Valleydale High School - Conquest Yearbook (Charlotte, NC)

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Military power will never awe a sensible American tamely to surrender his liberty. Samuel Adams 1768 In 1773, the British Parliament again blundered, but for the last time. To assist the financially troubled East India Company, England gave it an exclusive monopoly on tea imports to the colonies. This sanctioned monopoly, combined with the tea tax still in effect, fanned the flames of revolt. As ships arrived, the patriots held tea partiesf' In Boston, Sam Adams organized 150 men, disguised as Indians, to dump 342 chests of tea into the harbor in protest of the tax. 2' Independence Hall - Philadelphia This act was repeated in other colonial ports and was, according to the British, the most wanton and unprovoked insult offered to a civil power . . . recorded in history. King George III knew what had to be done: s'Suppress the revolt with troops, do not negotiate, make America obeyf, The line had been drawn and the flames assumed the proportions of an inferno. In the fall of 1774, delegates from every colony journeyed to Philadelphia to form the First Continental Congress. The time had finally arrived to display some unity of purpose. Philadelphia, a booming city of 30,000, greeted her visitors with the jubilant sound of pealing church bells. After much arguing and heated debate on pro- tion 1--We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal,

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of Liberty continued to exchange ideas through the efforts of the Committee of Correspondence. Formed by Samuel Adams, the Committee used post riders to deliver pamphlets and letters deal- ing with the latest British offenses, and the newest hopes for colonial freedom. One of the best of these riders was the Boston silversmith, Paul Revere. Meanwhile, Benjamin Franklin, Deputy Post- master General, was in England trying patiently to work out the problems between the Crown and the colonies. It was here that he came into possession of some letters which indicated that 7' ' l lik. . Xxx s, fl-Q ' in il' M! I - is Y!,,--N2-ix. I l . X: f h 'gi fi -ix' G Xi LN. Q fl I 1. . 4 X X Y. il' .li ef , I A I :v ' . - Q 1' if l Bruton Parrish Church not all of the problems and questions of the colonies were being forwarded to Parliamentg hence the many miscalculations created by the absence of proper information could not be feat- egoricallyb placed at the door of Parliament. House of Burgesses ect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel 1

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cedures and voting rights. Patrick Henry jumped to his feet, saying, Let free men be represented by numbers alone . . . there are no distinctions HERE . . . I am not a Virginian, I am an Ameri- can. The Congress put forth a set of resolutions similar to Massachusetts' Suffolk Resolves, stating colonial rights to life, liberty and property, the rights to free assembly and exclusive power to determine taxation and internal policy. Thirteen acts of Parliament were declared illegal. Eco- nomic boycotts were to be brought against England, until such time of their repeal. All future imports from England were to cease! During the winter months of 1774, tension ran high in Boston. More and more of King Georgels troops arrived. As cold weather also arrived, it became impractical for the troops to quarter on the Commons. General Thomas Gage,the British Commander, tried ' to hire labor to build huts, but to no avail. Unemployment was high, the British wages good but few Bostonians responded with any spirit of cooperativeness. Keeping up the troops' morale was difficult. so marches were made across the bay to the interior. On one such march, American arms and powder were confiscated by the British at Cambridge and Charlestowng the reaction to these forays was the organization of the Com- mittee ofSafety. . John Hancock, a wealthy merchant and shipper, was selected to head the group. The Committee was given the power to call out the militia - of the entire colony if necessary f at any sign of at they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are