Civil War---Slavery

Americas

Slavery was prominent presumably elsewhere in Africa long before the beginnings of the transatlantic slave trade. The maritime town of Lagos, Portugal, was the first slave market created in Portugal for the sale of imported African slaves – the Mercado de Escravos, opened in 1444. In 1441, the first slaves were brought to Portugal from northern Mauritania.^] By 1552 black African slaves made up 10 percent of the population of Lisbon. In the second half of the 16th century, the Crown gave up the monopoly on slave trade and the focus of European trade in African slaves shifted from import to Europe to slave transports directly to tropical colonies in the Americas – in the case of Portugal, especially Brazil. In the 15th century one third of the slaves were resold to the African market in exchange of gold.

Spain had to fight against the relatively powerful civilizations of the New World. The Spanish conquest of the indigenous peoples in the Americas included using the Natives as forced labour, part of the wider Atlantic slave trade. The Spanish colonies were the first Europeans to use African slaves in the New World on islands such as Cuba and Hispaniola, where the alarming decline in the native population had spurred the first royal laws protecting the native population (Laws of Burgos, 1512–1513. The first African slaves arrived in Hispaniola in 1501. In 1518, Charles I of Spain agreed to ship slaves directly from Africa. England played a prominent role in the Atlantic slave trade. The "slave triangle" was pioneered by Francis Drake and his associates. By 1750, slavery was a legal institution in all of the 13 American colonies, and the profits of the slave trade and of West Indian plantations amounted to 5% of the British economy at the time of the Industrial Revolution.

The Transatlantic slave trade peaked in the late 18th century, when the largest number of slaves were captured on raiding expeditions into the interior of West Africa. These expeditions were typically carried out by African kingdoms, such as the Oyo empire, the Ashanti Empire, the kingdom of Dahomey, and the Aro Confederacy. Europeans rarely entered the interior of Africa, due to fierce African resistance. The slaves were brought to coastal outposts where they were traded for goods.

An estimated 12 million Africans arrived in the Americas from the 16th to the 19th centuries. Of these, an estimated 645,000 were brought to what is now the United States. The usual estimate is that about 15 per cent of slaves died during the voyage. The white citizens of Virginia decided to treat the first Africans in Virginia as indentured servants. Over half of all European immigrants to Colonial America during the 17th and 18th centuries arrived as indentured servants. In 1655, John Casor, a black man, became the first legally recognized slave in the present United States. According to the 1860 U.S. census, 393,975 individuals, representing 8% of all US families, owned 3,950,528 slaves. One-third of Southern families owned slaves.

The largest number of slaves were shipped to Brazil. In the Spanish viceroyalty of New Granada, corresponding mainly to modern Panama, Colombia, and Venezuela, the free black population in 1789 was 420,000, whereas African slaves numbered only 20,000. Free blacks also outnumbered slaves in Brazil. In Cuba, by contrast, free blacks made up only 15% in 1827; and in Saint-Domingue (present-day Haiti) it was a mere 5% in 1789. Some half-million slaves, most of them born in Africa, worked the booming plantations of Saint-Domingue.

Although the trans-Atlantic slave trade ended shortly after the American Revolution, slavery remained a central economic institution in the Southern states. All the Northern states passed emancipation acts between 1780 and 1804; most of these arranged for gradual emancipation. In the South, however, slavery expanded with the westward movement of population. Historian Peter Kolchin wrote, "By breaking up existing families and forcing slaves to relocate far from everyone and everything they knew" this migration "replicated (if on a reduced level) many of [the] horrors" of the Atlantic slave trade. Historian Ira Berlin called this forced migration the Second Middle Passage. Characterizing it as the "central event" in the life of a slave between the American Revolution and the Civil War, Berlin wrote that whether they were uprooted themselves or simply lived in fear that they or their families would be involuntarily moved, "the massive deportation traumatized black people, both slave and free." By 1860, 500,000 slaves had grown to 4 million. As long as slavery expanded, it remained profitable and powerful and was unlikely to disappear. Antislavery forces, however, proposed to put it on the path to extinction by stopping further expansion. If it became unprofitable, few people would spend the large sums of cash needed to buy and keep slaves, and the system would fade away quietly as it had in most countries in world history.

