Paul Revere and the American Revolution

American revolution refers to the colonial rebellion which took place from the year 1765 to the year 1783 where the American colonists were protesting the British domination culminating in the revolutionary war where the American patriots gained independence from Great Britain to become the United States of America by forming an alliance with France and other revolutionary powers. Before the revolution, two wars that are the French and the Indian war had cost the British a lot of money. This made Britain demand the American colonies to pay the huge amount of money they had lost in the war. Because of this, they passed new laws in the year the 1760s that made their colonists pay taxes on tea, sugar and other services. The colonist responded to these new laws that were passed by raising several complains by writing speeches and even letters to the newspaper. Another group protested by throwing the British tea crates into Boston Harbour.

A First Continental Congress was held in the year 1774 by the colonists where they discussed ways on how to make Britain treat the colonies more fairly. The British in response to that ignored the ideas by sending their troops to control the colonists where the colonists retaliated by organizing their own army sparkling the American Revolution. This is because they wanted their independence from Britain since they felt they were being treated unfairly by the British. In the event of the revolutionary war, many of the colonists took sides dividing themselves into two; the Loyalist and the Patriots. Loyalists were the colonists who wanted to heed into the British acts while the ones who wanted the independence were referred to as Patriots. Florida was mainly dominated by the Loyalist since they wanted Britain to protect them from attacks from the French, American Indians and the Spanish. The white settlers in Florida also feared that the free enslaved Africans might attack them.

The causes of the American Revolution

The road that led to the revolution took years and events that pushed the colonists to respond by fighting for their own independence. The key causes of the American revolution are as follows;

The founding of the colonies

The American colonies were initially founded by individuals who were trying to escape persecution religiously in England. This is because the British government got seriously involved in the colonies affairs and this made the colonies to fear for their freedom that they felt may be deprived.

Another factor that contributed to the American revolution was the high taxes and laws. The laws which were implemented included the Stamp Act, Sugar Act, Currency Act, and the Quartering Act. Before the year 1764, the british government left the colonies to govern themselves before fully beginning to enact and implement their new taxation laws. The Stamp Act required American colonies to pay taxes on all printed materials such as the newspapers, legal documents, and magazines. It was referred to the Stamp Act because the colonies were expected to buy paper from the Britain that had an official stamp showing they had paid taxes. On the other hand, the Currency Act was imposed that restricted the use of or issue of paper money and the formation of new public banks by the colonies of New England. This act protected the british merchants and creditors from getting paid in depreciated colonial currency.

Thirdly, boston protests also led to the American revolution. Many of the colonists had already started protesting to the new rules and taxes imposed by the British government. A certain group that was called the Sons of Liberty that was formed in 1765 in Boston from where it spread to other colonies. In the protests that occurred in Boston, several colonists got shot and killed after a fight broke, the Boston Massacre. Again in 1773, new laws and taxes were imposed on tea culminating protest against this act forcing the Patriots to board ships to Boston harbour to dump their tea into the water, the Boston Tea Party.

Intolerable acts that were imposed by the British onto the colonist for the Boston Tea Party also led to American revolution where they enacted new laws that the colonists felt would subject them to torture.

The tensions that erupted between the British regulars and the Patriot militia made the king attempt to capture and the destroy colonial military supplies based at Lexington and Concord in 1775 April. The conflict later on established as a global war where the Patriots fought the British and the Loyalist what was referred to as the American revolutionary war that occurred between 175-1783. This war was fought by on land with two different types of organization; the continental army and the state militias. Continental force was uneasy to maintain since they had traditional antipathy towards the regular armies, denial of farmers to be far away from their fields and also the competition which came from the continental states in the continental congress to keep their men in the militia.

Prelude to the war, King George III and his ministers seen off the colony of Massachusetts and were considered as the hotbed of disloyalty. After the Boston Tea Party, the british parliament responded with intolerable acts as punitive actions to cow the population into obedience.

Paul Revere’s ride and the Battles of Lexington and Concord

Revere advised the local compatriots of the concord to protect their military stores since the British troops were advancing into the region. After two days, he again rode from Charlestown where it was confirmed to him that the local Sons of liberty saw two lanterns that got posted signalling British approach across the Charles River to the Lexington. Some revolutionary leaders like John Hancock and Samuel Adams left Lexington for their safety. Later, Revere was later joined his fellow compatriot riders William Dawes and Samuel Prescott where they were later apprehended by a British patrol outside Lexington. They all escaped custody after getting apprehended and continued all to Concord. Revere’s midnight ride played a key role for the colonists as it provided them with intentions of the British.

The Siege of Boston and the Battle of Bunker Hill

The rebel militia met on Boston from the diverse New England in order to come up with a response from the battle at Lexington. Generals like Sir William Howe, John Burgoyne were sent all at once with reinforcements and Charles Cornwallis followed them later. Continental Congress situated in Philadelphia representing the 13 colonies voted for defensive general measures in which they appointed George Washington of Virginia as the commander in chief. And before he could take charge of the colonial troops into laying siege in Boston which was the British garrison, another personnel Gage instructed Howe to move the Americans in Charlestown from the heights. The American artillery was placed on the heights and this could have made the position of the British in Boston unattained. Battle of Bunker Hill was led by Howe on the American fortifications where the British cleared the hill but cost them about 40% more of the force of assault where the Americans won the battle.

Washington takes command

He wanted to contain the british in Boston and also to recruit a continental army. The British fort was located in a strategic point between Lake George and Lake Champlain was captured by the Green Mountain Boys which was a militia group under the leadership command of Colonel Ethan Allen. Cannons were mounted on Dorchester heights which were above Boston and guns forced Howe to evacuate the city to repair Halifax to prepare for an invasion on New York. This forced Washington to switch southwards for its defense. The Americans later succumbed to defeat in Canada. Thereafter, New York was battled for and Washington won the battle and then evacuated to the winter quarters in an area for defense known as Morristown. It is the battle at Trenton- Princeton which kept the hopes of the Americans alive in the quest for independence from collapsing. Finally, the most important result that made Burgoyne surrender was the French involvement in the war the British army was forced surrender at Yorktown. Under Cornwallis, they expected to be rescued by a fleet from the British government where the French fleet also showed up but in large numbers. The British fleet was forced to flee back to New York for further reinforcements after the Battle of Chesapeake trapping Cornwallis. The British finally surrendered their second army that invaded the war under a siege combination of the French and the continental armies under the command of Washington. This ended the war of the American Revolution from the british government.

This revolution had an impact on various reasons; it helped it the realization of the status of women in the process of America, African Americans, commemorations that entail the country’s history in nation-building. It also inspired many colonies as rights of the people got included in the state constitutions, individual rights and concepts of liberty among others.

Works cited

Boucher, Jonathan. A View of the Causes and Consequences of the American Revolution. Applewood Books, 2009.

Potter-MacKinnon, Janice. The Liberty We Seek Loyalist Ideology in Colonial New York and Massachusetts. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1983.

Tourtellot, Arthur Bernon. Lexington and Concord: The beginning of the war of the American Revolution. WW Norton & Company, 2000.