Chapter 7 The Beginnings of the American Revolution

By 1750, there were 13 English colonies in North America.

Most people in those colonies were proud to be English. The colonies had a lot of independence. They made their own laws. They did not have to pay high taxes to England.

The colonies wanted to expand. There were more people in the colonies now. Those people wanted land, too.

The frontier had good land for farming. It included the area that is now Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky.

Many colonists wanted to move west into the frontier, but the frontier was controlled by France and several Indian nations. The French and the Indians did not want the colonists to steal their land.

Some colonists moved into the frontier anyhow. They were killed by French and Indians.

The colonists were angry. In 1754, a colonist named General George Washington led some English soldiers to attack the French. This started a war between England and France.

The war in America was called the French and Indian War. It was a war between France and England, but many colonists and Indians fought in the war.

Some Indians fought for the French because they wanted to stop colonists from taking their land.

The powerful Iroquois Indians fought for the English because the English promised to let them keep their land.

The French and Indian War was a long and terrible war. Many people died. They fought in the wilderness. Soldiers attacked and killed women and children. They made new rules for war.

The colonists learned how to fight in the forests and mountains of America. They learned how to surprise an enemy by hiding in the forest.

England won the war in France gave all its land in North America to England. Now colonists could move into the frontier. This was good news for the colonists, but bad news for the Indians.

General George Washington became a hero to the colonists.

The war had cost England many lives and a lot of money. England was in deep debt. They needed money.

In 1763, Indians in the frontier attacked English forts and settlements. They killed 2,000 settlers. They wanted to keep the colonists out. This attack was called Pontiac’s Rebellion. The Indian leader was Chief Pontiac.

King George of England did not want to fight the Indians. War was too expensive. Too many people were dying. So, the King passed a law to stop colonists from moving into the frontier.

This new law made the colonists very angry. Many colonists had fought and died for that land.

Then, England started making the colonies pay high taxes. England needed the money to pay the debts from the war.

The colonists got very angry. They did not like the new laws or taxes.

They started to protest the laws and taxes. They started groups such as the Sons of Liberty. These groups complained about the laws and planned protests.

Then, they started a boycott against English products. Some colonists had violent demonstrations. They threw rocks at English soldiers. Some even attacked tax collectors.

In 1770, a group of colonists were throwing rocks at English soldiers. The soldiers heard somebody shoot a gun, so they fired at the colonists. They killed five colonists. This was called the Boston Massacre.

Colonists were very angry about the Boston Massacre. They blamed the English soldiers. One colonist named Sam Adams started a group called the Committee of Correspondence. They printed angry newsletters and sent them all over the colonies.

The English King and Parliament responded by passing stricter laws and taxes against the colonists. One of these laws was the Tea Act of It said that colonists could not import their own tea. They could only buy tea from English companies. It also put high taxes on the tea.

In Boston, Sam Adams organized a protest. He led a group of colonists disguised as Indians to attack an English ship carrying tea, and dump its cargo into the water. This was called the Boston Tea Party.

The English King and Parliament responded by passing even stricter laws and taxes. These new laws were called the Intolerable Acts by colonists. They ended the colonists’ independent governments. English soldiers came into people’s houses looking for protesters. They arrested many people.

In 1774, the colonists had a meeting called the First Continental Congress. Many famous colonists were there such as George Washington and Sam Adams. They wrote an angry letter to King George. They also started militias so they could fight against the English soldiers.

The Militias were called Minutemen. They were regular people but in one minute they could become soldiers. They secretly trained to fight against the English soldiers. They hid weapons and gunpowder outside the cities.

In 1775, some English soldiers heard about the weapons and gunpowder hidden in Concord, Massachusetts. They started marching to Concord to capture the weapons and gunpowder.

Paul Revere and the Sons of Liberty found out that the English soldiers were coming. He warned the Minutemen.

The Minutemen ambushed the English soldiers in Lexington. It was the first battle of the American Revolution.

That’s how the American Revolution Started