The Sugar Act
The Stamp Act
The Formation of the Sons of Liberty
The Townshend Acts
Non-consumption and Non-importation
The Boston Massacre
The Formation of the Committees of Correspondence
The Boston Tea Party
The Coercive Acts
The First Continental Congress
Lexington and Concord
The Second Continental Congress
The Battle of Bunker Hill
Washington Takes Command of the Continental Army
Declarations of IndependenceOn this page:
For Teachers » Core Concepts
CONCEPT 9
Documents reflect the personalities, perspectives and agendas of their creators.
How does who I am influence what I say and how I act?
To understand a document fully, students must understand everything they can about the context of that document: the circumstances of the author, the nature of the audience, the situation in which the document was written. We can’t fully understand the significance of the Boston Massacre without understanding the contrasting approaches of cousins John and Samuel Adams. We can’t understand Boston’s leading position in resistance to Britain without understanding the tensions that existed between leading colonial figures. History doesn’t happen to people; people make history.
- the biases of the creator intentionally or unintentionally affect every document created
- different creators will produce different accounts of the same event based on their own motivations, interpretations and perspectives
- documents promoted for public consumption often promote a specific agenda
GOALS:
As a result of using this website, students will understand that...- identifying pertinent documents:
- finding at least two documents from the Coming of the American Revolution website
- explaining how they illustrate this goal
- interpreting the documents
- conducting a Document Analysis (see Document Analysis Worksheet)
- answering Questions to Consider writing and discussion prompts) at bottom of each document description
- investigating the significance and interconnections of the documents
- following one or more of the Further Exploration research assignments and project suggestions at bottom of each document description
- drawing conclusions backed by evidence from documents and introductory essays
- answering the following Framing Questions (drawn directly from the stated Goals above) based on those conclusions and that evidence collected from the documents:
- How is “creator bias” reflected in any five documents that you select pertaining to one of the topical areas? Explain the bias for each and possible reasons for it?
- How and why do the accounts differ for any one event you choose to select for one topical area? Use five specific document created by different people to answer this question
- Compare a broadside or newspaper account of that same event with a private letter or journal account: what is the purpose of each?
OBJECTIVES:
Students demonstrate their understanding of this concept by...Documents
The Sugar Act
"Our Trade is most Greviously Embarrassed"
"Extract of a letter from one of the council of Boston, in New-England, to a merchant in London."
Article from page 2 of The Massachusetts Gazette and Boston-Newsletter, number 3143, 17 May 1764.
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"We … declare our just expectations"
"Boston, May 28. At a Meeting of the Freeholders ..."
Article from page 2 of The Massachusetts Gazette and Boston News-Letter, Number 3145, 31 May 1764.
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Becoming the "richest people upon earth"
"Americus (in the New-York Papers) writes ..."
Article from page 2 of The Massachusetts Gazette and Boston News-Letter, number 3150, 5 July 1764
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The "exclusive Right of the People"
The Stamp Act
A Tax not too Burdensome
"Reprinting" Virginia's Resolves
"From the Newport Mercury. Newport, June 24. Extract of a Letter from Gentleman in Philadelphia ..."
Article from page 2 of The Boston-Gazette, and Country Journal, Number 535, 1 July 1765
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A Call for a Unified Response
"From the Providence Gazette Extraordinary. The following is said to be a copy of the Resolutions of the Congress held at New-York ..."
Article from page 3 of The Massachusetts Gazette, number 0, 20 March 1766
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An Effigy Swings and a House Crumbles
The Art of Persuasion
"From the New-York Gazette of Nov. 7. To the Printer ..."
Article from page 1 of The Boston Post-Boy & Advertiser, Number 431, 18 November 1765.
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Safety Comes First
Letter from Archibald Kennedy to Cadwallader Colden (retained copy), 2 November 1765, and letter Cadwallader Colden to Archibald Kennedy (copy), 2 November 1765
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Prosperity the End; Protectionism the Means
The Cost of Resistance
The Formation of the Sons of Liberty
"Liberty and no Stamp-Act"
"By several Vessels from Charlestown, South Carolina ..."
Article from page 2 of the Supplement to the Massachusetts Gazette, 21 November 1765. (The two-page supplement was published the same day as the four-page The Massachusetts Gazette, Number 0.)
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"Conducted to the General Satisfaction of the Publick"
The Badge of Slavery
"Boston, February 24. Last Week was taken up ..."
Article from page 3 of The Boston-Gazette, and Country Journal, number 569, 24 February 1766
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The Townshend Acts
"the excessive use of foreign superfluities"
At a Meeting of the Freeholders and other Inhabitants of the Town of Boston, legally assembled at Faneuil-Hall, on Wednesday the 28th of October 1767
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"the cause of one is the cause of all"
"Letters From a Farmer in Pennsylvania, to the inhabitants of the British colonies ..."
Article (Letter 1) from pages 1-2 of The Boston Chronicle, Volume 1, Number 1, 21 December 1767
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"a dangerous innovation"
"From the Pennsylvania Chronicle. Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania to the inhabitants of the British Colonies ..."
Article (Letter 2) from pages 9-11 of the Supplement to the Boston Chronicle, Volume 1, Number 1, 21 December 1767
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"Ladies of the first quality"
"We hear that there was held two or three evenings ago, an assembly of Ladies ..."
Article from page 2 of The Massachusetts Gazette Extraordinary, Number 3351, 24 December 1767
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The Liberty Song
"The Liberty Song."
