Friday, June 13, 2008

Final Essay #3

Although Native Americans ultimately lost every war they fought with Europeans, they still had a pivotal roll in shaping the history of their continent. When the Europeans first landed they sometimes helped us with traid but other times the two sides fought because they spoke different languages and they had different traditions so they didn't get along. This is how the Native Americans helped the history of the continent when the Europeans first landed.
Durring the time of King Philip's war the Indians played a major roll in the fighting. They were a tough enemy to fight and they helped America get an army established. The battles that we fought with the Indians were large and bloody. This is how the Native Americans helped shape the history of their continent.
Durring the time of the French and Indian war and the American Revolutionary war, The Indians played a major roll in helping the french. They helped the French not only in number but with showing them a new fighting tactic where you hid behind obsticles for cover. In the American Revolution they did not play as a major roll in the fighting but still helped. This id how the Native Americans shape the history of their continent.

Final Essay #1

George Washington was horrible as a genral in the French and Indian war. He did not understand that standing in formation while the enemy shoots at you from under cover is a bad idea. He was too used to the old formal fighting tactics of the English while the French adaptid to the fighting styles of the Indians. This was mostly because he was young and he was just doing what he was taught instaed of making decisions for himself. This is why Washington was a bad genral during the French and Indian was.
In the American Revolutionary war, George Washington began to learn about how to fight without using the tactic where people stand in a field and take turns shooting at eachother. He gained most of his knolage from fighting experience. An example that he left his former fighting tactics behind is, at the battle of brokelin hights when he lost, instead of staying and having tea with the other genrals, he snuck away in the night. This is how Washington began to grow as a genral.
Washington played a unique roll in the founding of america. He was able to inspire soldiers to fight even though they lost almost every battle. At Vally Forge, when he could have gone somewhere else with a warm bed and plenty of food, he stayed with his soldiers and went through the tough times with them. This is why the soldiers respected his. This is why Washington played a unique roll in the founding of america.

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Revolution and War

1763-1789

Revolution Notes

1763—Proclamation Act(The proclamation act was a law that said that all land west of the Appalachian Mountains was the Indian's land.)


1764—Grenville Acts (direct tax)

    • Sugar (molasses, wine)

    • Stamp

    • Quartering

    • Currency

Virtual/ Direct Representation

No taxation without representation


1765—Stamp Act Congress

  • Sons of Liberty A secret group of American patriots who rebeled against the British.
  • Samuel Adams
  • Paul Revere
  • John Hancock
  • Propaganda
  • Boycotts
  • Lobsters (Lobster-backs, Thomas Lobster)

Formed for action against the Stamp Act


1766—Declaratory Act


Britian passed an act to make laws in the colonies in all matters

1767—Townsend Acts (indirect tax)

  • Charles Townsend
  • Writs of Assistance (search warrants)
  • Revenue used to pay Royal officials in the colonies
  • Tea Act (glass, paper, paint) support British East India Company

(Second attempt to get money from the Seven year War.)


1770—Boston Massacre

  • March 5, 1770
  • Local reaction (primarily) was really negative.
  • 5 dead colonists
  • John Adams defends British soldiers/5 exonerated-2 convicted
  • Convicted men discharged and thumbs branded


1773—Boston Tea Party

  • November 30, 1773--Dartmouth sails into Boston Harbor
  • December 16, 1773--Tea dumped into harbor
  • 340 chests of tea dumped (value of 10,000 British pounds)
  • (Reaction to Townsend acts.)



