Oliver Branch Petition

The Olive Branch Petition was a document written to send to the King of England to assert the rights of the colonists. While doing this, they suck up to the King which could have been taken offensively. Multiple times throughout the document, they refer to themselves as "faithful subjects." The colonists are basically asking for peace and to become more independent. They also say a few times that in the long run it will help both the colonists and Britain. They are arguing that they are being treated like children and they don't like the taxes being thrust upon them. The colonists blame the soldiers for everything that had happened between them and Britain. Also, at one point, they even bring up God in the argument. They colonists hit every point they could to appeal to the king and get their argument across. If I was the King and read this, I think I definitely would take it into offense. This is because the colonists think that I would really give into their demands because they called themselves faithful and sucked up to me. If they thought I was that dumb I would obviously never let them have anything they wanted and argued for in the document. I think this document is not very important because it did not change anything and the king never read it. The only important thing I found in the document was that the colonists called themselves still loyal to the king after all that he had done to them.

Boston Massacre, Boston Tea Party, and Intolerable Acts

BOSTON MASSACRE

During the Boston Massacre neither the British or the colonists were justified. Both were wrong in their actions and the Boston Massacre's severity could have been avoided. Lives could have been spared if things were done a little differently. My reasoning behind this decision is that both sides did things to provoke the opposite side. The British put acts and taxes on the colonists that they didn't think were fair so they didn't abide by them. That agitated the British even more than they were. The British treated the colonists like they were an extension of Britain, when in reality they went to the New World to get their own country and live by their own rules. It was wrong for the British to treat the colonists like children by taking away their rights and basically some of their freedom. The colonists did things to provoke the British as well. They treated the British soldiers as the lowest rank in society. Not only did they verbally abuse them but they actually threw stones and snowballs at them. They also hit them with clubs. The colonists were wrong in the way they treated the British. The night of the actual massacre, the colonists were abusing the British like normal and they finally cracked. When the shots were fired it was partially in self defense, but the colonists fought back in self defense as well. So one thing led to another and 5 people were killed in something that could have been avoided if they had just stopped pushing each other's buttons.

BOSTON TEA PARTY

During the Boston Tea Party, the colonists were justified in their actions against the British. The British were unfairly taxing the colonists on everything they could think of. The colonists decided they could live without some of the things the British were taxing. So the king and Parliament put a small tax on tea from India. The tea was cheaper even with the tax than the tea they normally bought. But that wasn't the point. The point was that the colonists were still being taxed. The governor of MA said to the colonists that the tea shipped in would be sold. The colonists refused to buy it and so to get rid of the unfairly taxed but cheap tea, they could only think of one thing to do so they wouldn't give in to the British; and that was to dump the tea on to the docks and let the tide take it away into the harbor. This act was not violent and didn't destruct and British property except for a lock which was then replaced. It's not like they destroyed ships and killed millions of troops. The colonists didn't want to give in to the British and be taxed and become puppets to Parliament. I think they were right ultimately because they kept their beliefs and dealt with them in a nonviolent way as if to tell the British government that they had a mind of their own.

INTOLERABLE ACTS

Again, I think the colonists were justified. Britain really had no good reason to put these harsh laws in order in the colony of MA. One of the laws was that Boston Port would be closed. That port is needed for supplies. Colonists need supplies from other places to survive in their communities. Another was that the King would appoint the governor. The colonists should have been able to choose their own leader because they had to live under and listen to him. Why should the King choose if he is not living there to deal with the person? The answer is he shouldn't. Only one town meeting could be held a year and it was to elect officials. Towns need to communicate to survive. If they don't, they will fall apart. These acts made the colonists angry and anxious. This added to their fury against their mother country. This added to the start of the American Revolution.

News During The French and Indian War

Newspapers during The French and Indian War played a major role in colonial life. The number of newspapers skyrocketed 73% from their original numbers. Colonists learned that they could not live without knowing what was going on in the War. The newspapers gave them vital information about everything from fallen soldiers, battle descriptions, surrenders, enemy atrocities and so on. They also denounced the enemy in the papers. People wrote letters to soldiers too. News reporting was accurate from the colonists side of the story, not so much from the French and Indian side though. The primary stories in the newspapers were all about the war.