Well, I FINALLY finished my Social Studies book report! *HURRAY! NOW I CAN READ LUCKY STAR MANGA!* Ahem...sorry 'bout that...anyway...if you want to read (which I highly doubt...XD) I copy and pasted it at the bottom of this! XD (Warning, it's 1,115 words, which apparently equals 3 pages! XD) Oh man, I really wanted to post a card, but it won't let me...but you can see it here! :D (I spent a while making it so...) Here's my work of art:
^XD What do you think???^
Well, I had school today...*yawns* Nothing interesting happened...Then, I had Basketball practice...slightly more interesting...*Still feels blech...*
And now, I just finished my book report, so here it is~
My Social Studies Book Report!
The book that I chose to read for my report was 1776, which was written by David McCullough. I thought it was very educational, and I learned a lot about the American Revolution. I highly recommend this book to those who want to learn more about the American Revolution. I really enjoyed reading this book, at some points of it; I almost couldn’t put the book down! (That still surprises me!) I thought it was going to be a difficult book to understand, (Like using words that no one’s ever heard of.) but I was wrong! (Don’t judge a book by it’s cover!) Anyway, but there were some things that I didn’t like about the book, like there were so many quotes that you had to reread over what you were reading before you read the quote, in order to continue reading the rest of the book. I thought that there were just too many quotes, and I found that distracting.
The book begins in London on October 26, 1775, when King George III went before parliament to declare that America was in rebellion, and to make sure that it would be stopped. Before he went to parliament, there were several things that the colonists had done in order to upset him. Here are some examples, with a brief explanation of the event: The Colonist’s Rebellion of the Sugar Act, (The Sugar act was passed by parliament in 1764, and this act placed taxes on molasses and sugar imported by the colonists. In this rebellion, the famous saying “No taxation without representation!” is said by Samuel Adams. The Colonist’s Rebellion of the Stamp Act, (This act was passed by parliament in 1765, and it placed taxes on paper products.) The Colonist’s Rebellion of the Townshend Acts, (This was passed by parliament in 1767. These acts placed taxes on tea, paper, paint, lead, and glass.) The Colonist’s Rebellion of the Tea Act (The Tea Act was passed by parliament in 1773, and placed taxes on tea.) And lastly, the Boston Tea Party, in which the colonists threw 342 chests of British tea into Boston Harbor.
King George III had been furious with the colonists, so furious, that he wanted to charge the colonists of treason. His troops were infuriated with the colonists as well. One example of this would be the Boston Massacre. On March 5, 1770, a British soldier had gotten into a fight with a colonist, and soon, more soldiers and more colonists were gathering around, when the British soldiers fired. Several colonists were killed.
Soon after the Boston Tea Party, the British had had it! They had attacked the minutemen (The minutemen were the colonist’s soldiers, and they were called this because they could get ready to fight within a minute’s notice.) in Lexington on April 19, 1775, and the colonists had 8 dead and 10 wounded. This battle was called the Battle of Lexington and Concord. (Before this battle occurred, the colonists had known that the British were planning on attacking them, this was known because of Paul Revere and William Dawes shouting “The British are coming, the British are coming!” to everyone, so the minutemen could get ready. This battle is also believed to be the start of the American Revolution because it is said to be the “Shot heard ‘round the World.”
After the Battle of Lexington and Concord was fought, the British had held a siege, which is when soldiers surround a city or fort. Then, a colonial officer had told the minutemen to defend Bunker and Breed’s Hill. Soon, the British arrived at Breed’s Hill, and the minutemen had been told (yet another quote) “Not to fire ‘til you see the whites of their eyes.” The colonists had suffered 400 casualties, and the British had suffered more than 1,000. The battle would technically be won by the colonists, since they had the least amount of casualties, but in reality, the British had won because the colonists had retreated. The leader of the colonists was General George Washington, and the leader of the British was General Howe.
Now, after the Battle of Bunker Hill, the colonists sent a letter to London called “The Olive Branch Petition”. It stated that the colonists wanted peace with Great Britain, and King George III refused this offer, and the war continued.
There were two types of colonists, loyalists and patriots. Loyalists wanted to remain part of Great Britain, and Patriots wanted to be set free. There were often many feuds between the two sides.
On July 1776, the Declaration of Independence was signed. The Patriots wanted no ties to Great Britain. This only angered King George III more. The Declaration of Independence was signed by 56 people, some of them include: John Hancock, who is probably the most easy to remember because he signed the Declaration so much bigger than the rest, so King George III could read it without his glasses. Here are some more famous signers: Thomas Jefferson, Samuel Adams, and John Adams. The Declaration of Independence broke all ties between Great Britain and America…but they still had a large war ahead of them.
Against all odds, the Patriots were winning, even though the British had more money, and had a very strong army. The Patriots had continued to win more battles such as: the Battle of Trenton and the Battle of Princeton. But then…the British had won the Battle of Brandywine Creek. This let down the Patriot spirit a little bit. Soon after the Battle of Brandywine Creek, yet another battle developed, the Battle of Saratoga. This battle was considered a turning point, because General John Burgoyne had surrendered.
The conditions at some American forts were very poor, and example of this is Valley Forge. Many soldiers were suffering malnutrition, and also lacked food and clothing. This was a result of water not being separated from sewage. I remember in a part of the book, that there was a man covered in flies, who had died. A soldier had said, “There were so many flies on the man that the flies alone may have killed him.”
Another battle of the American Revolution was The Battle of Yorktown. This was the last war of the revolution, and the Patriots had won. This battle took place on October 20, 1781. After this war was fought, the British had given up, and agreed that America is its own country now. The British had sent the Treaty of Paris, which stated the nation’s boundaries, along with the British recognizing the independence of the United States.
Thank you for reading my report, I hope you enjoyed it!
(Long, eh?)
Well...after typing all that...I'd best be off to bed...
お休みなさい! (Good night!)
~1dev13
