Future Meeting- Second Continental Congress

The First Continental Congress finished its jobs and was adjourned but in the late October of 1774 they thought it would be very useful another meeting if the circumstances dictated. Later with the Battles of Lexington and Concord and the planning of put Boston under Patriot seize made the meeting very necessary, so all the delegates of the 13 colonies gathered one more time in the Carpenter Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on March 10 of 1775. 

 The Second Continental Congress had as head John Hancock and two brand new members Thomas Jefferson (3rd President of USA) and Benjamin Franklin (Electricity Discover and Light-bulb inventor). Congress lacked the legal authority to govern, but boldly assumed that responsibility.



When they took over the matters of the war. Their major contributions were:
- Military Matters- The formation of the Continental Army leaded by George Washington also with the appointed generals: Artemas Ward, Charles Lee, Philip Schuyler and Israel Putnam
- Statements of Position- The Olive Branch Petition denied by the king and the king only sent more Redcoats to America.
- Financing the War- The effort to raise money for paying soldiers and purchasing arms and supplies remained a problem for much of the war. Many of their men or supplies were voluntarily given out.
- Independence- Richard Henry Lee resolutions to promote independence also to the contribution of Thomas Paine to gain independence with the book Common Sense
- Opening of Diplomatic Channels- The Franco-American Alliance in 1778 thanks to Silas Deane who was dispatched to France in search of support.
- Legislation- Even with the lack of legal authority they were decided to form up the Confederation.

Continental Army Members Discussing Strategy

Battle of Concord

This is a second battle that lead to the 13 Colonies to the Independence and call themselves the United States of America.

 April 19, 1775, also the town of Concord was alerted of the British Redcoats by the Dr. Samuel Prescott, the bell rang to call in the Minutemen, several hundreds of these men were in a stand-by and started a slow march to the town center but when they saw the Redcoats they ran to go under some cover by the hilltop out of town. The British troops were searching two things: the destruction of the weapons and eat some breakfast. They searched many houses to destroy any weapon and purchase food to the colonists since it was approximately 7:30 in the morning. The militia thought that the Redcoats were burning their homes so they moved from their positions and hided in the town and opened fire the British returned fire and retreated to Boston but even if the Redcoats were running back to Boston the Minutemen fired against the Redcoats. They were angered by the militia because they didn't confronted them face to face instead of hiding and shoot.

Conflict at the Bridge

Battles of Lexington and Concord Aftermath

Joseph Warren

 One of these days heroes was the Field Surgeon Dr. Joseph Warren, Patriot leader who risked his life repeatedly by attending the wounded and the dying.
The British suffered horribly, listing 73 killed, 174 wounded, and 26 missing. The Americans listed 49 killed, 39 wounded and five as missing. The colonists received a tremendous boost in morale by embarrassing the vaunted British army.

Battle of Lexington

April 19, 1775 The early months of 1775 were a period of great anxiety in Boston, insults and fights between the Redcoats and American were commonplace. The tension was increased by economic dislocation. In the town of Lexington, west of Boston, the residents had been preparing for a fight they thought was imminent. They had accumulated powder, guns and bullets during the winter. The presence of John Hancock and Samuel Adams the two men most wanted by Royal Authorities, made Lexington a logical choice for the Redcoats' attention. Also, the neighbor town of Concord had stashed the stockpiled gunpowder and weapons.

The British had marked these two objectives and mobilized to arrest the members of the Congress and retrieve the gunpowder. Thanks to Paul Revere and William Dawes the towns got notice of the approaching hoard of Redcoats. The towns' militia minutemen gathered in the Lexington "Town Green" or Central Park As the British advance party approached shortly after dawn, 77 Minutemen were instructed by Captain Parker: "Stand your ground; don't fire unless fired upon, but if they mean to have a war, let it begin here." The British commander, who was pleasantly surprised by the small size of the American force, ordered the colonists to throw down their arms and disperse. But at this actions a shot was fired and it started a cross-firing which ended with 8 deaths and 10 wounded to the Militia and wounds to the Redcoats.

Lexington's Aftermath

The Colonists Form the First Continental Congress

After the Boston Tea Party Event, the Parliament and British Crown took serious measures to gain control over the rebellious Bostonians.
The Parliament passed 5 different Acts in the year of 1774, the acts were known as the Coercive Acts in England and known as Intolerable Acts in the American colonies.

The Coercive Acts were all passed in the year of 1774:
- The Administration of Justice Act- The trials of British officials were moved to other colony or to England if the officials would be judged unfairly by the people in the colony were the murder or homicide took place.

