The Second Continental Congress

After the battles of Lexington and Concord, the colonists met in a second continental congress. The congress met in the state house in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, now is called the Independence hall. These congress had some delegates that had not been at the first continental congress. Some of these delegates where Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and John Hancock that was the president of the continental congress. the congress included 65 delegates. The day the second continental congress met, Etha Allen and Benedict Arnold had captured fort Ticonderoga, on lake Champlain in New York.

In the second continental congress, many important things where decided, and one of them was when they decided to brake apart completley from Great Britain, and on may 15, 1776, they decided to oficially put the colonies in state of defense. They also decided to organze the militia of the colonies better, so they decided to form an army called the American Continental Army. And on june 14, 1776, George Washington was officialy appointed as commander in chief by the congress of the army. Another thing discussed by the congress, was if they were going to print paper money, these passed and paper money began to be printed later in the year. The second continental congress was one of the most important goverment meetings in the history of the United States Of America, because it decided some of the most important ideas by which the colonist fought for in the revolutionary war, because at that meeting, members of the continental congress wrote and signed The Declaration Of Independence.

Common Sense

"Society in every state is a blessing, but government even in its best state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one…"

Common Sense, Thomas Paine

Common Sense Pamphlet

Published in 1776 by Thomas Paine, Common Sense challenged British rule and the royal monarchy. The plain language that Paine used spoke to the common people of America and was the first work to openly ask for independence from Great Britain.

The book was released in January 1776, in a 48-page edition, which was anonymous do to the challenging content. The book sold more then 120,000 copies on the first three months and 500,000 copies on the first year. It also had more then 25 versions by the end of 1776. When asked why the book was anonymous, Thomas Paine answered saying that as he was wishing to serve an oppresed people, he would not take any profit as author, and donated the money to the Continental Army

The main arguments against British rule on the pamphlet were:

• 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.
• Being a part of Britain would drag America into unnecessary European wars, and keep it from the international commerce at which America excelled.
• 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.
• The New World was discovered shortly before the Reformation. The Puritans believed that God wanted to give them a safe haven from the persecution of British rule.
• Britain ruled the colonies for its own benefit, and did not consider the best interests of the colonists in governing them.

Thomas Paine

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Boston Tea Party

The french and indian war was very costly for the british, so they start looking for a way to get money back, and they decided that since they waste lots of money in the colonists, they should pay taxes to help briton get up from their economic situation. So there is when a series of actions appear, such as the stamp act, the Townsend act, and the boston act between others. But it was the crowns attempt to tax tea that take the colonists to action.

But the parliament decided to tax the colonists by the imported tea, and they will be getting the tea by a chipper price than even before, but they notice that if they pay that tax they will be accepting the parliament right to tax them. So the colonists did not let themselves fooled by parliament. so when west india company send shipments of tea to New York and Philadelphia, the ships where not allowed to land. But in charleston the tea laden ships where allowed, but the tea stay in a warehouse for 3 years until it was sold by patriots to help finance the revolution.

In Boston the arrival of 3 tea ships ignited a furious reaction. A mass meeting at the old south meeting house that morning resolve that the tea ships should leave the harbor without the payment of any duty. The collector of customs refuse to allow the ships to leave without the payment of any duty. so a group of 200 men some disguised as indians assembled in a near by hill. whopping war chants they descended upon the 3 ships and dumped their offending cargos of tea onto the harbor waters. and these was known as the Boston Tea Party.

The Minutemen

"I believe in profess that a people never must value anything 

higher than the dignity and freedom of its existence; that it 

must defend these with the last drop of its blood" 

 Karl von Clausewitz

This is not a Minuteman

It is often misinterpreted that the militia was the same as the Minutemen. The Militia were farmers in arms, who were protecting their town or properties from foreign invasion or attacks. The Minutemen were a small elite force who were expected to be highly mobile and easily deployable as well as being able to assemble quickly. They were handpicked from the militia by their commanding officer and were usually strong, enthusiastic young men below the age of 25.

Although the Minutemen are believed to start in the Revolutionary War during the 1770's, they are registered to exist as far as the 1600's. During 1689, another kind of Minutemen existed. They were called the Snowshoemen and were supposed to be able to march in a moments warning with moccasins, snow shoes and a hatchet.

During the French and Indian War, the Minutemen were supposed to be able to leave with 3 days provision, their arms, and other materials, within a minute of being told. In Massachusetts, the Minutemen were a well-trained force for more then six generations. By the time of the Revolution, Massachusetts had been training and improving their militia and Minutemen for more then a hundred years

Although all this, the Minutemen lacked central leadership which stop them from achieving greater moves against the British Army during many battle of the time.

"Thus, although lacking central command, the Minutemen were still better organized and battle-tested than any other part-time military. They were a vital and necessary force, playing a crucial role in not only the Revolutionary War, but in earlier conflicts. Without these "ready in a minute" men, our history may have been written in a very different way"

Andrew Ronemus

This is a Minuteman, with his flag and musket.

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Boston Massacre

Quartering Acts

During the French and Indian War, the Grenville government had stationed troops in the colonies to protect the properties and citizens from Indian raids and French attacks. After the war had ended, the troops remained in the colonies, both to protect the colonies from a attacks of certain still rebel Indian tribes.

In March, 1765 Parliament passed a law under the name of Quartering Act. The Quartering Act obliged the colonial assemblies to provide the basic needs (food and shelter) to the soldiers stationed within their borders.

The British government hoped the colonies would pay for the protection given to them with paying the life cost of the troops stationed there. In the unrest during the Stamp Act of 1765, more troops were sent to the colonies.

The Quartering Acts was amended in 1774.

The Sons of Liberty

These began in boston, in a early summer of 1765, when a group of shopkeepers and artisans, who called the selves the loyal 9, began preparing for agitation against the stamp act. As these group grew, it came to be known as the Sons of Liberty. These where not the leading man of boston, but where workers and trades man.amongst the members were two men who could generate much public sentiment about the Act. Benjamin Edes, a printer, and John Gill of the Boston Gazette produced a steady stream of news and opinion. The first widely known acts of the Sons took place on August 14, 1765, when an effigy of Andrew Oliver was found hanging in a tree on Newbury street, along with a large boot with a devil climbing out of it. By the end of that year the Sons of Liberty existed in every colony. Their most popular objective was to force Stamp Distributors throughout the colonies to resign.Wherever these groups existed they were either directed in secret by leading men in the community or actually lead by them. However, there were opportunists everywhere, too, who would use the name Sons of Liberty to carry out acts of revenge and other violence not related to the cause. For example, in South Carolina a group of sailors, calling themselves The Sons of Liberty, formed a mob to coerce money from people on the streets. The success of these movements in undermining the Stamp Act cannot be attributed to violence alone. Their most effective work was performed in newsprint. A great part of the Sons were printers and publishers themselves and even those who were not, were sympathetic to the cause. It was they who would pay the most in duties, after all. Nearly every newspaper in the colonies carried daily reports of the activities of the Sons of Liberty. When the Stamp Act became effective on the 1st of November, 1765, nearly all of these papers went right on publishing without the required Stamp. So it was that the first efforts to unite the colonies were not undertaken by their respective legislatures, but by these independent radical groups. The various Sons throughout the colonies began to correspond and develop a larger organization.