The plantation system, based on tobacco growing in Virginia, North Carolina, and Kentucky, and rice in South Carolina, expanded into lush new cotton lands in Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi—and needed more slaves. But slave importation became illegal in 1808. Although complete statistics are lacking, it is estimated that 1,000,000 slaves moved west from the Old South between 1790 and 1860. Most of the slaves were moved from Maryland, Virginia, and the Carolinas. Michael Tadman, in a 1989 book Speculators and Slaves: Masters, Traders, and Slaves in the Old South, indicates that 60–70% of interregional migrations were the result of the sale of slaves. In 1820 a child in the Upper South had a 30% chance to be sold south by 1860.

Political division over slavery was temporarily resolved by the Compromise of 1850 which sought to divide new territories between slave and free states. However, the status of Kansas was left unresolved, producing bloody clashes between pro-slavery and anti-slavery settlers. In 1860, the election of Abraham Lincoln as President on a program of limiting slavery led to the secession of Southern States and the outbreak of the US Civil War. Although Lincoln initially disclaimed any intention to interfere with slavery, the progress of the war produced the Emancipation Proclamation freeing slaves in Southern states still in revolt, and ultimately the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution in December 1865, which ended legalized slavery in the United States.

Reflection:

Which main topic does the artifact relate to? In what ways?

A: This related to the civil war.

Which other main topics does it also relate to?

A: Also related to freedom

Why did you choose this artifact, and how much time did you spend creating and/or processing it?

A: This is very important that the slaves were free during that time. It showed to the world that the United States support that everyone is born to be equal.

What insights and understanding have you gained from the creation and/or processing of this artifact?

A: I understand that people sometimes need to sacrifice for what they really want, and the importance of freedom.

Does this artifact reflect your best work and/or ideas? Why, or why not?

A: Yes, I like this topic.

Rate this artifact on a scale of -5 to 5 (0 is natural) for the following 4 criterion:

Impact on the quality of your Portfolio—5

Impact on your level of happiness/enjoyment—5

Impact on your learning Level of creativity and originality— 5

Civil War---Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) served as the 16th President of the United States from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led the country through its greatest internal crisis, the American Civil War, preserved the Union, and ended slavery. Reared in a poor family on the western frontier, he was mostly self-educated. He became a country lawyer, an Illinois state legislator, and a one-term member of the United States House of Representatives, but failed in two attempts at a seat in the United States Senate. He was an affectionate, though often absent, husband, and father of four children.

Lincoln was an outspoken opponent of the expansion of slavery in the United States, which he deftly articulated in his campaign debates and speeches.As a result, he secured the Republican nomination and was elected president in 1860. As president he concentrated on the military and political dimensions of the war effort, always seeking to reunify the nation after the secession of the eleven Confederate States of America. He vigorously exercised unprecedented war powers, including the arrest and detention, without trial, of thousands of suspected secessionists. He issued his Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, and promoted the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, abolishing slavery.
Lincoln closely supervised the war effort, especially the selection of top generals, including Ulysses S. Grant. He brought leaders of various factions of both parties into his cabinet and pressured them to cooperate. He defused a confrontation with Britain in the Trent affair late in 1861. Under his leadership, the Union took control of the border slave states at the start of the war and tried repeatedly to capture the Confederate capital at Richmond. Each time a general failed, Lincoln substituted another, until finally Grant succeeded in 1865. A shrewd politician deeply involved with patronage and power issues in each state, he managed his own re-election in the 1864 presidential election.
As the leader of the moderate faction of the Republican party, Lincoln came under attack from all sides. Radical Republicans wanted harsher treatment of the South, Democrats desired more compromise, and secessionists saw him as their enemy. Lincoln fought back with patronage, by pitting his opponents against each other, and by appealing to the American people with his powers of oratory; for example, his Gettysburg Address of 1863 became one of the most quoted speeches in history. It was an iconic statement of America's dedication to the principles of nationalism, equal rights, liberty, and democracy. At the close of the war, Lincoln held a moderate view of Reconstruction, seeking to speedily reunite the nation through a policy of generous reconciliation in the face of lingering and bitter divisiveness. Just six days after the surrender of most of the Confederate Army, Lincoln fell victim to an assassin — the first President to suffer such a fate. Lincoln has consistently been ranked by scholars as one of the greatest U.S. Presidents.

