American Revolution Dbq

In the years 1765 to 1783 Americans were fighting for their independence. Britain finally decided to take its role as a mother country after many years of salutary neglect. The American Revolution was revolutionary because colonist fought for a change in the way the government was set up. The colonies were a part of Great Britain, so they still had to respond to Britain even if it was unfair. Britain's greatest mistake was taxing the colonists. The different acts that were passed to collect taxes angered the colonists little by little until they finally exploded. The Boston Tea Party was a type of protest against one of those taxes. Colonist chose to waste the tea instead of buying it. The colonists were forced to revolt against Britain by all the injustices they made, like the Boston Massacre. British soldiers were not able to hold back their anger and shot 5 people. The colonists didn't want the government to have this amount of power, so they fought to change that. King George III promised the land west of the Appalachian Mountains to the colonist after the Seven Years War. However, Britain passed the Proclamation of 1763, which prohibited colonist from settling west of the Appalachian Mountains, right after the war. In the

A recognized patriot was Patrick Henry. He saw that the colonists were strong enough to fight against their mother country. Henry preached for a revolution in his “Give me Liberty Speech” in 1775. In fact, he is well remembered for saying “give me liberty or give me death”. Colonists were tired of the way the British government treated them. What the colonists actually desired was to have a say in the government. Galloway’s Plan of Union shows how the American government was formed around not giving the government too much power. Gordon S. Wood also shows how the United States was transformed after the revolution in his book "The Radicalism of the American