1774—Intolerable Acts (Coercive Acts in Britain)

  • Close the port of Boston
  • Shut down Provincial and Town Governments
  • All offices appointed
  • Named General Thomas Gage as Governor
  • Gave all western lands north of the Ohio R. to Quebec, allowed Catholic Church to practice
  • beginning of Revolution


1774—1st Continental Congress

One goes to war, all go to war


1775— January

  • William Pitt urges Parliament to withdraw troops from America because the idea of managing the colonies through force was “too ridiculous to take up a moment of your lordships’ time”


1775—April 19 Lexington and Concord

  • Gen. Gage sends 700 men to Concord to seize the powder supplies
  • Paul Revere and William Dawes raise alarm the night before
  • Town of Lexington is on the way to Concord
  • Minutemen are assembled on the town common
  • Shot heard round the world”
  • 18 colonials killed and the rest run away
  • British march on to Concord and find the munitions were moved overnight
  • Minutemen ambush the British the whole way back to Boston
  • 430 Redcoats make it back to Boston
  • 30,000 Colonists surround Boston
  • First battle between Britain and America


1775—May

  • Sam Adams pushes for Independence
  • John Dickenson (Penn.) urges restraint
  • Agree to form Colonial Army
  • Delegates unanimously agree to Washington as Commander of Continental Army (John Adams suggestion)1775—June 17, “Battle of Bunker Hill”
  • Adopted the Declaration of Independance and Articles of Confederation


  • Actually fought on Breed’s Hill
  • Gen. Howe leads assault without canon support (his canon had been matched with wrong-sized cannonballs [Amherst at Ticonderoga])
  • Militia waited to within 30 yards (some say 15 yards)
  • Militia target British officers
  • Militia ran extremely low on ammunition
  • On the third assault, led by Gen. Howe, British troops overtake the colonial position
  • Britain losses almost 1000 men (about half the attacking force)
  • Colonials lose about 500 men
  • Battle that showed congress that America can hold it's own.

1776—January, Common Sense

Written by Thomas Paine

  • 120,000 copies sold in three months1776—March
  • A essay that was read at pubs and common men worked up engough to riot.

  • Gen. William Howe evacuates Boston
  • July 2, lands in Staten Island, New York (Loyalist base)


1776—Declaration of Independence

  • June 7, Richard Henry Lee (Virginia) introduces legislation to declare independence from Britain
  • Before voting on Lee’s proposal Congress appoints five-man committee to draft a formal Declaration of Independence (Thomas Jefferson, 33, does most of the writing)
  • June 28, Declaration presented to Congress
  • July 2, Congress approves Lee’s legislation to declare the United States of America independent of Great Britain
  • July 4, Congress officially adopts the Declaration of Independence
  • The Declaration intended to:

  1. Undermine loyalty to King George III
  2. Outline basic principles of representative government
  3. Establish the “right” of rebellion
  4. "Break Up" letter to the king.

War


1776—August, Brooklyn Heights, New York

  • Largest Naval group Britain will launch until the 20th century
  • British victory, city falls to England
  • As winter came “sunshine patriots” left the American Army
  • Initial colonial enlistments due to expire
  • George Washington almost captured, snuck off in the fog


1776—December, Battle of Trenton

  • Howe believes war almost won
  • 1,400 Hessians stationed at Trenton
  • Colonel Rall (Hessian) builds no fortifications
  • Washington “Crosses the Delaware” Christmas night
  • 2,500 men; 18 artillery guns
  • Surprise attack at dawn
  • 106 Hessians killed, 918 captured
  • No colonial casualties
  • Washington retreats in secret to avoid Gen. Cornwallis counter-attack
  • Rall had a warning but did not read it, died with the warning in his pocket


1777—January, Princeton

  • Washington ambushes British troops
  • Colonial victory establishes this will not be a quick war for Britain
  • One of few small victories for Washington


1777—September-October, Saratoga

  • Gen. Burgoyne plans a three-prong attack on colonials at Albany
  • Plan does not consider the terrain, forcing British troops to march through swamps, lakes, hills and forests full of rebels
  • Two of the three “prongs” never arrive (Howe goes to Philadelphia instead, St. Leger retreats to New York afraid of Benedict Arnold)
  • Sept. Burgoyne crosses Hudson River
  • Oct. 17, Burgoyne surrenders
  • Establishes American Army as real threat
  • Helps secure open French Alliance
  • Turning Point of the War
  • First real victory of the war was won by Horatio Gates