Reflection:

Which main topic does the artifact relate to? In what ways?

A: This related to the independent of the United States.

Which other main topics does it also relate to?

A: It is also related to the topic about freedom.

Why did you choose this artifact, and how much time did you spend creating and/or processing it?

A: I chose this because Abraham Lincoln is a very important person. He stood out for the slaves and comment that people are born to be equal.

What insights and understanding have you gained from the creation and/or processing of this artifact?

A: I know many things about this man. He is really a great leader. I also know more clearly about the entire historic event.

Does this artifact reflect your best work and/or ideas? Why, or why not?

A: No, because I don’t really like the topic.

Rate this artifact on a scale of -5 to 5 (0 is natural) for the following 4 criterion:

Impact on the quality of your Portfolio—4

Impact on your level of happiness/enjoyment—4

Impact on your learning Level of creativity and originality— 4

The United States First President---George Washington

George Washington (February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799) was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1797, leading the American victory over Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander in chief of the Continental Army, 1775–1783, and presiding over the writing of the Constitution in 1787. As the unanimous choice to serve as the first President of the United States (1789–1797), he developed the forms and rituals of government that have been used ever since, such as using a cabinet system and delivering an inaugural address. The president built a strong, well-financed national government that avoided war, suppressed rebellion and won acceptance among Americans of all types. Acclaimed ever since as the "Father of his country", Washington, along with Abraham Lincoln, has become a central icon of republican values, self sacrifice in the name of the nation, American nationalism and the ideal union of civic and military leadership.

In Colonial Virginia Washington was born into the provincial gentry in a wealthy, well connected family that owned tobacco plantations using slave labor. Washington was home schooled by his father and older brother but both died young and Washington became attached to the powerful Fairfax clan. They promoted his career as surveyor and soldier. Strong, brave, eager for combat and a natural leader, young Washington quickly became a senior officer of the colonial forces, 1754–58, during the first stages of the French and Indian War. Indeed his rash actions helped precipitate the war.
Washington's experience, his military bearing, his leadership of the Patriot cause in Virginia, and his political base in the largest colony made him the obvious choice of the Second Continental Congress in 1775 as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army to fight the British in the American Revolution. He forced the British out of Boston in 1776, but was defeated and nearly captured later that year when he lost New York City. After crossing the Delaware River in the dead of winter he defeated the British in two battles and retook New Jersey. Because of his strategy, Revolutionary forces captured two major British armies at Saratoga in 1777 and Yorktown in 1781. Negotiating with Congress, governors, and French allies, he held together a tenuous army and a fragile nation amid the threats of disintegration and invasion. Historians give the commander in chief high marks for his selection and supervision of his generals, his encouragement of morale, his coordination with the state governors and state militia units, his relations with Congress, and his attention to supplies, logistics, and training. In battle, however, Washington was repeatedly outmaneuvered by British generals with larger armies. In the New York campaign of 1776 and the Philadelphia campaign, General William Howe repeatedly flanked him, and eventually took both cities, although the British abandoned Philadelphia after France entered the war in 1778, and Washington forced a major inconclusive battle at Monmouth Court House during their march to New York. Washington is given full credit for the strategies that forced the British evacuation of Boston in 1776 and the surrender at Yorktown in 1781. After victory was finalized in 1783, Washington resigned rather than seize power, and returned to his plantation at Mount Vernon; this prompted his erstwhile enemy King George III to call him "the greatest character of the age".
Washington presided over the Constitutional Convention that drafted the United States Constitution in 1787 because of his dissatisfaction with the weaknesses of Articles of Confederation that had time and again impeded the war effort. Washington became President of the United States in 1789. Once President, he attempted to bring rival factions together in order to create a more unified nation. He supported Alexander Hamilton's programs to pay off all the state and national debts, implement an effective tax system, and create a national bank, despite opposition from Thomas Jefferson. Washington proclaimed the U.S. neutral in the wars raging in Europe after 1793. He avoided war with Britain and guaranteed a decade of peace and profitable trade by securing the Jay Treaty in 1795, despite intense opposition from the Jeffersonians. Although never officially joining the Federalist Party, he supported its programs. Washington's farewell address was a primer on republican virtue and a stern warning against partisanship, sectionalism, and involvement in foreign wars. Washington had a vision of a great and powerful nation that would be built on republican lines using federal power. He sought to use the national government to improve the infrastructure, open the western lands, create a national university, promote commerce, found a capital city (later named Washington, D.C.), reduce regional tensions and promote a spirit of nationalism. "The name of AMERICAN," he said, must override any local attachments." At his death Washington was hailed as "first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen".The Federalists made him the symbol of their party, but for many years the Jeffersonians continued to distrust him and delayed building the Washington Monument. As the leader of the first successful revolution against a colonial empire in world history, Washington became an international icon for liberation and nationalism. His symbolism especially resonated in France and Latin America. Historical scholars consistently rank him as one of the two or three greatest presidents.

