Charles Cornwallis

Charles Cornwallis was born in London and educated at Eton and Cambridge. His first military experience came in the Seven Years’ War when he was commissioned as an ensign in the British army and served in Germany. In 1760, Cornwallis was elected to the House of Commons; two years later he inherited his father’s earldom and entered the House of Lords as Earl Cornwallis.

During the 1760s and early 1770s, Cornwallis regularly spoke out against the repressive tax policies that Britain was imposing on its American colonies. However, his sympathy did not extend to support for independence and he joined British forces in America in August 1776.

Cornwallis saw action in most of the major campaigns of the War for Independence. He served with William Howe on Long Island in the late summer of 1776, then assisted in the pursuit of George Washington across New Jersey. He also was present at the American victories at Trenton and Princeton, and in September 1777 the British triumph at Brandywine. Cornwallis was impatient with Howe’s lack of initiative and was later similarly critical of Sir Henry Clinton. In frustration, Cornwallis resigned his commission, but his resignation was not accepted.

In 1778, Cornwallis was named second in command under Clinton and in 1780 assisted in the opening of a renewed effort in the American South. He won an important victory at Camden over Horatio Gates in June 1780, but was forced to retreat after Guilford Court House in March 1781. His army marched north through North Carolina and into Virginia, where the forces of Washington and the French fleet compelled his surrender at Yorktown in October 1781.

The defeat at Yorktown did not destroy Cornwallis’s career, however. In 1786, he was appointed governor-general of India, where he brought important reforms to the civil service and the judiciary. He also instituted a major land reform and led military campaigns against native uprisings. In 1792, he was made a marquess for his service in India.

In 1798, Cornwallis became viceroy and commander-in-chief in Ireland. He won some measure of respect from both Roman Catholics and Protestants for his sincerity and dedication. Other contributions included quelling a rebellion in 1798 and thwarting a French invasion.

Abigail Adams

Abigail Adams was born on November 11, 1744 and died on October 28, 1818 a modeled an expanded role for women in public affairs during the formative days of the United States. Apart from being John Adams wife, she was famous for sending a letter to her husband demanding certain rights for women. Her genius letters provide information on everyday life and insight into the activities in the corridors of power during her time. Her letters show her to have been a woman of intelligence, resourceful, competent, self-sufficient, vivacious, and opinionate formidable force. But most important it’s commitment to rights for women and for African Americans. Even though the proposal was awesome they refuse to approve it. However I think that in American´s will remember her effort for a better more peaceful place to be.

She was among the most remarkable women of the revolutionary period. Her education, so far as books were concerned, was little. When she was young she frequently was ill and that’s why she was never sent to any school; but her loss in this respect was not so great as might appear; for, while the New England clergymen at that time were usually men of great learning, the education of their daughters seldom went further than writing or arithmetic, with now and then a smattering of what passed current as music. In the course of her long life she became extensively acquainted with the best English literature, and she wrote in a terse, vigorous, and often elegant style. That was also one of the factors that help her writing the letter she write for the revolution.

After losing his bid for reelection in 1800, John Adams retired to life on the farm. Abigail Adams continued to keep herself busy maintaining her home. John Adams injured his leg in an accident and was unable to walk for several weeks. As always, Abigail Adams cared for them all. In October of 1818, Abigail Adams suffered a stroke. She died quietly on October 28, 1818, surrounded by her family. John Adams lived several more years, passing away on July 4, 1826.

The Treaty of Paris

Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin is a character that means so much for the United State society. He is a multitalented person, having lots of qualities that he gets advantage of it by showing it to the world. He was a printer, publisher, scientist and more abilities that during his life work them. Franklin was important to the United State he present a lot of support during the declaration of independence and during others important successes of the country, such as president of Pennsylvania Society for the Abolition of Slavery in 1785; Senior member of the Constitutional Convention in 1787 and more. He was involved in political, having lots of positions in which he make an amazing job leading he’s life as a history. Franklin was an intellectual man that makes his ideas bright in the life of human society. Franklin makes lots of inventions that advance the life of men. A very important invention of Franklin was the electricity in which make a huge impact to human life. He clearly was an important man in many points of view.

