2. The terrible, bloody, incident, known
as the Boston Massacre
Our “lovely” leader, King
George III
March 6th, 1770
3. My Poor, Poor Brothers and
Sisters
I have never seen so much blood before in my life. The sight of my
wounded brothers and sisters is truly too much to bear. Last night, I heard a rowel
starting up outside my bedroom window. When I went to the window, I saw a pack
of Bostonian’s, carrying clubs, muskets, sticks, clumps of ice and rock, and
whatever else they could find. The ensuing fight only lasted for twenty minutes, but
it was the worst twenty minutes you could possibly imagine. They were furious at
King George III and his Parliament back in Great Britain.
The French and Indian War, otherwise known as the Seven Years War
had finished not too long ago. Many would think that this would bring the Colonies
and Great Britain closer together. That the cooperation required in fighting a war
against France, helped by the Native Americans, would create a lasting unity
between the two. Right? Well, they would be incorrect. After the war, King George
III started placing taxes on us colonists to help pay the debt the war had created. At
first, this didn’t sound so bad, we pay our side of the war, the people in England pay
their side, and everything goes back to normal. However, the people in England
didn’t have to pay near as many taxes as we have to pay.
4. Why does King George think that we should have to pay more taxes than
the people in England? Just because we don’t live in England doesn’t mean that we
can be taken as a “lower form” of Englishmen. It started out with the Sugar Act.
Then came the Stamp Act and the Quartering Act. A year later the Stamp Act was
removed and the Declaratory Act was put in place. And not to long ago came the
Townsend Act, it’s absurd! And to add on to the hurt, King George will not even
listen to us! He and his Parliament have made no changes to all the taxes being
made on us colonists. My poor father, rest his soul, did not go to battle, fighting the
French for this to happen! He went to battle to protect Great Britain. And they have
the nerve to force more and more taxes upon us!
When I heard the thirteen Red Coats, Lobster Backs, British forces
(whatever you want to call them) start firing into the crowd of Bostonian’s, I was
crushed. Is this the extremes that must be gone to, to get King George’s attention?
Five people died last night and many more were wounded. One of the dead was a
close friend of mine. If King George hasn’t caught on by now that the colonists are
not happy with the way things are moving, than this won’t be the last fight fought.
Trust me.
5. The Stamp of the East India
Company
The stamp used when
taxing us colonists during
the Stamp Act
May 11th 1773
6. The Price of Freedom
That was the last straw! King George has just crossed the only line left to
be crossed! The whole idea that King George thinks that we can be taxed without
having a say in the matter is appalling. The colonists have started to riot, boycotting
different things from sugar to cloth. Anything taxed by Parliament is left to rot on
the decks of British ships, or avoided in the stores around town. People will not
allow, being trampled over by the British. We will not stand for it!
Yesterday, the Tea Act was introduced, well, not introduced, more forced
down upon us. The East Indian Company is shipping tea out to the colonies, which
is going to be sold at a discount price. But, The Townsend Act is still in place! Not
only that but, many believe, including our leaders, that this is a maneuver to buy
popular support for the taxes already in force. Does King George think that we are
really this classless? It really gets on my nerve that just because we are far away, it
doesn’t mean that we are not as intellectual as the Englishmen in London. In
fact, many of us Colonists are smarter than Englishmen. I may only be twenty-four
years old but I am anything but classless.
7. All this has to do with taxation without representation. That is what
everyone is talking about nowadays. But we have a reason to! We have not been
represented in any of the taxes that have been placed on us by Parliament. Not the
Sugar Act, nor the Stamp Act, and I have Red Coats coming in and out of my
house because of the Quartering Act. The only reason the Stamp Act was
repealed was because we had boycotted all of the products taxed under it, making
the Stamp Act useless to Parliament. And then a day after the Stamp
Act, Parliament made the Declaratory Act! Which said that the King was our
ruler and he could tax us if he wanted to! After that it was the Townsend Act, and
NOW, the Townsend taxes have been removed, except for the tax on tea. And
through all this we have not had ANY say in the matter.
Well, I speak for all Patriots when I say we will not stand here and take
the nonsense that King George III is throwing our way! We are tired of it, and
cannot take any more of King George’s ridiculous demands. Something has to be
done, and I hope it’s done soon.
