Thomas Paine

Thomas Paine, one of the bastions of the U.S Independence. Thomas Paine, was born in Thetford, England on January 29, 1737. He came from a poor family, though his father, Joseph, tried to give him education at the Grammar School, but he eventually had to learn trade, but he was unable to accept this new profession. In 1771 he married again. Both marriages were childless and neither brought Paine much in the way of happiness. His first wife had died in 1760, with only one year of marriage. He separated from his second wife in 1774, just before he went to the American colonies.

Paine arrived to Philadelphia where he started his new career as a journalist. He wrote articles for the Pennsylvania magazine about various topics, but on January 10 he published his pamphlet, Common Sense, which rapidly gave him widespread recognition around the colonies. Common Sense presented the colonies the argument for freedom, which had still been undecided. He inspired on enlightenment thinkers and Biblical references for this pamphlet. He attacked British Government and parliament, and asked for immediate independence.

Some of his arguments:

• It was absurd for an island to rule a continent.
• America was not a "British nation"; it was composed of influences and peoples from all of Europe.
• Even if Britain were the "mother country" of America, that made her actions all the more horrendous, for no mother would harm her children so brutally.
• The distance between the two nations made governing the colonies from England unwieldy. If some wrong were to be petitioned to Parliament, it would take a year before the colonies received a response..
• Britain ruled the colonies for its own benefit, and did not consider the best interests of the colonists in governing them.

Later from 1776-1783 he started publishing the series of pamphlets "Crisis", to inspire americans against the British army. These were used by George Washington, which read it aloud to its soldiers.

Thomas Gage

Thomas Gage was a British general, known for his services in the american colonies, including his role as military commander for the early stage of the American War of Independence. Gage was born from a wealthy aristocratic family, he entered the military service, were he went to the French and Indian war. After that he served the army in the battle of Monongahela in 1775 againsts his ex companion George Washington. In 17774 he was appointed the military govenor of the province of Massachusetts Bay, were he implied the Intolerable acts because of the punishment for the Boston Tea Party.

John Hancock

John Hancock was born in Quincy, Massachusetts on January 12 1737. He had a good education, graduating from Harvard College as a merchant in 1754. When his parents died, he was adopted by his uncle Thomas who empoleyed him at his home. When his uncle did, he inherited his business as well as a good fortune which helped him survive during the French and Indian War. As said before, to recuperate money the Parliament started imposing taxes to the colonies. Hancock was one of the patriot leaders and was later appointed to represent Boston in the House of Representatives. He also called for town meetings to protest against other acts.

He started to become more involved in revolutionary politics, supporting for independence from Britain. He also became a member of the stamp act congress. He also had some disputes with Massachusetts governor Thomas Gage, as he had been appointed by the Parliament. Thanks to his big influence in the colonies he was appointed delegate for the continental congress, though before he arrived there, he was appointed president of that congress. On April 14, 1775, Gage received a letter from the Parliament ordering him to arrest revolutionary men. Gage sent military troops, which would spark the revolutionary war. Though later Gage retracted saying he wouldn't gain anything by arresting them, as others will only take their place.

During all this mess, Hancock made way to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia. He was president during one of the darkest time of the war, as British had took over some places. He was president when the Declaration of Independence was signed on July 4, 1776. He is remembered as his signature was the biggest one, supposedly so that King George would see it without his glasses.

On October 1777 he asked to resigned and was later reelected for the House of Representatives. On October 1680 he was elected Governor of Massachusetts, after he had successfully commanded 6000 soldiers through the war. He resigned in 1885 stating it was because of his health.

John Hancock died October 8, 1793.

Coersive Acts

As said on our last post, after all the tea was thrown into the ocean, Pariament got pretty mad about it. So they decided to impose the Coersive Acts, or as the colonists called them, the Intolerable Acts. First Parliament closed the port in America, which made various people go broke such as shopkeepers and mercahnt, as they didnt import goods, they had nothing to sell. British also sent troops and warships to the coloies to ensure the taxes were paid. In total they were 5 acts.

The first act was the Boston Port Act on March 31, 1774. It Closes the port until the East India Company had been repayed for the tea into the ocean. Thing that never happened.

