The Spark: The American Revolution

The Spark The conflict that sparked the American Revolution was the Treaty of Paris that was written in 1763 to officially state that Britain had won the French and Indian War. This treaty awarded Great Britain the backcountry and the Ohio River Valley. The Treaty of Paris made the British government feel that they were entitled to the land east of the Mississippi River, not the colonists, once pioneers, who had endured the ninety-one-year war. The point where the fight for independence obviously had no return was the Boston Tea Party. On December 16, 1773, in Boston, Massachusetts, the Sons of Liberty raided British ships and dumped 342 chests of British tea, worth one million dollars, into the Boston Harbor disguised as Native Americans. …show more content…
Britain’s strength and optimism had been slowly diminishing after fighting for about 100 years. The recent Patriot victories had motivated themselves to continue fighting with stamina. The Continental Navy was unquestionably devastating for the British Government because there was competition for the arrogant navy. The Patriots had clearly done just fine without British control or support throughout the war. The battles in the south and west greatly weakened the Redcoats. It should have been predictable that the Patriots would win the war because the British would never recruit less-than-human slaves to fight for them unless they were absolutely desperate. The final battle of the American Revolution happened in October 1781 and was known as the Battle of Yorktown. The Patriots had been depressed because General Benedict Arnold had betrayed them and become a traitor. In the end, the Patriots had a great win after strategizing with French General Comte de Rochambeau to dwindle the British forces. If the British Government had continued to coward to the colonists, the Patriots would not have been so persistent, and would likely have lost the war. The Yorktown surrender officially ended the fighting on October 20, 1781, with arms negotiations lasting two days. When Prime Minister Lord North caught wind of the news in November, he was appalled. The British army was sure if they kept fighting their efforts would have gone straight downhill. Between June 1781 and 1783, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, John Jay, and Henry Laurens collaborated with the British Government regarding the borders of the United States of America until finally signing the Treaty of Paris of 1783. The new borders were the Great Lakes region to the north, the Mississippi River to the west, a line at 31 degrees North latitude to the south, and the Atlantic Ocean to