Reflection:

Which main topic does the artifact relate to? In what ways?

A: This related to the independent of the United States.

Which other main topics does it also relate to?

A: It is also related to the topic about freedom.

Why did you choose this artifact, and how much time did you spend creating and/or processing it?

A: I chose this because George Washington is a very important person. He led the country to democracy.

What insights and understanding have you gained from the creation and/or processing of this artifact?

A: I know many things about this man. He is really a great leader. I also know more clearly about the entire historic event.

Does this artifact reflect your best work and/or ideas? Why, or why not?

A: No, because I don’t really like the topic,

Rate this artifact on a scale of -5 to 5 (0 is natural) for the following 4 criterion:

Impact on the quality of your Portfolio—4

Impact on your level of happiness/enjoyment—4

Impact on your learning Level of creativity and originality— 4

THE UNANIMOUS DECLARATION OF THE THIRTEEN UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

English   Versuon :  In-Congress-July4-1776.
THE UNANIMOUS DECLARATION OF THE THIRTEEN UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
When in coures of human Events,it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connectted then with another,and to assume among the powers of vhe Earth,the separate and equal atation,to which the Laws of Nature and Nature's God entitle then,a decent Respect to the opinions of Mankind requires that they should declare the causes that impei then to the separation.
We hold these truths to be seif-evident,that all men are created equal,that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,that among these are Life,Liberty,and the pursuit of Happiness.
That to secure these rights,Governments are instituted among Men,deriving their just powers from the consent of the goverend.
That whennever any From of Government becomes destructive of the ends,it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it,and to institute new Government ,laying it's foundation on such principles and organizing it's powers in such form,as to the m shall seem most likeiy to effect their Safety and Happiness,prudence,indeed,will dictate the Governments long estabilished should not be changed for light and transient causes ;and accordingly all experience that shown,that mankind are more disposed to suffer,while evils are sufferable,than to vight themselves by abolishing the from to which thay are accustomed,But when a long train of abuses and usurpations,pursuing invariably the same object,enincrs a design to reduce then under absolute Des potism,it is their,it is their duty,to throw off such Government,and to prodive new Guards for their future security.
Such has been the patient sufferance of thece Coloies ;and such is now the necessity which constrains then to alter theri former Systems of Govrenment,The history of the present King of Great Britain is a hisstory of repeated in juries and usurpations,all having in direct ob ject the tablisshment of an absolute tyranny over these states,to proethis,let Facts be submitted to a Candid world.       
He has refused his Assent to lows,the most wholessome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Govrrnors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance,unless,suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained;and when so suspended,he has utterly neglected to attend to then. 
 HEe has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large distvicts of pepole,unless those pepole would velinquish the right of Repersentation in the Legislature,a right inestimable to then and fromidable to tyrants only.
Hs has called together legislative bodies at places unusal,uncomfortable,and distant from the depository of their public Records,for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolued Repreesentative Houses repeatedly,for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused from a long time after such dissolutions,to cause others to be elected;where by the legislative powers,incapaable of Annihilation,have returned to the people at large for their exercisci the State vemaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without,and convulsions within.
He has endeavau0ed to prevent the population of these states;for that purpose obstructing the Laws of Naturalization of Foreigners;refusing to pass other to encourage their vnigration hither,and raising the conditions of New appropriations of lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice,by erfusing his Assent to laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone,for the tenure of their office,and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of new office,and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our People,and eat at their substance.
  He has kept among us,in time of  peace,standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has offected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Givil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution,and unacknowleddged by our laws;giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended legisl ation:
For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them,by a mock Trial,from punishmant for any Murders wihch they should commit on the In habtitants of these states:
For Cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depruving us in many cases,of the benef it's of Trrial by Jury:
For teansporting us beyond Seasto be tride for pletended off ences:
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbououring Prouince,establel is hing therein an Arbitrary gooernment,and enlarging it's Boundaries so as to render.it at once and example and fit introducing the same absolute rule into t hese Colonies:
For taking away our Charters,abolishing our most valuable Laws.and altering fundaamentally the Forms of our Govenments:
For suspnding our own Leg is latures,and declaring themselves in vested with power to leg is late for us in all cases whatsoeeverv.
He has abdicatwd Government here,by declaring us out of his Protection and waging Wer against us.
He has plundered our Seas ,ravaged our Coasts,burnt our towns,and destroyed the Lives of our people.
He has at this time transporting large armies of foreing mercenaries to compleat the works of death,desolation and tyranny,already begun with circumstances of Cruelty&perfidy scarceiy paralleled in the most barbarous ages,ages,and to tally unworthy the H end  of a civilized nation .
He has constrained our fellow Citizene taken Captive on the high Stas to bear Arms against their Country,to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren,or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us,and has erdeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers,the mevciless Indina Savages,whose Known rule of warfare,is an undistingusihed destruction of allages,Sexes and cond it ions.
In every stage of these Oppression We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms:Our repeated Petitioned have been anaswered only by repeated injury,A Prince,whose chavacter is thus marked by every oct which may define a Tyvant,is unfit to be the ruler of a free pepole.
 Nor have We been wanting in attention to our British brethren .We have warned then from time to time of attention of attenpts by theur leg is latuve to extend an unwarrantable jurisduction over us,We have reminded them of the cirumstances of our emigration and sett lement heve.We have appedlwd to their native juatice and magnanimity,and We have conjured them by the ties or our common Kindred to disavow three usurpatuons,wich would inevitably interrupt our Connections and Correspondencs.They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity.We must therefore.acquiesce in the necessity.which denounces our Separation.and hold them as we hold the rest of mankind.in peace Friends.
We,therefore,the Representatives of the unuted States of Americd,in General Gongress. Assembled.appealing to the Supreme Judge of the World for the rectitude of our intentions.do.in the name,and by Authority of the good people of these Colonies.solemnly poblish and deelare,That these Vnited Colonies are,and of right ought to be free and Independent States;that they are Absolevd form all Allegiance to the British Crown,and that all polittical connection between them and the stste of Great Britaun, is and ought to be totally dissolved,and that as free and Independent Stares,they have full power to levy War,Conclude peace,contract Alliances,establish Commere,and to do allother A cts and Things which Independent States may of right do.An d for the support of This Delcaration.with a firm eveliance on the Protection of Rivine Providence,We mutually pledge to each other our Lives.our Fortunes and our Sacred Honor.   

Reflection:

Which main topic does the artifact relate to? In what ways?

A: This related to the topic about freedom and independent.

Which other main topics does it also relate to?

A: Not really….

Why did you choose this artifact, and how much time did you spend creating and/or processing it?

A: I choose this artifact because I was trying to explain the history of how America becomes the strongest country at that time.

What insights and understanding have you gained from the creation and/or processing of this artifact?

A: In this artifact I learned that “Hard work brings success”. Even thought The United States only have thirteen colonies at that time, they still didn’t give up.

Does this artifact reflect your best work and/or ideas? Why, or why not?

A: kind of, because I really like this topic

Rate this artifact on a scale of -5 to 5 (0 is natural) for the following 4 criterion:

Impact on the quality of your Portfolio—4

Impact on your level of happiness/enjoyment—5

Impact on your learning Level of creativity and originality— 5

Sullivan Ballou's Letter--student's free choice

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3F5RT0_K5M&feature=player_embedded

Question to ask yourself:
1) How did this letter made you feel?
This letter made me feel sad and depressed. Sullivan Ballou love for his wife, Sarah, but still, he's willing to die for his country.