777-1778—Winter at Valley Forge

  • Under-funded troops
  • Low morale
  • 10,000+ troops
  • 4,000 troops listed as “unfit for duty” due to poor supplies (boots, blankets, coats, etc.)
  • 2,500 troops die of disease (typhus, typhoid fever, dysentery, pneumonia)
  • George Washington mentioned a lack of shoes so severe that the men's "marches might be tracked by the blood from their feet”
  • Local farmers would sell produce to Brits who could pay cash
  • A horrible winter for Washington's troops


1779—February, Vincennes


1780—August, Camden


1780—October, Kings Mountain


1781—October, Yorktown

Big shebang!!

1783—Sept. 3, Treaty of Paris

  • Britain recognizes American independence
  • America gets all land from Atlantic coast to Miss. River, Great Lakes to Florida
  • Fishing rights to the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and off the coast of Newfoundland
  • America must pay debts to Britain
  • American congress would “earnestly recommend” all Loyalist property returned (States ignore this request)
  • America came out with most of the spoils

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Book Report

Many people think that war is all about the fighting and the battles, but in fact that is only a small part of war. In John Steinbeck's Once There Was a War, published in 1958, he writes about World War II and what the common soldier did when he wasn't fighting. The theme to this book is; a solider always remains a man, not a hero. This theme is important because many people think of a soldier as some supernaturally strong, invincable hero but they are the same person as they were when they joined.



John Steinbeck


In World War II, soldiers were presented as strong and high disapline men but they are just normal everyday people. My first example from the book is when Steinbeck writes about a man they call Big Train. This man is a private and his job is to transport soldiers, he dosn't climb mountians or take on the enemy by himself. Another example from the book is, in a certian wing of the air force they had a goat that they gave alcohol. The goat served at a pet/maskot and they believed that it brang good luck. Their maskot wasn't a majestic animal like an eagle or a lion, it was a goat, an average, everyday animal. My last example from the book is, the soldiers were in rough shape. They were not fed well, they were sick, not clean shaven, they did not look anything like the strong, healthy soldiers that were portraied. This theme is significant for this book because, it shows that soldiers are not always strong, healthy people that most people think of them to be.

A WWII Soldier
Throughout history, soldiers have been presented as strong and high disapline men but they are just normal everyday people. In moveis about ancient roman wariors, all the soldiers appear to be muscular and well fed, but they lived through hard times such as, hunger, desease, and other problems thet occur in armies. My second detail that throughout history soldiers have been presented as strong and high disapline men but they are just normal everyday people is, during mideval times, all the knights are allways ahown as very chivlrous, and noble, but they were no different if not more rude then any other person. Last, today in the army comersials the soldiers are shown saving someone, or climbing up a cliff, and even though some soldiers do save people, most of the time they are waiting around their camps. This theme is important in history because, it shows that soldiers are not always strong, healthy people that most movies and books, show them to be.

Brad Pitt Playing a soldier in the Movie Troy

A solider always remains a man, not a hero. This theme is significant for this book because, it shows that soldiers are not always strong, healthy people that most people think of them to be. The theme is important in history because, it shows that soldiers are not always strong, healthy people that most movies and books, show them to be. It is important to understand the theme because even though the TV and movies show soldiers as strong and exciting people, it is often just properganda.

Monday, May 19, 2008

letter from valley forge

Ben Taylor
Name: Bernard Harpentomleson
From: St Albans Massachusetts
Why: I joined because I have been on the farm my entire life and I wanted to see the rest of the country.
Writing to: Son, Thomas Harpentomleson

