By Camryn Langille
CMS, Grade 7
The Americans (Colonists) had different names like: Patriots, Whigs, Rebels, and Revolutionaries. Why did the Colonists break away from Great Britain? Well, the British Parliament were making unfair laws and the New World was over 3,000 miles away so it seemed very “unfair”. They were also taxing the Colonists “unfairly”. Many “acts” were done, stampt act, etc. and the Colonists felt that they didn’t have the same rights as the British citizens. When the Colonists sent a letter to complain to King George III he sent it back saying no, in fact he laughed at it when he read it. Knowing that England is 5,895.76 kilometers away (3,663.46 miles) it took a long time for the letters to be sent back and forth on ships. The Boston Massacre occurred on March 5, 1770; it was the killing of 5 Colonists by Brit regulars (patrollers). Also, the Boston Tea Party had a big impact in the war, when some Colonists boarded a British ship and dumped all the tea into the Harbor, because the officials refused to ship back taxed tea to Britain on December 6, 1773. The war officially started in 1775 and ended in 1783.
The Brits also had a few names like Loyalists or Tories. The Brits thought we were “silly” and unorganized, we were a bunch of “rabble” or a “gang”. They really underestimated us, they didn’t think that we would or even could beat an army as “organized” as they were. After the war they thought they were “stretched” too thin in the world (had too many countries to take care of). They also thought that since they set up towns made for the English and we used their ships, that we were “ungrateful” and just didn’t want to pay the taxes. They were bitter towards us (they hadn’t lost many wars), and it doesn’t sit well with them. When talking to an anonymous person that knows more about the British side of this topic, and about the Boston incidents, he told me that they don’t really talk about the Boston Massacre and that the Boston Tea Party was just a waste of good tea, and that they think that the Boston Tea Party was the start of the war. They think that the American Revolution wasn’t even really a “war”, but it was won fair and square.
Anonymous Quotes:
“Just as America isn’t taught as much about losing wars than as winning wars, England doesn’t either.”
“We had just lost a country when we had many others anyway. We were the biggest empire in the world and it took a long time for America to catch up anyway.”
They wanted to keep the land and the people using it. We all just have to remember if this huge event in American history hadn’t happened, we wouldn’t be here at all.
