Living in America has been quite the struggle. It’s been over 100, almost 200, years and Great Britain is starting to be more controlling over us, American citizens. I see no reason for them to tax us, just so they can pay off their debt for the French and Indian War. The British were the ones who wanted land on our ground. I’ve been living on American soil my whole life and have never been to the United Kingdom; for goodness sake, more than half of the population in America has never been there. All the taxes they are asking us to pay is ridiculous. In 1764 they passed a Currency Act that made the colonist stop issuing paper currency, which made it harder for us to pay the taxes they lay on us. The Brits just wanted America to have a very similar to their currency. This tax is making all the money we have no value whatsoever. It takes so much money just to buy simply groceries. It takes wheelbarrows just to go and get food. This is one of the biggest struggles Britain has given us. The Sugar Act was another big thing that the British parliament laid on colonist. This Act taxed coffee, sugar, lumber, iron, and some wines.
This angered all colonist, but I secretly think that loyalists don’t mind paying the taxes for the King. My big question is, how are you gonna tax sugar when so many people put sugar in their drink? That is like taxing milk. Another big struggle is the Stamp Act. This act was to tax all paper and documents in the colonies. This is such a big struggle when you just need licenses for your business, or if you just wanna buy a newspaper, you still get taxed for it. No one ever would have thought that reading about what’s going on in the country would be so expensive. We deserve representation over in the mainland. They are taxing us without our consent and it is getting our leaders angry. We need representation. We don’t live on the mainland anymore. We haven’t for the past 100 plus years. We need to show parliament that they can’t tax us for their war. We are Americans, we shouldn’t have to listen to the King when we live thousands of miles away. With everything going on, I wouldn’t be surprised if a huge battle breaks out. All of the colonists around me are going mad about all the taxes they have laid on us. Everything has gone out of control. On March 5, 1770, a battle rung out in Boston. Poor Crispus Attucks and five others lost their lives for it. I can feel there’s something coming soon. I don’t understand why Britain sent soldiers to America. It is like they are keeping us in a prison. If we step out of line the British soldiers are there to make sure we are in our place and paying taxes. The trial with the soldiers went terribly if you asked me. John Adams did make some good points when defending them though. Like saying that it was Britain’s fault for the shooting because they are the ones who sent the soldiers here that provoked the massacre. But those soldiers held the guns that killed 6 people. They were not charged for manslaughter and escaped the death penalty, which blows my mind because killed someone and they got off with nothing.
All this doesn’t add up. Adams was a strong patriot, yet he defended people who killed his own. Adams is also in a group called The Sons of Liberty. So he is known for not liking the British, which baffles me. Being an avid patriot has been very difficult. We get unfair taxes, we are not heard by parliament, and we are just another piece of land they think they can control. When we show that we do not like being taxed we get even more acts put on us. Like the Townshend Act but that resulted in the Boston Massacre. Also when you are a patriot you are fighting for years to have your voice to hear. You are fighting for your rights and your freedom. December 16, 1773, would be a day one of our biggest protest ever. The American Patriots had enough with being taxed by parliament and not American representatives. On that day the Sons of LIberty, lead by Sam Adams, planned to show parliament about the tea act. The Tea Act was to a bill that was passed to save one of Britain’s most important companies, the East India Company. That company sold tea to Britain at a mark up and then later shipped it to the colonies. The parliament decided to stop having their company shipped to England but have them shipped directly to the colonies. This angered the colonies angered the colonies and the Sons of LIberty decided to take action and show Great Britain how we felt about it. They dressed up at Indians and dumped 342 chest of tea into the Boston Harbor. This protest was came to known as the Boston Tea Party. Parliament was quick to push the colonies though. They soon passed the Intolerable Acts, but that only strengthened the tension between the colonies and Great Britain. The year 1775 was a big year, for us patriots. The battle of Lexington and Concord had begun. Tensions had been building between England and America.
April 19, 1775, was a big day, apparently, British soldiers were coming to Concord to capture John Hancock and Samuel Adams, famous patriot leaders. But thank god and the heavens above that Paul Revere had warned the colonist by riding a horse through the streets shouting “the British are coming”. He is a very brave man for that. Hancock and Adams had escaped and were thankfully never captured. The next day the colonial militia had gathered at Lexington and faced a very large team of redcoats. Neither of them wanted to fire the first shot but a shot was eventually let off and that was known as ‘the shot heard around the world’. Both sides then started to fire and the Colonials ended up fleeing to Concord. The redcoats ended up following them and they couldn’t find any weapons there. Then the Minutemen ended up firing on the redcoats from houses and trees, forcing the redcoats to flee. This battle had officially begun the fight for our independence.