2) Why do you think Sullivan Ballou wrote this letter?I think Sullivan Ballou wrote this letter because he probably knows that this is the last chance to write to his wife. He want his family to know that he really love them, but he can die for the country.

3) If you were Sullivan's wife or children, would you plead with him not to enlist in the Union Army? Why or why not?
I am a selfish person. To me, family are the most important of all. I love Taiwan, that doesn't need to be question, but will I die for it? The answer is no. I will not let my family members to die for things that country.

4) In how many ways does Sullivan comfort his wife by what he writes to her?
He said that they will meet again, and his spirit is always there with her in the brightest day and the darkest night.

5) Does he have regrets for himself, or only for his wife and children?I think he felt sorry for his family, but he have no regrets for himself. To him, to die for country is a symbol of honor.
6) Sullivan writes that he is "communing with God, my country, and thee." What is his relationship to the claims that each of these make upon his life?
I think he is trying to say that God, his country, and his wife (familiy) are the most important part of his life. And that he is really thankful to have them around, who always loves him, and takes care of him.

7) Images of "wind' and "breath" appear and reappear in the letter. How are these images related at different times to "God, my country, and thee"?
The love between their family are strong, and he loved the God, he country and also his family, who are always there for him.8) Sullivan says that he is perfectly willing to die to pay the debt owed to those who fell in the American Revolution. What debt, if any, do you feel we owe to Sullivan Ballou and other men like him?
He felt really sorry, and honor to people who had died in the war of  the American Revolution. So, that he wanted to be in the battlefield to thank them, however, his family didn't really him to go. BUT, he still want to help his country.   

Reflections

1.)    a. Which main topic does it relate to? In what ways?
This artifact is related to the Race Relations-The Abolition of Slavery. Since Civil War was the war that are cause of mainly slavery, this had a relationship with it.

b. Which other main topic does it also relate to?
I think it also related to the topic about freedom.

2.) Why did you choose this artifact, and how much time did you spent on creating it?  Well, the teacher chose the artifact. I spend about 20 minutes to finish it.

3.) What insights and understanding have you gained from this artifact?
I learn that everyonw is born to be equal. There there should be such a thing as "slaveary".

 

4.) Does the artifact reflect your best work? Why or why not?
No, I wasn't in a good mood.

5.) Impact on quality: 4
Impact on my level of happiness/ enjoyment: 4

Impact on my learning: 5

Level of creativity and originality: 4

Case study 2--American Dream--Boston Tea Party

Boston Tea Party

The Boston Tea Party was a direct action by colonists in Boston, a town in the British colony of Massachusetts, against the British government and the monopolistic East India Company that controlled all the tea coming into the colonies. On December 16, 1773, after officials in Boston refused to return three shiploads of taxed tea to Britain, a group of colonists boarded the ships and destroyed the tea by throwing it into Boston Harbor. The incident remains an iconic event of American history, and other political protests often refer to it.
The Tea Party was the culmination of a resistance movement throughout British America against the Tea Act, which had been passed by the British Parliament in 1773. Colonists objected to the Tea Act for a variety of reasons, especially because they believed that it violated their right to be taxed only by their own elected representatives. Protesters had successfully prevented the unloading of taxed tea in three other colonies, but in Boston, embattled Royal Governor Thomas Hutchinson refused to allow the tea to be returned to Britain. He apparently did not expect that the protestors would choose to destroy the tea rather than concede the authority of a legislature in which they were not directly represented.

The Boston Tea Party was a key event in the growth of the American Revolution. Parliament responded in 1774 with the Coercive Acts, which, among other provisions, closed Boston's commerce until the British East India Company had been repaid for the destroyed tea. Colonists in turn responded to the Coercive Acts with additional acts of protest, and by convening the First Continental Congress, which petitioned the British monarch for repeal of the acts and coordinated colonial resistance to them. The crisis escalated, and the American Revolutionary War began near Boston in 1775.

The Boston Tea Party arose from two issues confronting the British Empire in 1773: the financial problems of the British East India Company, and an ongoing dispute about the extent of Parliament's authority, if any, over the British American colonies without seating any elected representation. The North ministry's attempt to resolve these issues produced a showdown that would eventually result in revolution.