Article from page 346 of The Boston Chronicle, Volume 1, Number 38, 29 August - 5 September 1768
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"Deprived of the Councils of a General Assembly"
![Boston, September 14, 1768. Gentlemen, You are already too well acquainted with the melancholly [sic] and very alarming circumstances to which this province, as well as America in general, is now reduced ...](/database/images/stoughtonham_1_th.jpg "Boston, September 14, 1768. Gentlemen, You are already too well acquainted with the melancholly [sic] and very alarming circumstances to which this province, as well as America in general, is now reduced ..."){kind=small}
Boston, September 14, 1768. Gentlemen, You are already too well acquainted with the melancholly [sic] and very alarming circumstances to which this province, as well as America in general, is now reduced ...
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Non-Consumption and Non-importation
"Save your Money and Save your Country"
"Messi'rs Green & Russell. Please to insert the following, and you'll oblige one of your constant Readers."
Article from page 2 of The Boston Post-Boy & Advertiser, Number 535, 16 November 1767
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The Politics of Tea
"Messieurs Edes & Gill, Please to insert the following, Tea! How I shudder at thy fatal Stream!"
Article from page 1 of The Boston-Gazette, & Country Journal, Number 698, 15 August 1768
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Boycott the Brazen Head!
Trade Violators Exposed!
![Summary of the Cargo of the Snow Pittt [sic] ...](/database/images/bc17690817_a_1_th.jpg "Summary of the Cargo of the Snow Pittt [sic] ..."){kind=small}
"Summary of the Cargo of the Snow Pittt [sic] ..."
List from page 1 of The Boston Chronicle, Number 120, 17-21 August 1769
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"any trifling package"
The Boston Massacre
Preston Speaks Out
"Case of Capt. Thomas Preston of the 29th Regiment."
Article from pages 1 and 2 of the Supplement to the Boston Evening-Post, Number 1813, 25 June 1770
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Tories Strike First
A Sinister Plot?
A Bloody Massacre
The Bloody Massacre perpetrated in King Street, Boston on March 5th 1770 by a party of the 29th Regiment
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A "Tragical Scene"
An Eye for an Eye
Justice Prevailed
The Formation of the Committees of Correspondence
A Committee is Born
In Boston's Footsteps
"Saviors of America"
The Boston Tea Party
"You Are ... Political Bombadiers"
"The following was dispersed in Hand Bills among the worthy Citizens of Philadelphia ..."
Article from page 2 of The Boston-Gazette, and Country Journal, Number 968, 25 October 1773
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The "True Sons of Liberty" Weigh In
An Intrepid Exertion of Popular Power
342 Chests of Tea into the Sea
"Boston, December 20. On Tuesday last the body of the people ..."
Article from page 3 of The Boston-Gazette, and Country Journal, Number [976], 20 December 1773
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Bostonians, Keep up your Courage
The Coercive Acts
"we suffer in the common cause"
Gentlemen, The evils which we have long foreseen are now come upon this town and province ...
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"animosities run higher than ever"
At a Town Meeting in Braintree
"Thursday, June 30. Boston. Whereas scruples have arisen ..."
Article from page 3 of the Massachusetts Spy, Number 178, 30 June 1774
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An Act to Enforce Obedience
"From the Supplement to the Pennsylvania Journal, June 29 All of the Printers ..."
Article from page 2 of The Boston-Gazette and Country Journal, Number 1004, 11 July 1774
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Paying for the Tea
"To the Printers of the Massachusetts Gazette ..."
Article from page 2 of The Massachusetts Gazette: And The Boston Weekly News-Letter, Number 3693, 14 July 1774
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The First Continental Congress
Spirited Debates
"Arbitrary and Tyrannical Schemes"
A Dialogue, Between a Southern Delegate and His Spouse, on His Return from the Grand Continental Congress: A Fragment, Inscribed to the Married Ladies of America by their Most Sincere, and Affectionate Friend, and Servant, Mary V.V.
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Colonists Rally Around Congress
Lexington and Concord
A Powder Alarm
"Heaven avert the Storm"
Sketches of the Countryside
Sounding the Alarm
Bloody Butchery
"Defend our Wives & Children"
In Congress, at Watertown, April 30, 1775 : Gentlemen, the barbarous murders on our innocent brethren on Wednesday the 19th...
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Testimony of the Midnight Rider
The Militia Pleads Innocent
A Narrative, of the Excursion and Ravages of the King's Troops Under the Command of General Gage, on the nineteenth of April, 1775: Together with the Depositions ...
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The Second Continental Congress
"the die Is cast"
![Letter (draft) from Abigail Adams to Mercy Otis Warren, [3] February 1775](/database/images/aa17750203_1_th.jpg "Letter (draft) from Abigail Adams to Mercy Otis Warren, [3] February 1775"){kind=small}
A Spirited Manifesto
A Declaration by the Representatives of the United Colonies of North-America, Now Met in General Congress at Philadelphia
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"Simple facts, plain arguments, and common sense"
"The divine secret of politicks"
Battle of Bunker Hill
"Masters of these heights"
"orders to march"
"no refreshment"
"Charlestown’s dismal fate"
An Elegiac Poem, Composed On The Never-To-Be-Forgotten Terrible And Bloody Battle Fought At An Intrenchment On Bunker-Hill
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"unitermitted danger"
"heavy and severe fire"
"The Bravery of the King’s Troops"
"Bravery and Resolution"
"Cambridge, June 22. Last Friday Night a Detachment from our Army ..."
Article from page 2 of The New-England Chronicle or the Essex Gazette, Volume VII, Number 360, 15-22 June 1775
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"the arrows of death"
"the tears of the multitudes"
"poor and ignorant"
Washington Takes Command of the Continental Army
"Preservation of Order and Good Government"
"Snow too deep for the Cannon"
"Shot & Shells thrown … into Boston"
Declarations of Independence
"No Alternative Left"
"Williamsburgh (Virginia) May 17 ..."
Article from page 1 of The Boston-Gazette and Country Journal, Number 2001, 24 June 1776
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