The formation of American democracy,

the first American presidents

Lecture 2

Americans always insisted on the control over the system of taxation, which supported their Government. Speaking as freeborn Englishmen, colonial Americans insisted that they could be taxed only by their own colonial assemblies.

In September 1774 the First Continental Congress, a meeting of colonial leaders met in Philadelphia.These leaders asked Americans to boycott British trade. Colonists began to organize militias and to collect and store weapons and ammunition.

On April, 19, 1775, 700 British soldiers marched from Boston to forestall a rebellion of the colonists. At the village of Lexington they confronted 70 militiamen and the American War of Independence began.

The British easily captured Lexington and Concord, but as they returned to Boston they were met by hundreds of Massachusetts volunteers. By June, 10,000 American soldiers had besieged Boston, and the British were forced to leave the city in March 1776.

In May 1776 a second Continental Congress met in Philadelphia and began to assume the functions of National Government. It founded a Continental Army and Navy under the command of George Washington, a Virginia planter and veteran of the French and Indian War. It printed paper money and opened diplomatic relations with foreign powers. On July, 2, 1776, the Congress finally resolved.

“That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be free and independent stated” Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, assisted by others, drafted a Declaration of Independence, which the Congress adopted on July, 4, 1776.

http://www.history.com/topics/american-revolution/declaration-of-independence

Watch the video and answer the question:

To many in the Continental Congress war was unthinkable. Why did they finally create this revolutionary document?