Common Sense

Your Guide to Revolutionary Procrastination

Have you been cramming for the SAC One until your brains run?

Is Farmer no longer such a charmer?

Is Cantwell making you feel not so well after all?

Time for some revolutionary procrastination!

I present to you..a tv show called 'John Adams"

It has epic court scenes, a bit of gory stuff and some brilliant badass moments.

To justify this wonderful waste of time I will guarantee that you will successfully become attached to your revolutionary characters as a result of watching it. It will help you determine ...

who is a wimp 

who is a badass

and

who is a douchebag

This is of vital importance if you wish to write some hardcore history responses.

John Adams (2008) Episode 1

Happy history-ing. BB

Common Sense Thomas Paine

Battles

The Battle of Lexington-Concord took place on 19^th April 1775 in Boston, Massachusetts against the British Troops and the Militia of Massachusetts.  It is agreed by historians that the shots fired during the Battle of Lexington-Concord were the first shots of the Revolution and was the result of the building Anglo-American tensions. The tensions were a result of acts and events that directly affected Massachusetts as well as the other colonies such as the stamp act. Boston, the sight of the Boston Massacre of 1770 and the Boston Tea Party of 1773 was a main point of resistance and as a result King George III increased the military presence in Boston and put in place the Boston Port act which closed the port of Boston until they paid for the tea that they had dumped overboard in the Tea Party. Powder Alarms were also a cause of tension in which minutemen, soldiers who were ready to find at moment’s notice, were mobilised during a series of war scares in 1774 which involved General Gage seizing gun powder stores.  The ‘tinderbox was lit’ (Thompson) when General Thomas Gage, the Royal Governor of Massachusetts, order British troops to march on Concord where a large amount of gunpowder was stored.

On the morning of 19^th April the British arrived at Lexington. These troops were met with a group of 77 men and boys who formed a part of the colonial militia on the village green. The commander of these men was Captain John Parker, a veteran of the French and Indian War, who allegedly told his men ‘Don’t fire unless fired upon, but if they mean to have a war, let it begin here’. Due to the hindrance of the colonial militia the British captain ordered his men to adopt an attack formation and then called on the rebels to disperse and Parker ordered his militia to retreat. Some, reportedly, began to retreat until a shot was fired which prompted gunfire from both sides. The British advanced and killed eight colonial militiamen; only one British soldier was wounded. The Warning systems of the local Committee of Safety sent news of the fighting to Boston and in Concord the militia soon became fully aware of the British advance. The first English platoons arrived at 7:30 am and began searching the area for weapons and gunpowder but with little success. During the search the church was accidently set on fire which led some colonials to believe that the British were torching the whole town. A large number of militia gathered and started shooting at the soldiers who returned the fire before being ordered to retreat to Boston. During the retreat to Boston the soldiers were met with ambushes from the colonial militia as well as an occasional sniping from civilians. By the end 130 men were dead, a majority of them being British soldiers. On the 20^th April General Gage woke up to find Boston surrounded by a 12,000-strong militia who had arrived overnight and were intent on revenge after hearing about the battle of Lexington Concord. Massachusetts was now in ‘a state of war’