Tea trade to 1767

As Europeans developed a taste for tea in the 17th century, rival companies were formed to import the product from the East Indies. In England, Parliament gave the East India Company a monopoly on the importation of tea in 1698. When tea became popular in the British colonies, Parliament sought to eliminate foreign competition by passing an act in 1721 that required colonists to import their tea only from Great Britain. The East India Company did not export tea to the colonies; by law, the company was required to sell its tea wholesale at auctions in England. British firms bought this tea and exported it to the colonies, where they resold it to merchants in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Charleston.

Until 1767, the East India Company paid an ad valorem tax of about 25% on tea that it imported into Great Britain. Parliament laid additional taxes on tea sold for consumption in Britain. These high taxes, combined with the fact that tea imported into Holland was not taxed by the Dutch government, meant that Britons and British Americans could buy smuggled Dutch tea at much cheaper prices. The biggest market for illicit tea was England—by the 1760s the East India Company was losing £400,000 per year to smugglers in Great Britain—but Dutch tea was also smuggled into British America in significant quantities.

In 1767, to help the East India Company compete with smuggled Dutch tea, Parliament passed the Indemnity Act, which lowered the tax on tea consumed in Great Britain, and gave the East India Company a refund of the 25% duty on tea that was re-exported to the colonies. To help offset this loss of government revenue, Parliament also passed the Townshend Revenue Act of 1767, which levied new taxes, including one on tea, in the colonies. Instead of solving the smuggling problem, however, the Townshend duties renewed a controversy about Parliament's right to tax the colonies.

Controversy between Great Britain and the colonies arose in the 1760s when Parliament sought, for the first time, to directly tax the colonies for the purpose of raising revenue. Some colonists, known in the colonies as Whigs, objected to the new tax program, arguing that it was a violation of the British Constitution. Britons and British Americans agreed that, according to the constitution, British subjects could not be taxed without the consent of their elected representatives. In Great Britain, this meant that taxes could only be levied by Parliament. Colonists, however, did not elect members of Parliament, and so American Whigs argued that the colonies could not be taxed by that body. According to Whigs, colonists could only be taxed by their own colonial assemblies. Colonial protests resulted in the repeal of the Stamp Act in 1765, but in the 1766 Declaratory Act, Parliament continued to insist that it had the right to legislate for the colonies "in all cases whatsoever".

When new taxes were levied in the Townshend Revenue Act of 1767, Whig colonists again responded with protests and boycotts. Merchants organized a non-importation agreement, and many colonists pledged to abstain from drinking British tea, with activists in New England promoting alternatives, such as domestic Labrador tea. Smuggling continued apace, especially in New York and Philadelphia, where tea smuggling had always been more extensive than in Boston. Dutied British tea continued to be imported into Boston, however, especially by Richard Clarke and the sons of Massachusetts Governor Thomas Hutchinson, until pressure from Massachusetts Whigs compelled them to abide by the non-importation agreement.

Parliament finally responded to the protests by repealing the Townshend taxes in 1770, except for the tea duty, which Prime Minister Lord North kept to assert "the right of taxing the Americans".This partial repeal of the taxes was enough to bring an end to the non-importation movement by October 1770. From 1771 to 1773, British tea was once again imported into the colonies in significant amounts, with merchants paying the Townshend duty of three pence per pound.Boston was the largest colonial importer of legal tea; smugglers still dominated the market in New York and Philadelphia.

Reflection:

Which main topic does the artifact relate to? In what ways?

A: This topic related to the topic about freedom. The Americans did this act only because they want to be independently.

Which other main topics does it also relate to?

A: It also related to the topic about democracy, it was the start of the idea.

Why did you choose this artifact, and how much time did you spend creating and/or processing it?

A: I chose this artifact because I would like to explain how America becomes independently from a strong empire.

What insights and understanding have you gained from the creation and/or processing of this artifact?

A: I have studied about the American history when I was in Chinese local school, so I know quiet a lot of things about the act. I also read some articles in order for me to explain more clearly.

Does this artifact reflect your best work and/or ideas? Why, or why not?

A: I don’t know. It depends on my mood when I do the artifact.

Rate this artifact on a scale of -5 to 5 (0 is natural) for the following 4 criterion:

Impact on the quality of your Portfolio—3

Impact on your level of happiness/enjoyment—4

Impact on your learning Level of creativity and originality— 5