- The Quebec Act- it only extended the Canadian frontier taking the colonies territory. It wasn't considered as damaging as the other acts.

- The Massachusetts Government Act-The governor was elected by the king not by the colonists' elected assemblies.

- The Quartering Act- The act was reestablished for the British troops guarding the town of Boston. The Bostonian had to give food and a room to the Redcoats when they don't had any room in the encampment.

- The Boston Port Act- The Boston Harbor was closed to all shipping except for coasters carrying necessary fuel and supplies. Custom services were moved to Salem and Marblehead.

 The colonists wouldn't stay doing nothing so they decided to take action since they thought that the Acts were taking away their liberty. In September 5, 1774 chosen delegates of every colonies, except Georgia. The delegates met in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the Carpenter's Hall. Some of the most prominent of the 55 delegates were George Washington, Samuel and John Adams, Patrick Henry, Richard Henry Lee, John Jay and John Dickinson.
Many actions were taken by the Congress but the major actions were:
- Suffolk Resolves
- Galloway Plan of Union
- The Association
- Declaration of Rights and Grievances
- Future Meeting ( Second Continental Congress)

Members of the Congress

Continental Congress Meeting

The Boston Tea Party

This small post is dedicated to a very important event that followed the Boston Massacre, the Boston Tea Party.
It was no boycott but a kind of Public Sabotage performed by the Sons of Liberty but they disguised themselves as Indians for getting access to the 3 ships that were in the Boston Harbor that night of December in 1773.
Why they did this? Well, after the Boston Massacre, the Parliament backed-off and retired all Redcoats and most of the Townshend Acts except the Tea Tax.

The following passage is directly from the words of a Son of Liberty named George Hewes participating in the operation:
"It was now evening, and I immediately dressed myself in the costume of an Indian, equipped with a small hatchet, which I and my associates denominated the tomahawk, with which, and a club, after having painted my face and hands with coal dust in the shop of a blacksmith, I repaired to Griffin's wharf, where the ships lay that contained the tea. When I first appeared in the street after being thus disguised, I fell in with many who were dressed, equipped and painted as I was, and who fell in with me and marched in order to the place of our destination.
When we arrived at the wharf, there were three of our number who assumed an authority to direct our operations, to which we readily submitted. They divided us into three parties, for the purpose of boarding the three ships which contained the tea at the same time. The name of him who commanded the division to which I was assigned was Leonard Pitt. The names of the other commanders I never knew. We were immediately ordered by the respective commanders to board all the ships at the same time, which we promptly obeyed. The commander of the division to which I belonged, as soon as we were on board the ship, appointed me boatswain, and ordered me to go to the captain and demand of him the keys to the hatches and a dozen candles. I made the demand accordingly, and the captain promptly replied, and delivered the articles; but requested me at the same time to do no damage to the ship or rigging. We then were ordered by our commander to open the hatches and take out all the chests of tea and throw them overboard, and we immediately proceeded to execute his orders, first cutting and splitting the chests with our tomahawks, so as thoroughly to expose them to the effects of the water.

In about three hours from the time we went on board, we had thus broken and thrown overboard every tea chest to be found in the ship, while those in the other ships were disposing of the tea in the same way, at the same time. We were surrounded by British armed ships, but no attempt was made to resist us.

...The next morning, after we had cleared the ships of the tea, it was discovered that very considerable quantities of it were floating upon the surface of the water; and to prevent the possibility of any of its being saved for use, a number of small boats were manned by sailors and citizens, who rowed them into those parts of the harbor wherever the tea was visible, and by beating it with oars and paddles so thoroughly drenched it as to render its entire destruction inevitable."
To view the extra info and more about the statement of Mr.Hewes in this event check out here!Boston Tea Party, 1773

New Taxes Equals New Protests

The Crown's Chief Financial Officer, Charles Townshend, thought that the colonists would agree with indirect taxes on commerce. In 1767 the Parliament passed the Townshend Acts which levied new import duties to items used daily as glass, lead, paint, tea and paper. This taxes would be used to pay the governors and judges in colonies and control them.

"Oh Lord, here it comes!" "Again?!"

   1. Violence Erupts in Boston
To protest against this new tax-collecting Act, a circulaar letter was passed by the Massachusetts Legislature and this threw in motion The Massachusetts Government Act by the Parliament, which appointed a selected-by-the-king Governor and cut the ability to govern themselves.
In June 1768 a boat called Liberty and leaded by John Hancock was captured by the British since the boat smuggled items under the Townshend Acts.
John Hancock- a prominent politician and wealthy merchant thanks to the smuggling.
With the seizure of the Liberty, lead many riots against custom officers. In order to suppress this riots, 4,000 British troops, or better called as Redcoats, were sent to occupy Boston (Population- 16,000). Anger and hate grew in the colonists since Redcoats were translating from their encampments to colonial houses and taking small jobs for their own.
In March 5, 1770 a group of Bostonians went angry to the Boston's Custom House and threw rocks with snowballs to the soldiers and the building, to counter-attack the soldiers fired and took 5 colonists lives. This event was eventually known as the Boston Massacre.