Due to the militia that surrounded Boston the Charlestown peninsula and Dorchester heights lay abandoned. See this as an opportunity to make the British ‘masters of these heights’ General Gage planned to seized these positions before the colonists did so. News of this filtered across from Boston and New Hampshire on 15^th June. In possession of this intelligence the Massachusetts Committee of Safety orders General Artemas Ward, commander of the militia surrounding Boston, to capture both Bunker Hill and the Dorchester hills before the British did. The next day Ward ordered Colonel William Prescott to take and fortify Bunker Hill. Unknown to the British Prescott and his troops arrived at the Charlestown peninsula the same night. Prescott decided to bypass Bunker Hill and gave order to march to Breed’s Hill. The British woke on the 17^th June to newly erected defences that the colonials had toiled during the night to make.  During the day British ships bombarded the colonial militia as they worked and Colonel Prescott walked the bulwarks to raise morale. In the afternoon, over 2,000 British soldiers commanded by General Howe landed on the shore of Charlestown. Snipers fired at the British as they marched and General Howe ordered a combustible shell to be launched on Charlestown. From rooftops and hilltops spectators watched as Charlestown burnt. The British troops started uphill and the colonials help their fire until the troops were 50 metres away. The gunfire decimated British ranks during both the first and second attacks. After the third attack, however, the colonial militia were running short on ammunition and were overrun by the British. The battle of Bunker Hill was a pyrrhic victory for the British with 226 dead and a further 828 wounded. Despite the British control of the peninsula, colonial forces still trap the British in Boston. As supply shortages become an issue the British prepare for further military commitment to defeat the colonies, during this the colonies assemble more soldiers. British replaced General Gage with General in October 1775 and two weeks after the battle George Washington arrived in Cambridge to take command of the Continental Army.

The revolutionary idea that is evident in both the battle of Lexington Concord and the battle of Bunker Hill refers to the natural right of life and the right to exist without the threat of death. In a speech by the Committee of Safety to several towns in Massachusetts it says that ‘the barbarous murders committed on out innocent brethren…have made it absolutely necessary that we immediately raise an army to defend our wives and children’. The fact that innocent people were killed went against the natural right of life and also created an incentive for the colonies to fight. 

First Continental Congress

Enlightenment Sample Answer (sorry that it's upside down) and about the enlightenment

The Coercive/Intolerable acts

The Boston Massacre and the Boston Tea Party

'That there is a dignity, a majesty, a sublimity, in this last effort of the patriots that I greatly admire' (John Adams about the tea party)

Tarring and feathering & spreading the world

Townshend act

Cantwell:

Stamp act and other acts

The French-Indian War

Important people (so far) and important terms (so far)

John Adams (1735-1826)

A regular diarist, prolific writer and correspondent. Born in Massachusetts. A Harvard graduate who became a successful Boston solicitor with Whig Sympathies. He defended the British soldiers who shot the citizens in the Boston Massacre. By 1770 he had become a prominent member of the Sons of Liberty. In his essays Novanglus (1774-5) he defended colonial resistance and argued that the British Empire was, in reality, a league of autonomous entities. During the war he was sent as a diplomatic representative to the Dutch Republic and he had the responsibility for opening negotiations with Britain. He was one of the three men who negotiated the treaty of Paris and ended the war.

Sam Adams (1722-1803)

A founder of the Sons of Liberty and Committees of Correspondence, he played a key role in resistance to British rule in New England. Graduated from Harvard with an established prejudice against British authority. He became James Otis’s lieutenant in the struggle against British authority. From 1770 he assumed more of a leadership role in the colonial cause in Massachusetts and played a major part in the organisation and execution of the Boston Massacre and the Tea Party. He was a crucial propagandist with a constant stream of articles in the New England press. He was a delegate to both Continental Congresses and played an important role in the move to declare independence.

 

Benjamin Edes (1732-1803)

In 1755, he became, with John Gill, editor and proprietor of the Boston Gazette  which was a key propaganda tool used effectively by all the Whigs, but especially by Sam Adams in opposing the Royal governor and British Policy. Eds was a member of the Sons of Liberty and the Boston Caucus, and the influential ‘Loyal Nine” which masterminded many protests against the British. It was said that the Mohawks of the Boston first met for a drink at his premises before smearing ink from the Gazette on their faces and making their way to the docks. “The temper of the people may be surely learned from the infamous paper” (Andrew Oliver)

John Hancock (1737-1793)

In 1764 he inherited the largest fortune in Massachusetts on the death of his  uncle, and became responsible for a large trading area. In 1765 Sam Adams began to introduce him to Whig politics. He became a leading member of the Sons of liberty, often financing may adventures, advertisements and so on. The finance provided was crucial in helping gain support and motivate protesters. It was said of him that “his brains were shallow and pockets deep” Tories often referred to him as the “milch cow” of the revolution.

