody knew that I contributed in the event of what they call the Boston Tea Party, I felt like I was a superhero.
Every time I thought about what happened last night, I knew we did the right thing, and I knew it would greatly affect the way we think about
the British.

6. FEBRUARY 15TH, 1777
Declaration of
Independence
Battle of Trenton
General
Washington
Crossing the
Delaware

7. FEBRUARY 15TH, 1777
I am eating a piece of bread while writing into this worn out journal. It has been years since I have written in this and I have
decided that this was the right time to do so. I was still waiting for new orders from our general. I decided that now was the perfect time
to reflect on the past…
The true war between the Americans and the British had finally begun. I always knew that this moment would arrive.
Luckily the French were also on our side; they also helped us defend against the British. I pointed my rifle at a charging redcoat, and
shot him dead. We had just won this battle, our army followed General George Washington and we marched north to get ready for
another battle.
December 25th, 1776, our army traveled across the Delaware River, and we attempted to surprise the British. Our men
succeeded and captured about 1,000 men. I was afraid of entering the army years ago, but now I was confident and I knew I was a
valuable member of the army. I wanted the British to feel remorse for annoying us patriots in the first place, by taxing us and killing our
people. However, I was not part of the militia until after America declared their independence. Father and Mother did not approve
because they thought it was too dangerous, I disobeyed them and went anyways. The declaration of independence was an important
date because it allowed the Americans to have proper rights. Due to this event, we Americans were allowed to call ourselves an
independent sovereign sates. It felt good to be free from the British, but we were not finished yet. We would have to still go to war with
the British. The surprise attack in allowed us to have a huge lead in the war. It shocked the British because it was the day after Christmas
and the British were never expecting an attack. It was the first war that I attended, but it wasn’t the last.
We marched our way towards Trenton; a fellow soldier said that we were going to expect company from the redcoats.
We were all quite terrified when we heard about this, because we currently did not have an advantage. American commanders
offered $10 dollars for soldiers to reenlist. I guess I was quite scared afterwards, because if we needed more soldiers, and so that meant
that this single battle was going to be hard to fight.
We arrived at Trenton to realize that Cornwallis’s army trapped us, and since those stupid British decided to postpone the
attack, our army took the chance and escaped the battlefield. We broke into different sections and were on our way to ambush the
British’s supply depot up north. It was a long march, my leg sored and my feet ached. I knew I wasn’t the only one who was suffering;
the other soldiers were also extremely exhausted. The only way we were able to persist on this war was because we were an
independent country already, and we are completely capable of defending ourselves. As the war progressed, I felt as if I was slowly
loosing my confidence, it was evident that others were also feeling the same way.
Our army has been marching north for quite a while; our goal is to simply create peace between both countries.
Unfortunately there were also many battles along our journey north. One of them was a battle between a small British force at
Princeton. I still vividly remember shooting down another person who seemed like me. The young man seemed as though he was also
petrified of the war. He was shaking when he aimed a rifle, and always hesitated to shoot. I observed him for a while before shooting
him, there is still grief secretly within me. Maybe I was too nice, maybe I needed to treat this event as something serious, and not always
feel ashamed. Although being regretful can be described as one of my characteristics, I deny to take let that interfere with this war.
I have no time to continue writing; our group has just received orders from our general. I hope the wars end soon.

8. CITATIONS
• "Boston Massacre." Wikipedia. Wikimedia
Foundation, n.d. Web. 22 Mar. 2015.
• "Stamp Act 1765." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation,
n.d. Web. 21 Mar. 2015.
• "George Washington's Crossing of the Delaware
River." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d.
Web. 22 Mar. 2015.