8. July 5th 1776
A painting of our noble
leaders, signing our
freedom and
independence
9. Put Your Hancock On It
They just signed, our freedom, or their death. Yesterday, our greatest
leaders signed The Declaration of Independence. This Declaration is the
beginning in the long process we have brought upon ourselves to declare
ourselves, a new, independent nation. Thomas Jefferson, writer of the Declaration
of Independence, not only included that we are now a free nation, He included
why we are cutting our ties from England. And one of these reasons is we have no
natural rights, being a colonist under English ruling. Natural rights are not
produced by any King or Queen. They are the rights given to us when born. They
are the rights given to us by God, our creator. Our natural rights are that we are all
born equal, and therefor should be equal. Or as it is written in the Declaration, "all
men are ... endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights.” And
Jefferson is right. We didn’t have any natural rights when being ruled by
England. The King was the all powerful, and if anyone did anything he disagreed
with, they were killed. We didn’t have any rights! The King got his natural
rights, but where were ours? He took them for himself, that’s where they were!
10. So when I heard John Hancock, one of the delegates who signed the
Declaration, signed his signature enormously large, I was nervous. But, he did it for
a reason. By signing this document he had become a traitor to the King. Which is a
nice way of saying, if we don’t win the war to soon follow, he would be killed in a
horrible fashion. Why hide that fact with a small signature? And he didn’t! I heard a
rumor that when he was signing he said something along the lines of, “There, now
King George III can read my name without his glasses.” I think this means that he
believes that the colonies should join together and become a free and independent
nation, and he is willing to risk his life to make that happen. I feel like this is a
noble thing to do.
So, I, John Mather, have decided to join the fight to procure our nations
freedom and independence. I have decided to join, the Continental Army. True, I
will probably be drafted anyway, but I feel that this is what Papa would have wanted
me to do. He protected his country, and now, I will protect mine. I do, however have
one concern. We are about to go to war, with the largest, most powerful army in the
world! And we don’t even have a real army. We have a bunch of Patriots wanting to
make our country an independent nation. But, these Patriots are farmers and
craftsmen with guns. No military training, nothing. I’m horrified. But this is a battle
for freedom. This is a battle that we have to win. We cannot afford to lose.
12. Hallelujah! A victory for the Patriots! Finally, after months of defeat, we have
scored! With the cunning ideas of General George Washington, we have defeated
the British AND the Hessians, all in one battle! What a night it was last night!
General Washington has been trying so extremely hard to boost moral
around our camp back in Valley Forge. Because recently, spirits have been
extremely low. The army was forced to move twenty-two miles outside of
Philadelphia, in the middle of nowhere. And because building cabins from scratch
is not as easy as it sounds, especially when there is a lack of food, disease is
spreading rapidly without enough medicine to go around, and on top of all this, we
are FIGHTING A WAR!! And this is not our main priority, camp life is miserable.
With all of the army’s defeats on his shoulders, General George Washington saw
one possible way for the Continental Army to get back up on its barefooted feet
and keep fighting. His plan was to invade the Hessians camps up in Trenton, when
they are all drunk out of their minds celebrating Christmas. To take over the
Hessians camps would be the greatest comeback ever. They would never see it
coming!
Our Work Has Paid Off
13. What he didn’t remember to mention, however, is that we had to cross the
Delaware River in December, in the black of night. As we were marching to
Trenton, temperatures were at all time lows. The snow and ice whipped around our
faces, skinning us to the raw. Our feet were redder than blood. Blood was the only
tell tale sign that we had been there. And they were so cold they felt like they were
on fire. The army had run out of major supplies and we were forced to put scrap
pieces of cloth around our feet. What a fun way to spend Christmas, right? To tell
you the truth, I was extremely close to going back home. Back to my wife and kids.
My enlistment was going to expire in a mere five days, and with all the loses the
Continental Army had suffered, I was happy to make it out alive.
The main reason that Washington was trying so hard for a major win was
because of the fact many of his men’s enlistments were coming to a close. But with
the major win at Trenton, the Continental Army is back up on its feet and ready to
fight as hard as we can. Not only is the army in better shape, but the spirit of the
Patriots are back up, Britain has finally realized that we are taking this war much
more serious than they thought, and if this wasn’t good enough, there is a rumor
that France and a few other European Countries MAY send over
money, weapons, uniforms, and people to help. We have shown everyone that we
are not to be messed with, because we will fight back!
