The Conestoga Massacre: The Regulator Movement

Members of the region that became known as North Carolina demonstrated the first element of history, life is choice, after being bullied by England to the point where they made the life threatening choice to rebel against the mother country. Other major elements of historical theory present in the period leading up to the revolution are cultural divergence, power, and historical patterning. Ultimately the colonists had to make the choice to rebel due to the lack of a stable government, issues over land ownership, taxation, and religious conflicts.

The Boston Massacre was influenced by the British soldiers first shooting the colonists. Due to the commands of Captain Preston, the soldiers were forced to engage in fighting, said by William Wyatt. In his account, the British were ordered around by Captain Preston and were not in the usual formation for a battle. From other perspectives, like George Sanderlin and Andrew, they had heard the captain boom, “Fire! Be the consequences at will.” Both had even heard that the army intended to murder the colonists rebelling. Even Captain Preston’s testimony stated that the soldiers had fired 4 times before the mob of colonists disappeared.

Frontier needs and ideas were conditioned for American nationalistic system to legislate internal improvements in tariff and land. Frontier conditions worked against sectionalism both economically and socially. Promotion of democracy was its vital effect as was individualism. “Professor Herbert L.Osgood, in an able article, has pointed out that the frontier conditions prevalent in the colonies are important factors in the explanation of the American Revolution, where individual liberty was sometimes confused with absence of all effective government.”(Source 1). Frontier individualism encouraged democracy from its onset in its promotion. The frontier states of the union came with democratic suffrage provisions had a high reactional influence on people of older states to move there. “The rise of democracy as an effective force in the nation came in with western preponderance under Jackson and William Henry Harrison and it meant the triumph of the frontier -- with all of its good and with all of its evil elements.” It is the energy which the mountain breeze and western habits import to those emigrants. They are regenerated politically they soon become working politicians, the difference sir between a talking and a walking politician is immense” (Source

he infamous street fight that took place in Boston, Massachusetts is referred to as The Boston Massacre. The Boston Massacre occurred on March 5, 1770. The riot started when a few young boys began to throw stones and rocks at British soldiers who were guarding the Customs House. The crowd around the boys started to grow larger and larger, and then people from the crowd begun to join the boys, throwing ice at the soldiers and taunting them. The soldiers then fired, killing five colonists. I believe that this event is best classified as self-defense.

Settlers in the 18th century American frontier would at times resort to violent protests to express their political and social distress as a result, political, social, and economic reform followed.

On May 10, 1773, Parliament passed the Tea Act, the primary objective of which was to save the British East India Company from bankruptcy. It also eliminated all tea tax except the three pence Townshend tax. A third goal of the Tea Act was to offer Americans tea at a lower price than that of the colonial smugglers [1]. However what happened was the average American colonist became angry with this latest act in a long line of unpopular policies, laws, and taxes imposed on him by Britain [2].

Pontiac’s Rebellion, also known as the Pontiac War, broke out in the Ohio River Valley from 1763 to 1766. The British were fighting in this war along with the Native Indian tribes that lived within an area controlled by New France before their defeat in the French Indian War, which is known as the Pays d’en haut meaning the upper country. In 1763, Chief Pontiac led a rebellion of multiple tribes of the upper country against the British. In the Summer of 1763, Chief Pontiac launched attacks on the British in which left only Fort Pitt and Detroit in British hands. In 1766, Chief Pontiac agreed to peace terms sealing the end of Pontiac’s Rebellion. The Shawnee and other Native Indian tribes went to war with the British because distrust and hostilities grew within the populations between the indigenous of the region and the British. Colonialism also became a major cause in the war that was created.

he Natives were being treated unfairly by the Puritans caused the King Philip’s War of 1675. King Philip's believed that the colonists took his land without his permission. In document A, “King Philip’s Perspective” King Philip stated, “the English made them drunk and then cheated them ; that now, they had no hope left to keep any land.” Both authors in both documents wrote that King Philip lost land from the colonists. In document B, “Colonists‘ Perspective” Edward Randolph said, “God is punishing them for their behavior." The colonists were taking the Native American's property and taking advantage of the native Americans in the trade by getting them drunk so they could get more land. King Philip, the religious leader the Native Americans.

When the colonist settled in North America, conflict with the Native Americans began and they never ended. The Yamasee War was one of many conflicts. The Yamasee was a bloody war that killed over 400 colonist in South Carolina. The colonist vigorously stole, lied, and forced the Yamasee into slavery. To not be viewed as weak the Yamasee raided the colonist homes and plantations to kill and destroy them and their property. This led to small militia's of the colonist fighting back. Their strategy was to raid and stop Yamasee raid. It took two long years, but the war ended. To officially end the war, many tribes signed a peace accord. This pushed the Yamasee along with more tribes down to Florida, where they joined the Seminole

Another violent protest was the March of the Paxton boys which took place in 1763 in Pennsylvania. Paxton was located in eastern Pennsylvania, near the area where Pontiac’s

Although there are many reasons why the American Revolution started, a few of them had a larger consequence. First, the Boston Massacre had a major impact on the American Revolution. To continue, another instigator to the colonists seeking their independence was the Boston Tea Party. Lastly, The Battles of Lexington and Concord really pushed towards the American Revolution.

Separately, these acts did not cause the American revolution but together the acts created tension between the American colonists and England. The Stamp act started to build the tension between the colonists and England because it was the first tax directly imposed onto the colonists. They saw this as unfair because during the French and Indian war the colonist were ignored and then suddenly they were expected to pay off Britain’s war debt. The Stamp Act led to the Declaratory Act which led to many other laws given by King George the III and Parliament because of the backlash received from the colonists. The Boston tea party was an effect of the Tea Act enacted on the American colonists. This incident also sparked more colonial rebellions and

George Jacobs Sr. said, “You tax me for a wizard, you may as well tax me for a buzzard I have done no harm.” Although his words were true, many chose to either believe this hysteria or turn the other way. He died along with many other women and men. This was just the start of the many terrors of the Salem witch trials. Yet if you confessed to being a witch then you had a better chance of living, but if you denied you would automatically get hanged. They killed 19 people in similar ways, but the last person wouldn’t go to trial, so they stoned him. Within the year, the Salem Witch Trials were a very important event, because not only did most of the people convicted died, but because many people went about their day feeling vulnerable

The political turmoil of the late 1600s can be seen in form of the leaders of the time granting friends cheap distant lands and the king's attempt to channel colonial trade coupled with the strengthening of royal authorities over colonial governments. The frequent monetary and political concerns which were prompted by King Phillip's War among the Native Americans and the colonists can define the relationship between England and the colonies. The monarchy of the time took strides to gain more control over colonial governments and more strictly tried to harness the New England colonies to that of the English empire. In 1636 and 1637 a series of battles took place in which the colonists massacred hundreds of Pequot Indians. In the years following New Englanders and the Wampanoags can be seen as relatively peaceful with one another although it is noted that the New Englanders gradually intruded upon the Indian's land. This was warrant for native leaders to urge the banning together against the English, all until 1675, when the Wampanoags, led by chief Metacomet, attacked English settlements in western Massachusetts. The militias of Massachusetts