Franklin was born in January 17 of 1706, at Boston, Massachusetts. He was a very intelligent person in which he was a Self-taught, apprenticed as a printer. Honorary Doctor of Laws, in which he graduated in the Universities of Edinburgh and Oxford. Franklin had a son and one daughter in were both had successful life’s. He was elected to the Continental Congress in 1775, where he played a crucial role in the rebellion against Great Britain, including service to Jefferson in editing the Declaration of Independence. He was the United States first Postmaster General, Minister to the French Court, one that signed the Treaty to make peace with Britain. Benjamin Franklin was a Businessman, Writer, Publisher, Scientist, Diplomat, Legislator, and Social activist, was one of the earliest and strongest encouraged people for the abolition of Slavery, and for the protection of the rights of American aboriginal peoples. He died on the 17th of April in 1790. On that day he was still one of the most celebrated characters in America.

The Treaty Of Paris

The Treaty of Paris ended the American Revolution. For seven years England and their colonists had battled against the Native Americans. The war had originated in North America, but it quickly encompassed Europe, Africa, and India as well. Although the war had ended in 1760 in North America with England capture of Montreal, the conflict continued to rage in other parts of the world until 1763.

With the treaty they singned, England received control of all French possessions in modern day Canada as well as most of the territory east of the Mississippi River, including the Ohio Country. With England now in control, Native Americans in Ohio feared that colonists would move onto their lands, driving the natives further west as had occurred since the earliest English settlements in North America. To prevent this from taking place, Pontiac of the Ottawa Indians formed an alliance with several other tribes and attempted to drive the English from west of the Appalachian Mountains in 1763. This was known as Pontiac´s Rebellion.British authorities, already facing bankruptcy from the French and Indian War, sought to prevent further conflicts with the Native Americans because of the potential expense.England issued the Proclamation of 1763, which forbade English colonists from living west of the Appalachian Mountains.

Struggling toward Independence

The Proclamtion Of 1763

The end of the French and Indian War in 1763 was a cause for great celebration in the colonies, for it removed several ominous barriers and opened up a host of new opportunities for the colonists. The French had effectively hemmed in the British settlers and had, from the perspective of the settlers, played the "Indians" against them. The first thing on the minds of colonists was the great western frontier that had opened to them when the French ceded that contested territory to the British. The royal proclamation of 1763 did much to dampen that celebration. The proclamation, in effect, closed off the frontier to colonial expansion. The King and his council presented the proclamation as a measure to calm the fears of the Indians, who felt that the colonists would drive them from their lands as they expanded westward. Many in the colonies felt that the object was to pen them in along the Atlantic seaboard where they would be easier to regulate. No doubt there was a large measure of truth in both of these positions. However the colonists could not help but feel a strong resentment when what they perceived to be their prize was snatched away from them. The proclamation provided that all lands west of the heads of all rivers which flowed into the Atlantic Ocean from the west or northwest were off-limits to the colonists. This excluded the rich Ohio Valley and all territory from the Ohio to the Mississippi rivers from settlement.

The proclamation also established or defined four new colonies, three of them on the continent proper. Quebec, which was of course already well settled, two colonies to be called East Florida and West Florida — and off the continent, Grenada. These facts were established immediately, but most of the proclamation is devoted to the subject of Indians and Indian lands. It asserted that all of the Indian peoples were thereafter under the protection of the King. It required that all lands within the "Indian territory" occupied by Englishmen were to be abandoned. It included a list of prohibited activities, provided for enforcement of the new laws, and indicted unnamed persons for fraudulent practices in acquiring lands from the Indians in times past. Resolution of the hostilities of the French and Indian War was a difficult problem for the crown. Most of the Indian tribes had been allied with the French during the war, because they found the French less hostile and generally more trustworthy that the English settlers. Now the French would depart, and the Indians were left behind to defend themselves and their grounds as best they could. Relations between the Indians and the English colonials were so poor that few settlers would argue in public that the Indians had rights to any lands. In this proclamation the King sided with the Indians, against the perceived interests of the settlers. Moreover, it provided, and Parliament soon after executed, British royal posts along the proclamation boundary. Parliament was under no illusions about relations between the Indians and the colonists. They understood that the colonists would not respect the boundary without some enforcement mechanism. Finally, the English were interested in improving the fur trade, which involved the Indians and independent trappers who lived out on the frontier.

The Proclamation line extended from the Atlantic coast at Quebec to the newly established border of West Florida. Establishing and manning posts along the length of this boundary was a very costly undertaking. The British ministry would argue that these outposts were for colonial defense, and as such should be paid for by the colonies. From the American perspective this amounted to a tax on the colonies to pay for a matter of Imperial regulation that was opposed to the interests of the colonies. A bitter pill indeed.