Dear Thomas,

I am writing to you from Valley Forge, Virginia. It is now nearing the end of the winter but the winter was a hard one. It was cold and all we have for shelter are small log huts. Many people have died of various diseases. I my self thought I was going to die of typhus early this January but after two weeks in the hospital, I got better. The food here is nothing but fire cakes, a tasteless flower and water mixture, cooked. And we have to drink out of the same river water where we relieve ourselves. People fight with each other and there is hardly any discipline. I miss you and your mother both and I look forward to seeing you when I return.
Son, I am pleased with the leadership of General Washington, he is constantly encouraging us and telling us that we will come back after the winter and start winning the battles. So far, we have lost nearly all of the battles that we have fought and we spend most of the time running from the British. This is his tactic though, to out run the British. I respect Washington and I am glad to be fighting with him.
I support the revolution; the British are taking advantage if our country and we must put a stop to it. However, like I said before we are loosing almost every battle and the rest of the troops are becoming less and less supportive of it. I am still very much supportive of the revolution and I intend to enlist again in the spring. I am also going to have you enlist with me, for you will be old enough, come time to enlist. I look forward to seeing you soon.

Sincerely,
Bernard

Friday, May 9, 2008

propaganda essay

I believe that we have the right to rebel and go to war with Britain. The king and his people have been nothing but bad to us, treating us with none of the respect that we deserve. He thinks nothing more of us then a young boy would of an old, out grown toy. He just uses us to get the things he wants like money and trade. This is why we have the right to rebel, because we deserve to rule ourselves.
The king thinks that he can tax us so he can pay off the money he owes from the war. Why are we the ones who is paying his debt? They don't treat us with any of the respect we deserve, remember the Boston massacre when the British soldiers killed a number of people who were throwing only snowballs. If we don't do something then it will only get worse. They will continue to tax us at outrageous prices and kill our Innocent people. This is why we must rebel.
I see a future in America, I believe that we can come together and make this country great. We can form a government where everyone has a say and no one has absolute power. We have too much at stake to not rebel from Britain. If we do not then all the progress we have made has gone to waste.

Thursday, May 1, 2008

William Few

William Few was born June 8, 1748, in Maryland and died at the age of 80 on July 16, 1828, in New York. He represented the state of Georgia at the Constitutional Convention from 1780-1782 and then from 1786-1788. Few was born into a family fighting against poverty as were many small farmers at this time. In 1771 Few, his father, and a brother joined a group called the "Regulators," a group of men (mostly small farmers) who opposed the royal governor. As a result, his brother was hanged, the family farm was destroyed, and his father was forced to move to Georgia where Few later joined him. William later married Catherine Nicholson and had three daughters.

Few joined the Richmond county regiment led by his older brother Benjamin. For two years, he attended military assemblies where he instructed people of the skills that he learned in the Regulators. It wasn't until 1778 that he was called to active duty when Georgia faced a threat by a force of loyalist militia and British regulars based in Florida. In the late 1770s Few won the election to the House of Representatives and represented Georgia in negotiations with the Indians that succeeded in minimizing the danger of frontier attacks. After serving for less then a year, Congress sent Few home to help reassemble Georgia's government after General Nathanael Greene's successful effort to drive the British out of most of Georgia. After he did this, Few returned to Congress in 1782, where he remained to serve for most of the decade. Some people that he served beside in Congress are James Madison, Rufus King and William Blount. In the 1700's Georgia selected Few to be one of its original senators along side James Gunn. Even though he was planing to retire, he served another year in the state legislature.

Few participated in the revolution because he firmly supported the effort to create a strong national union. He did not believe in a government where a person has complete power like a monarchy. Many other people agreed with Few, Samuel Adams (who lead the Sons of Liberty) and Thomas Pain (who wrote the book common sense) both actively supported the revolution. Because he did not believe in a monarchy, he worked hard to get the Continental Congress' approval of the new form of government.

William Few deserves more historical recognition than he receives. Even though he did not play as much of an active roll in the fighting as George Washington or Horatio Gates or play as large of a political roll as John Adams or Samuel Chase, he still did help defend and represent his country. He served in the military in Georgia and helped defend his state and country. He also represented the state of Georgia in the House of Representatives and in The Senate to help vote on decisions. This is why William Few Deserves more Historical recognition than he receives.