Sailor Crispus Attucks

Crispus Attucks- Runaway slave who worked under the command of Samuel Adams as a sailor. Crispus was one of the killed colonists of the Boston Massacre.
Finally Samuel Adams integrated the Committee of Correspondence by 1773 and this gave the colonies the ability of communication between them.

Colonial Protest Intensify on the Stamp Act

The colonists protested in three different forms:
-Intellectual Protests- people wrote pamphlets, drafted resolutions, gave speeches and delivered sermons.
-Economic Boycotts- to abstain of buying or using British goods.
-Violent Intimidations- Angry mobs destroying tax collector's offices and houses.
This three forces combined made the Parliament to back down.

John Adams

John Adams- He was very impressed in the political surge in the colonies since he was a Massachusetts lawyer. Later he became the second President of USA.

   1. Enlightenment Ideas
Colonial Protest was based on the Liberty of the Enlightenment
Baron de Montesquieu and John Locke were some of the Enlightenment members who thought that every man was born with "divine rights"(Life,liberty, and property rights). Others of their thoughts was that the government had to protect their people otherwise the people can overthrow that government.
Patrick Henry, a young Virginia representative, was inspired in this Enlightenment Movement run a radical document called the Virginia Resolves which argued that the assemblies could tax the colonists.
May 30, 1765- The House of Burgesses adopted 4 of the 6 statements of the Virginia Resolves because the other two were too radical, but the newspaper printed all the Resolves making the thought that the whole document was accepted.

   2. Patriot Leaders Emerge

Sons Of Liberty

The colonists worked together to fight the Stamp Act and created a fragile American unity and called themselves as the Patriots as the rejected British taxes. Samuel Adams founded the association of "The Sons of Liberty".
In August 1765 an angry mob led by the Sons of Liberty tore down an office and house of a tax collector in Boston. The Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts, Thomas Hutchinson denounced the riots and said that colonists had the legal duty of paying taxes but a mob destroyed his house. By the end of the year, every tax collector in Boston resigned.
 
   3.Leaders Organize Boycotts
Colonists leaders opposed taxes and feared angry mobs, they thought it would be better to organize the rebels so 9 of the 13 colonies sent Delegates to The Stamp Act Congress in New York City in October 1765 to organize boycotts and protestant activities an example is the consumer boycott, women played an important role in this boycott since they made the clothes if they were not going to buy the British clothes the women were known as the Daughters of Liberty.
Finally the Stamp Act was repelled in 1766 even though the stubborn Parliament imposed other Acts for collecting more taxes.

New Taxes Upset the Colonists

The French and Indian War Aftermath to the British was the doubled size of their territory in America but doubled the size of the National Debt in England. The British had to pay more taxes than the colonists. The Parliament stated that the colonists could and should pay more taxes since the war was fought in America.

   1. The Sugar, Quartering and Stamp Acts

 Many colonial merchants became even more wealthier by avoiding custom's taxes by smuggling their merchandise or paying bribes to the officers.
In 1764 a new Prime Minister of Britain, George Grenville, proposed to collect the taxes already implanted by the law. One of these laws was the Sugar Act and when it was up to take effect, it lowered the taxes in molasses (thick syrup produced during the refining of sugar) still he assigned customs officer sand created courts to collect taxes, also the persecution of smugglers, and hoped colonists would pay more taxes.

 Other law called the Quartering Act, was applied during the war, it stated that the colonists had to provide a room and food to British troops who had to defend the Frontiers or fight in war front-lines. To the safety of the colonies many of the colonists approved the Quartering Act.

  In March 1765 came other law, the Stamp Act, which made every printed material to have a tax as the newspaper, books, contracts, land deeds and court documents. Everyone of this papers had to have a stamp.

  



   2. Taxation Without Representation
All colonists were against the Stamp Act which was going to take effect the November of that same year of 1765. The colonists argued that they didn't have any representation in the Parliament so the Parliament had no right to levy taxes to the colonists, they also thought that of the Parliament added more taxes it would liberty and property of colonists in political rights. The Parliament thought the colonists as selfish and narrow minded people. This is the start of Colonial Protests against the Stamp Act.