2. American History2. American History.doc

2. American History the Boston Tea Party The Boston Tea Party was a political protest by the Sons of Liberty (a group of patriots) in Boston, against the tax policy of the British government and the East India Company that controlled all the tea imported into the colonies. On December 16, 1773, after officials in Boston refused to return three shiploads of taxed tea to Britain, a group of patriots, disguised as Indians, boarded British merchant ships and tossed 342 crates of tear into Boston Harbor. The Boston Tea Party was a key event in the growth of the American Revolution. Parliament responded in 1774 with the Intolerable Acts, which, among other provisions, ended local self-government in Massachusetts. The Declaration of Independence The Declaration of Independence is a statement adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, which announced that the thirteen American colonies, then at war with Great Britain, regarded themselves as independent states, and no longer a part of the British Empire. Instead they now formed a new nation—the United States of America. The Declaration of Independence is drafted by Thomas Jefferson. The Alien and Sedition Acts The Alien and Sedition Acts were passed in 1798 by the Federalists during John Adam`s administration when America was involved in an undeclared naval war with France. And ended in 1801 with Thomas Jefferson becoming the president. These measures permitted the deportation or arrest of “dangerous” aliens, and prescribed fines or imprisonment for publishing attacks on the government The industrial Revolution in America After the War of 1812, the United States enjoyed a period of rapid economic expansion. The Industrial Revolution had reached America. A national work of roads and canals was built, and the first steam railroad opened in Baltimore in 1830. There were textile mills in New England; iron foundries in Pennsylvania. And by the 18520s, factories were producing various goods. George Washingto