So America was being taxed and Britain was forcing them to buy sugar from them at a high price and Britain introduced the Stamp Act which was basically telling people to give them money for stamping pieces of paper. Of course America was like, "What the heck no!" and started rebelling.
People who supported the British were totally harassed and people gave firing speeches about how Britain was bad. The whole thing was actually taking a toll on Britain's wallet and they were forced to stop the Stamp Act but they were still out of money so the king was like, "Tax them obviously!"
And so they taxed everything. But the Americans revolted again so they had to stop the taxes except for the one on tea for something. The king was like, "What the heck I should be able to control them!" and he sent 1000 troops to Boston to take control. (and he also let the Americans pay for them)
One day some Americans started harassing one of the soldiers so he called for help and his comrades came. The Americans started throwing snowballs and rocks and them and the British panicked and opened fire.
The Boston Massacre killed 5 civilians in total. The anger within America inflated rapidly due to this. The Americans burnt down a guy who supported the British's house and set their sights on the remaining tax for tea.
They ransacked the British ship carrying over ten thousand pounds worth of tea overboard and into the sea.
The British threw a fit and sent 3000 more troops to take control. The Americans threw a fit at that and a ton of people from 12 colonies came together to have a nice party at Philadelphia. And also to discuss what to do about the British. Some big heads like George Washington showed up and they played an important role in the Revolution.
After a ton of discussion they agreed on an amazing idea. Tell the British to stop. The British obviously refused and so George Washington told everybody to arm themselves to be ready.
Now the British was scared about that so they sent 7000 troops from Boston to destroy the rebel supplies. The rebels were prepared though and the two sides met at Lexington as the sun began to rise. They faced off at first and in the confusion somebody shot first (idk who ah). It was weirdly called 'the shot heard around the world' despite the fact that only no more than the rebel and british soldiers heard it. It's said that it marked the beginning of the American War of Independence. Now that's a large load of jargon but what you only really need to know is that Britain and the American rebels were at war now and the rebels were losing the first battle.
The rebels fell to Concord (where those juicy supplies are kept) after an initial defeat at Lexington. As British troops searched for supplies more rebel troops showed up and the British were outnumbered. The world's most experienced and trained army was forced to fall back to Boston and be trapped. Small naval skirmishes happened around too but nothing major.
Until... This dude named Benedict Arnold snuck out on his own to take a British fort with a lot of guns and ammunition. He got some help on the way and attacked the fort at night when the rebels were sleeping, taking the fort without much fighting. But when they returned to Philidelphea, Benedict wasn't credited for his hard work and was completely ignored.
The rebels finally gathered together a more professional army and George Washington was put in charge. He set out from Philidelphea to Boston just as the British was planning to break the siege. (pretty good timing huh)
Britain succeeded in breaking the siege but they suffered more casualties and the only reason they won was because the rebels ran out of ammunition.
The rebels tried to sue for peace even though they seemed to be winning, but the King of Britain firmly refused.
So the fighting continued. The British burned down some small towns as revenge for the earlier defeat, and Benedict dude tried to take control of Montreal and Quebec but failed miserably. Remember those guns and ammunition he took? Some bright guy used oxen to carry them all to Boston so they could fight the British. France and Spain also started sending supplies to the rebels for some reason.
George Washington finally got some big guns and he set them up in the night pointing them at the city. When it was morning the British saw the guns and they knew they were toast.
British ships carried their men out for a retreat and Washington had his first victory. He then moved his army to New York, predicting that the British would attack there next.
Thomas Jefferson was selected to write an Official Declaration of Independence. He also wrote something about slaves in it but it was deleted in the final draft. On the 2nd of July Congress voted unanimously for it and they said that this date would be a date known forever. Two days later, Independence officially came into act. (sike it was the 4th)
The United States of America, also known as the USA was born. With just a few states on the eastern tip of the big place we now know as the USA.
The king of Britain threw a fit and sent a lot of troops to New York. Washington was correct about his prediction. The British inflicted a heavy defeat on the Americans and they were forced to retreat to Brooklyn Height. They then found themselves trapped between the river and the British army. The British Army dug in for a siege but lucky lucky a huge fog set in so Washington's men could cross the river undetected on little rafts.
The British chased after the Americans and inflicted defeat after defeat. It was a disaster for the Americans and Washington's leadership was even questioned.
Tune in to the next chapter to see what happens next.
