HIST 405 Week 2 Discussion; From the American Revolution to US Constitution - The Boston Massacre and The Coercive Acts

brought on by the British. The Boston Massacre started as a street fight and later began to escalate as more colonists gathered and began to harass and throw sticks and snowballs at British troops. According to OpenStax, 2019, Crispus Attucks was the first man killed during the massacre. The Boston Massacre was important because it helped reignite calls for ending the relationship between the American colonists and the British and ultimately leading to the Revolutionary War. The Coercive Acts were the result of the Boston Tea Party of December 16, 1773. The acts were put into place to punish Massachusetts for their actions of the Boston Tea Party. “In early 1774, leaders in Parliament responded with a set of four measures designed to punish Massachusetts, commonly known as the Coercive Acts”, (OpenStax, 2019). The Coercive Acts consisted of the Boston Port Act, the Massachusetts Government Act, the Administration of Justice Act, and the Quartering Act of 1774.The Colonists renamed the acts “The Intolerable Acts”. Some thought that these laws were harsh and went too far. The acts took away self-governance and historic rights of Massachusetts, triggering outrage and resistance in the Thirteen Colonies. They were key developments in the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War in April 1775. I believe The Boston Massacre was more significant of the two because it started as a riot to attempt to remove British soldiers from Massachusetts and ended up turning into a mini war. It started because colonists felt they were being treated unequal to the British. They felt that high taxes on goods were unfair. The British felt that the taxes were necessary to help alleviate debt occurred during the French and Indian War while defending the American Colonies. After the Revolutionary War, which is a war of the British thirteen colonies of North America to fight for independence from the British and to start a new nation, The United States of America, lead to The Declaration of Independence. The Declaration of Independence has great significance to the American people because it is what led to our independence from King George III. “Two hundred and forty years ago, representatives of the thirteen colonies that would form the United States of America signed the Declaration of Independence proclaiming their separation from the British Empire and monarchy”, (Damon, 2016). References: Damon, A. (2016), The significance of the American Revolution, Retrieved from http://www.defenddemocracy.press/significance-american-revolution/ OpenStax. (2019). U.S. history. OpenStax CNX. Retrieved from https://openstax.org/books/us-history/pages/5-4-the-destruction-of-the-tea-and-the- coercive-acts