The Declaration of Independence

Declaring Independence (Finally)

Original Declaration of Independence

You may ask when did the United States of America declared its Independence from Great Britain, and the King. Well for your information America declared its Independence on July 2, 1776, not in July 4, 1776, the day USA celebrate its Independence. The Declaration of Independence is in its majority grievances against the King. The Declaration of Independence was done practically 440 something days after the Battles of Lexington and Concord. The draft was made by Thomas Jefferson, and few changes were made by the Continental Congress. The most important of the changes involved the slaves because if they included that in the Declaration the southern colonies would not sign it. The first one to sign the Declaration was John Hancock that was the leader of the Congress. The other ones were:

·        Connecticut:

Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott

·        New York:

William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris

·        New Jersey:

Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark

·        Pennsylvania:

Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross

·        Delaware:

Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean

·        Maryland:

Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton

·        Virginia:

George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton

·        North Carolina:

William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn

·        South Carolina:

Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton

·        Georgia:

Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton.

Second Continental Congress

The first meeting of the Second Continental Congress was on May 10, 1775. It is interesting that in that same date American forces captured Fort Ticonderoga. For this time the President of the Congress was John Hancock, who replaced Peyton Randolph in the charge. Most of the delegates from the First Continental Congress went, and they added Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson as delegates. This time Georgia sent delegates, but unfortunately they arrived until fall. Many of the delegates hoped that the rupture between the colonies and England could be healed.

The major contributions by the Second Continental Congress were:

·        Military Matters: The congress decided to make an army with the colonists outside of Boston, and to name George Washington as the commander-in-chief of the army. They placed him as the commander-in-chief because they wanted the South to help them, and George Washington was from the South.

·        Statements of Position: There were two petitions to England, one for the king and the other one to state that Americans are willing to achieve independence. The petition to the king was the “Olive Branch Petition”, and the other one was the “Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking up Arms”.

·        Financing the War: They attempted to pay the war by issuing paper certificates and by borrowing money. During the war they have problems paying soldiers and purchasing weapons and supplies.

·        Independence: It was a resolution by Richard Henry Lee where he promoted independence if the public opinion thought it would be necessary.

·        Opening of Diplomatic Channels: They send Silas Deane in 1776 to France for supplies, arms and trained European military officers. After him they send Arthur Lee and Benjamin Franklin to close the Franco-American Alliance.

·        Legislation: They propose in July 1776 the Articles of Confederation, the ratification of the articles concluded until 1781.

There were constant fights between the Southern Colonies and the New England Colonies, the Middle Colonies always went from one side to another if 

it was good for them.

The Battles of Lexington and Concord

Remake of the Lexington Battle

The battles of Lexington and Concord occurred during the date of April 19, 1775, when troops of Redcoats went to Lexington to capture Samuel Adams and John Hancock, and also went to Concord to destroy Patriots’ weapons and ammunitions.

When the British arrived to Lexington they found a group from 200 to 300 colonists gathered, that have the plan to split and stop the British. A shot was heard and the British respond the firing by shooting and killing seventeen colonists. After this they decided to destroy Patriots’ ammunitions in Concord. When they were destroying the ammunitions the colonists saw the smoke and start reuniting the militia to face the British. British fired killing two colonists, and Americans answered back killing three British.

A representation of the battle was made with LEGO 

At noon British commander Colonel Smith decided to go back to Boston because the work was already done. As they were retreating a group of militiamen followed them and shot at every opportunity they have. The soldiers run as fast as they could to escape until they found the reinforcement leaded by Lord Percy, but after a little time of being there they decided to withdraw to Boston because the militia was too big.

Lord Percy stated that: “Whoever looks upon them as an irregular mob, will find himself very much mistaken. Nor are several of their men void of spirit of enthusiasm as we experienced yesterday, for many of them concealed themselves in houses and advanced within 10 yards to fire at me and other officers, though they were morally certain of being put to death themselves in an instant.”

At the end of the first day of battle the British lost 65 soldiers dead with an addition of other 173 that were wounded. In contrast to the colonists that lost only 49 militiamen dead with an addition of 46 that were wounded.

First Continental Congress

The First Continental Congress was held in Philadelphia's Carpenters Hall. It was held from September 5 until October 26 in 1774. The idea of doing a Continental Congress was of Benjamin Franklin, but for their disgrace it failed because of the closing of the Boston Port by the Boston Port Act. The Boston Port Act was one of the five Acts of the Intolerable (Coercive) Acts.

Of the 13 colonies only twelve sent delegates because Georgia was under attack and they need help from the British army.

Some of the delegates were: George Washington, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Patrick Henry, Richard Henry Lee, John Jay, and John Dickinson.

The Major Actions took by the Congress were:

·         The Galloway Plan of Union- It urged for the creation of an American parliament to act in concert with the existing British body. The opinion for this was divided.

·         The Suffolk Resolves- They were a series of political statements given to Philadelphia. The majority of the colonies voted in favor of the resolves and against the Galloway Plan.

·         The Association- The Association established boycotts by means of non-importation, non-exportation and non-consumption agreements. To ensure this each colony would have a committee that would tell who is against the agreement.

·         Declaration of Rights and Grievances- The Congress composed a statement of American complaints. It was addressed to King George III, to whom the delegates remained loyal, but not to the Parliament.

·         Future Meeting- They agreed to do a Second Continental Congress if the colonial complains hasn’t been properly addressed. It was later stated that the meeting would be in May of next year.

After all what happened the First Continental Congress was considered as a success by the delegates and the people.

The Boston Tea Party

 In few words we can say that the Boston Tea Party was provoked because of the duties on tea of the Townshend Acts, and also for the Tea Act of 1773. The Tea Act allowed the East India Company to sell tea to the colonies at a lower price than the smuggled tea they buy.

In the date of November 28, 1773 three ships arrived from the East India Company that were the Dartmouth, the Beaver, and the Eleanor. To avoid the ships of downloading the tea the Sons of Liberty start making trouble so the governor decided not to download the cargo. The Tea Act stated that the money should be collected twenty days after the arrival of the ships, making the deadline for December 16.

When the date arrived the Dartmouth asked for permission to leave the port, but it was denied because of the nonpayment of the tax. Samuel Adams gave the order and around fifty men disguised as Mohawk Indians placed the cargo of the three ships on the decks, and threw 342 chests of tea into the Harbor. This action would bring terrible consequences to the colonists.

Boston Massacre

The Boston Massacre occurred on March 5, 1770, and it is said to be a street fight between a quad of British soldiers and a mob of colonists. The colonists throw stones, sticks, and snowballs to the soldiers. At the beginning the leader of the squad said to hold fire, but it is said that one of the soldiers slip and fired his weapon to the colonists. After this action the rest of the squad open fire against the mob.

The result of the massacre was of 3 colonists killed instantly, and 8 wounded of which 2 of them died later. For a final result of 5 dead colonists. The colonists that died immediately were Crispus Attucks, Samuel Gray, and James Caldwell. The other colonists were Samuel Maverick and Patrick Karr. Only two of the soldiers were found guilty of manslaughter.