Over the next several weeks, BiGWand™ will dive in to our
nation’s history. We will take a look at how our nation was formed and the
intent of our founders. Our series will include a breakdown of the Declaration
of Independence and United States Constitution.
First, let’s take a brief look at what was happening in the
colonies and the men who came together to write two of the most important
documents in the world.
The
Road to Independence
The claim of independence was not the result of a rash
decision of rogue colonists. Rather, it was the result of decades of poor
management of the colonies by Britain. Members of the colonies faced taxes on
goods and services to help with Britain’s debts, without proper representation
in parliament. From the Stamp Act (1765)
to the Townsend
Act (1767) to the Tea Act (1773),
the taxes imposed finally created a breaking point for the members of the
colonies.
In 1773, British Prime
Minister Lord North, created a plan to save the British East India Tea
Company. Most of the Stamp Act and Townsend Act had been repealed, but Lord
North used the Tea Act to keep taxes on tea exported to the colonies in effect.
This did not go over well and the colonies did not allow any of the tea to be
distributed. In Boston, colonists dressed up as Native Americans so as not to
be identifiable, and threw all of the tea on the East India Tea Company ships
overboard into the Boston Harbor, better known as the Boston Tea Party. However, it
would be almost three more years before the colonists claimed independence.
On June 11, 1776, a committee was formed when Congress met
in Philadelphia to draft a declaration of independence from British rule. The committee included
Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R.
Livingston.
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