We won. The Continental Army finally won!
15. The Treaty of Freedom
I made it! I made it through the battles of hell, and I am going home.
Yesterday, our independence was finalized. We are now, the United States of
America. I love the ring that has to it, United States of America. I think it sounds
way better than the “13 Colonies”. That made us sound so miniscule and
weak, but now, everyone knows we are anything but. We just officially defeated
the biggest, and most advance army in the world, with a bunch of untrained
farmers! England should be ashamed! It only took a nineteen-year revolution and
an eight-year war for us to become a free nation. It’s about time! And
yesterday, that all came to a close. Yesterday was the designated date for the
signing of The Treaty of Paris. Where Parliament and American delegates, like
Benjamin Franklin and John Adams, will meet in Paris to begin the peace
talks, and to discuss the treaty terms. Those terms are supposed to be, that borders
are to be set from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi River and Canadian
boarder to Florida. Plus, Florida is to be returned to Spain. But the overall thing
is… no more war!! General Washington is slowly going to start dismissing his
troops. Sending them home throughout the next year.
16. I am ecstatic, as soon I will be back in Connecticut with my wife and my
little girls. Back to a life of peace. Back to going to church every Sunday. Back to
the simple things in life that one begins to miss when you cannot have them. And I
am counting down the moments until I can hold them in my arms once again.
Telling them about all the “adventures” as they call it, that I’ve been on since I have
been gone. Of course only telling them about the battles that we won. Mainly the
battles of Trenton and Yorktown with a few others sprinkled about here and there.
General Washington has been going on all month that without him, the
Continental Army would have never won the war. Lord, that man can talk, and
talk, and talk. But, he has a valid point. Without him, we would have never known
to march up to the south of Chesapeake Bay and block Cornwallis by land, while
the French ships were blocking the Bay, blocking Cornwallis by sea.
But, seriously, we would have never won that battle if Cornwallis were to have any
smarts in his brain! I mean, how stupid could he be to march right into to a
peninsula? I get that his troops were low on supplies, but seriously? He put himself
in a position to be surrounded. Even though Cornwallis fought for several weeks
before surrendering, he was a dead man walking from the moment he entered
Yorktown.
17. Works Cited
• Mintz, S., & McNeil, S. (2013). Digital History.
from http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook.cfm?smtID=2&psid=
3225
• Mintz, S., & McNeil, S. (2013). Events. Digital History. from http://
www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/era.cfm?eraID=3&smtID=4
• Lucas, Stephen E. "Declaration of Independence."
Http://www.archives.gov. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 May 2013.
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<http://www.pbs.org/ktca/liberty/chronicle_trenton1776.html>.
• "Timeline of the Revolution." PBS. PBS, 2004. Web. 13 May 2013.
<http://www.pbs.org/ktca/liberty/chronicle_timeline.html>.
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<http://www.history.org/Almanack/life/index.cfm>.
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18. Work Cited Continued
• "The Boston Massacre - World History For Kids - By KidsPast.com." The
Boston Massacre - World History For Kids - By KidsPast.com. KidsKnowIt
Network, 1998. Web. 13 May 2013. <http://www.kidspast.com/world-
history/0360-boston-massacre.php>.
• "King George III." King George III. SBI, 2005. Web. 13 May 2013.
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• "East India Tea Company." Search the Collections. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 May
2013. <http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O78156/east-india-tea-company-
poster-adlard-j/>.
• "Stamp Act." Educational Technology Clearinghouse. N.p., n.d. Web. 13
May 2013. <http://etc.usf.edu/clipart/14500/14518/stamp2_14518.htm>.
• "Independence Movement." Independence Movement. N.p., n.d. Web. 13
May 2013. <http://www.sonofthesouth.net/revolutionary-
war/colonies/independence-movement.htm>.
• "1776 Map of Trenton, Battle of Trenton, New Jersey Sketch of the
Engagement at T." EBay. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 May 2013.
<http://www.ebay.com/itm/1776-map-Trenton-Battle-Trenton-New-Jersey-
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• "13 Star Flag." In Collectible United States County Flags. N.p., n.d. Web. 14
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