The Loyal Nine

The men in this group were the secret and highly influential nucleus of the Boston Sons of Liberty. They organised and coordinated many of the protests against the Royal governor and British policy. The following were all known to be members but at times they were joined by various others-the name is a title rather than an exact count of members.

·         Benjamin Edes

·         John Adams

Patrick Henry (1736-1799)

Patrick Henry was a Virginian lawyer, colonial politician and radical who became one of the American Revolution’s best known orators. While farming he read law books in his spare time; in 1760 he was granted a lawyer’s license, despite never having graduated. In 1763 Henry achieved a degree of prominence when he represented Hanover County in the ‘Parson’s Cause’ case, a civil hearing centring on the payment of Anglican priests in Virginia. Henry argued forcefully against both the rights of Anglican clergy and the limits of British authority in the American colonies. Despite having little wealth and negligible experience, Henry was elected to the Virginia legislature, the House of Burgesses, in 1765. Weeks after taking his seat he responded to the Stamp Act by introducing the Virginia Resolves, challenging parliament’s right to pass revenue measures in America. Folklore attributes several provocative statements to him, including “If this be treason, make the most of it” (1765) and “Give me liberty or give me death” (1774) – however there is no extant historical evidence to suggest he uttered those exact words. What is certainly verifiable is that Henry’s oratory was angry and radical, and sometimes exceeded standards of the time. Henry attended both Continental Congresses, though he contributed little; his real niche was in Virginian politics and he refused several offers to serve in the national government. Henry was a supporter of American independence but later an opponent of the Constitution, becoming probably the most famous leader of the anti-Federalist movement.

James Otis

James Otis (1725-1783) was a Massachusetts lawyer and politician, best known for coining the slogan “taxation without representation is tyranny”. Born in Cape Cod, Otis was the son of a prominent lawyer and the brother of Mercy Otis Warren, a future chronicler of the revolution. He was educated at Harvard then began practising law in Boston. In the early 1760s Otis began representing colonial merchants who were seeking relief from the hated writs of assistance (search warrants). He delivered long but eloquent courtroom speeches, challenging the legality of the writs of assistance, describing them as the “worst instrument of arbitrary power”. In the mid-1760s Otis penned several tracts asserting the rights of the American colonists to oppose taxation and intrusive measures decided in London. This made Otis one of the earliest of the revolutionaries (one historian dubbed him the “pre-revolutionist”) – but he advocated reform and purification of the status quo rather than American independence from Britain. Otis also sat as a member of the Massachusetts legislature, however mental illness saw him withdraw from public and political life in the late 1760s. He lived long enough to see an American victory in the Revolutionary War, dying after a lightning strike.

Paul Revere (1734-1818)

Paul Revere (1734-1818) was a Boston artisan who became a prominent revolutionary and member of the Sons of Liberty.  Revere served briefly with the Massachusetts militia during the French and Indian War, before returning to take over his father’s silversmithing business on his 21st birthday. Like most other Boston businessmen, Revere was affected by and opposed to the British revenue policies of 1764-65. In the mid- to late-1760s he became an important street-level revolutionary leader, attending clandestine meetings and producing engravings and other objects with anti-British slogans or themes. Revere’s political activities increased with the arrival of British troops in Boston. He is well known for copying Henry Pelham’s drawing of the March 1770 shootings and selling it as The Bloody Massacre perpetrated in King Street. He was later instrumental in the Committees of Safety, which monitored and reported on British military in Boston. Revere has been feted as a revolutionary hero for his 1775 ride to warn of British troops approaching Lexington and Concord – however both the importance of this, as well as Revere’s personal contribution, have been greatly exaggerated.

Colonial America notes