In which John Green teaches you about the roots of the American Revolution. The Revolution did not start on July 4, 1776. The Revolutionary War didn’t start on July 4 either. (as you remember, I’m sure, the Revolution and the Revolutionary War are not the same thing) The shooting started on April 19, 1775, at Lexington and/or Concord, MA. Or the shooting started with the Boston Massacre on March 5, 1770. At least we can pin down the Declaration of Independence to July 4, 1776. Except that most of the signers didn’t sign until August 2. The point is that the beginning of the Revolution is very complex and hard to pin down. John will lead you through the bramble of taxes, royal decrees, acts of parliament, colonial responses, and various congresses. We’ll start with the end of the Seven Years’ War, and the bill that the British ran up fighting the war. This led to taxes on colonial trade, which led to colonists demanding representation, which led to revolution. It all seems very complicated, but Crash Course will get you through it in about 12 minutes.
Hey teachers and students – Check out CommonLit’s free collection of reading passages and curriculum resources to learn more about the events of this episode. Many events paved the road to American Independence from England: https://www.commonlit.org/texts/the-road-to-american-independence
England’s taxation on American colonists led to the famous 1773 Boston Tea Party: https://www.commonlit.org/texts/give-me-liberty-or-give-me-death-speech
And in 1775, Patrick Henry delivered a speech that rallied Virginias to form a militia against Britain: https://www.commonlit.org/texts/a-participant-s-first-hand-account-of-the-boston-tea-party
Chapters:
Introduction: The American Revolution 00:00
The End of the Seven Years War 0:36
Taxation in the American Colonies 1:47
The Stamp Act 2:22
The Townshend Acts 3:31
The Boston Massacre 4:22
The Boston Tea Party 4:54
The Intolerable Acts 5:47
The First Continental Congress 6:14
American Revolution =/= American War for Independence 7:35
Early Battles of the American Revolutionary War 7:58
Mystery Document 8:45
Thomas Paine’s Common Sense 10:09
Credits 11:47
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