Then came the Massachusets Goverment Act in May 20. This one angered colonists even more than the port act as it made all the positions in the Colonial Goverment to be appointed by the Parliament. It also limited the activities of town meetings.

Administration of Justice Act. May 20. It allowed colonial governor, which was appointed by the Parliament, to move trials of accused officials to Britain.

Quartering Act. June 2. This one was applied to all colonies. It was the same as the one before, that colonists had to give home to British troops, while these also took their jobs. Only that now they could be in any building. However, troops taking over private homes is olny a myth, as they normally would take unused buildings. This was the least protested act.

Quebec Act. June 22. This one is not always related to the Coersive Acts, as it is not exactly related to the events in Boston. This one only enlarged the boundaries of the province of Quebec.

Colonists saw the acts as a violation to their rights and decided to boycot all British goods. They aslo united in case of any possible atack. If the acts were not taken within a year, they could start a revolutionary war..

Boston Tea Party

The Boston Tea Party was an action taken by the colonists in Boston, Masachusets against the British Parliament and the East Indian Company, which controled all the tea going to the colonies. Colonists were tired of the ongoing taxation without representation problem, which had been around for more than 10 years already. During this times committees of correspondance had been made to organize boycots against all British imports. People were not buying, which only helped Britain's economy to go worse. Violence had happened, such as the Boston Masacre. All this lead to the Boston Tea Party.

Colonists got really angered when they got the Tea Act in 1773. They organized boycots and bought smuggled tea from other countries. Parliament then allowed to sell tea directly to the colonies, which made it cheaper than the smuggled tea, but colonists thought of it a trick to make them pay taxes. Ships were sent to the colonies, containing around 600,000 pounds of tea. When colonists heard about it, they started to prepare their plan.

A ship got to Boston on the night of Dec. 16, 1773. As town meetings were held, Samuel Adams and a group of around 130 men, disguised as indians, went to the ship and starting throwing the 342 chests of tea it contained into the water. This action angered the Parliament and they imposed the Coersive Acts

Protests During Colonial Times

Parliament imposed taxes to the colonies. The colonists did not like this and said that the British Parliament should not impose taxes on them as they had no representation. Since they didnt like what the Parliament was doing, they decided to protest. Colonies had different ways to protest, colonial leaders gave out pamphlets and gave out speeches to persuade colonists to defy new taxes. This leaders also started using ideas of eurpoen enlightenment thinkers and argued they had divine rights such as life, liberty and property and argued taxes took out their liberty.

Leaders such as John Adams and Patrick Henry also had a vast inlfuence. Patrick used all this ideas to make a radical ¨Virginia Resolves¨ and said that only the colonies could tax themselves. Soon other colonies supported his ideas.

As time passed, protests became more violent. Colonies began to work together and this created sense of unity. All this people who protested were called patriots. Crowds atacked tax collectors and tore down their homes. Soon after protests started, all tax collectors had resigned and there was no one to collect taxes. Crowds also slaughtered people who supported the parliament. The used a tactic called ¨Torring and feathering¨in which they poured hot tea into the person´s body and filled them with feathers.

Daughters of Liberty

As the British Parliament continued imposing taxes to the colonies, they continued in protests. Burning down tax collector houses and those of the people that supported the taxes.

The Parliament wanted to put taxes on everything that the colonies imported, but they didnt wanted to pay it. As a result they decided to stop importing things. As colonies decided to stop importing goods such as clothes, glass, tea etc. women became a very important part of all this movement.

Women had to start doing homespun thread in order to make clothes. They had to work long hours in order to make enough for all people. They had to weave yarn and wool into fabric by hand in order to make this clothes. These women who supported the boycots to the English people were called Daughters of Liberty. Later they also fought for women´s equality. They were highly influential during this process as this boycots wouldnt have happened without women. They also had a big inluence in war, as they always supported the american resistance. They also helped in decision making, as in 1974 when decided to boycot al british goods.

This tactit, inlcuding others worked, as the Parliament, under pressure from merchants gave in and repeled the act. But happiness didnt las long as they later passed another act saying they could tax the colonies.