fella美国独立战争 American War of Independence

Passage 1

American War of Independence

I. Colonial Period

Most

people

who

came

to

the

British

colonies

in

the

1600s

were

English.

Others came from The Netherlands, Sweden, Germany, France, Scotland, and

Northern Ireland. By 1690, 250,000 people lived in the New World. By 1790,

there were 2.5 million people.

People

came

for

different

reasons.

Some

left

their

homes

to

escape

war.

Others sought political or religious freedom. Some had to work as servants to

pay back the cost of their trip before gaining their freedom. Some, like black

Africans, arrived as slaves.

In time, the 13 colonies developed within three distinct regions.

The first

settlements were

along

the

Atlantic

coast and on

rivers that flowed

into the ocean. In the Northeast, trees covered the hills and stones filled the

soil, but water power was available. The Northeast was called New England,

and it included Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. The economy

was based on timber, fishing, shipbuilding, and trade.

The middle colonies included New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware,

and Maryland. The weather was milder and the countryside was more varied.

People worked in industry and agriculture. The society was more diverse and

sophisticated. People living in New York came from all over Europe.

The

Southern

colonies

included

Virginia,

Georgia,

and

North

Carolina

and

South Carolina. The growing season was long and the soil was fertile. Most

people were farmers. Some owned small farms that they worked themselves.

The

wealthy

farmers

owned

large

plantations

and

used

African

slaves

as

workers.

The relationships between settlers and Native Americans (also called Indians)

were good and bad. In some areas, the two groups traded and were friendly. In

most cases, as the settlements grew bigger, the settlers forced the Indians to

move.

As time went on, all the colonies developed governments based on the British

tradition

of

citizen

participation.

In

Britain,

the

Glorious

Revolution

of

1688

–

1689 limited the power of the king and gave more power to the people.

The American colonists closely observed these changes. Colonial assemblies

claimed the right to act as local parliaments. They passed laws that limited the

power of the royal governor and increased their own authority.

Disagreements

between

the

royal

governors

and

the

assemblies

continued.

The

colonists

realized

that

their

interests

often

were

different

from

Britain’s

interests.

At

first,

the

colonists

wanted

self-government

within

a

British

commonwealth. Only later did they want independence.

II. The Road to Independence

The

ideas

of

liberalism

and

democracy

are

the

basis

of

the

U.S.

political

system. As the colonists built their new society, they believed more strongly in

these

ideas.

Britain’s

13

colonies

grew

in

population

and

economic

strength

during

the

1700s.

Although

ruled

by

a

distant

government,

the

colonists

governed many local affairs.

After

Britain

won

a

costly

war

with

France

in

the

1750s,

the

colonists

were

asked

to

help pay

for the

war,

and for Britain’s

large

empire. Thes

e

policies

restricted the colonists’ way of life.

For

example,

the

Royal

Proclamation

of

1763

restricted

the

colonists

from

settling

new

land.

The

Currency

Act

of

1764

made

it

illegal

to

print

paper

money

in

the

colonies.

The

Quartering

Act

of

1765

forced

the

colonists

to

provide food and housing for the royal soldiers. The Stamp Act of 1765 taxed

all legal papers, licenses, newspapers, and leases.

The

Stamp

Act

united

the

colonists

in

an

organized

resistance.

The

main

problem

was

that

they

weren’t

allowe

d

to

participate

in

the

government

that

taxed them.

In

October

1765,

27

delegates

from

nine

colonies

met

in

New

York.

They

passed resolutions saying that the individual colonies should have the right to

impose

their

own

taxes.

This

satisfied

most

of

the

delegates,

but

a

small

number of radicals wanted independence from Britain.

One

of

those

people

was

Samuel

Adams

of

Massachusetts.

He

wrote

newspaper

articles

and

made

speeches.

The

groups

he

helped

to

organize

became a big part of the revolutionary movement.

By

1773,

colonial

traders,

who

were

angry

with

British

regulation

of

the

tea

trade, were interested

in Sam Adams’s ideas. In December 1773, a group

of

men sneaked on three British ships in Boston harbor and threw the cargo of