SS8H3: The American Revolution

    The American Revolution is a war that most know led to the founding of America, but most do not know the cause of this important war.

Causes of the American Revolution:

    The French and Indian War was a war between the British and the French that caused a huge war debt to be placed upon England. This led to the Proclamation of 1763 to be made, and taxes to be placed on the American colonists, deeming them the ones to be punished. This Proclamation forbid people from settling west of the Appalachian Mountains, which was given to the Indians, causing many settlers to have to move back closer to the east coast, angering the colonists. One of the main taxes placed on the colonists is the Stamp Act. This put a tax on all printed goods, whether it be playing cards, paper, letters, etc. This tax led many colonists to call this "taxation without representation".

Seal of the Stamp Act

    Another tax was placed on tea, which led to the Boston Tea Party, where colonists dressed like Indians and dumped millions of dollars worth of tea overboard. This angered England, and as punishment for this act, the Intolerable Acts were placed. These acts were the closing of Boston Harbor, allowance of soldiers to go stay in colonists' homes, put a Royal Governor in control of Massachusetts, and made supposed criminals go to England for trial, not America. These acts, like the Stamp and Tea Acts, angered the colonists, leading to the Revolution

The Boston Tea Party

The Revolution In Georgia:

    The Revolution caused a split in Georgia between the Loyalist, or "Tories" (those who supported England because of Georgia being a young colony that needed economic support) and the Patriots, or the "Liberty Boys", but the colony still sent Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, and George Walton to sign the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. Georgia eventually showed its dislike for England in the Battle of Kettle Creek, where Elijah Clarke and Austin Dabney, who was later given land for his actions even though he was African American, fought and showed the Tories that Georgia has no support for England. Nancy Hart also showed her distaste for Tories when she killed six in her home (she was believed to have been a Patriot spy whose husband was killed in the Battle for Kettle Creek). Another important battle is the siege of Savannah, where Patriot troops tried to recapture Savannah. This, however, was a Torie victory, and the city remained captured.
   

The Siege of Savannah

Fun Facts:

The Siege of Savannah was the second bloodiest battle of the American Revolution.

The Battle of Kettle Creek took place on Valentine's Day.