My American Revolution Journal Entries

By: Leo Cheng A.K.A Percy Dickens

Stamp Act

A post stamp worth 5 shillings

An emblem created by the Americans of the stamp act era

A painting of sons of liberty punishing tax collectors.

This is completely outrageous! When I woke up today morning it felt like a very peaceful day, I recently brought home the bacon and my beautiful wife Elizabeth bought some nice jewelry and everyone at home was in a great mood. However when I finished my morning biscuits and tea, I walked outside to enjoy the morning breeze I saw a huge gathering of people around a newly put up display board. Curious me squished into the crowd and I saw a red coat putting up a poster with the words Stamp Act on it. I confronted the red coat with this, unsurprisingly he did not reply. I have a bad feeling about this announcement.

At noon the Governor Thomas Hutchinson gave a speech on how your majesty needs to pay for the debt he owes to the gun manufacturer that supplied the red coats when they were fighting the French Indian war. This means we have to pay tax for every paper; anyone who doesn't pay will be punished for tax evasion. How dare the Parliament do this to us! We just started feeling safe from the war and now they are humiliating us by comparing us to British tax payers. Back in England only the low economic level citizens like; woman, children, servants, slaves pay tax. The parliament is so insensitive to compare us to these people.

The most angering thing is the parliament is charging us in everything; wedding documents, legal documents, newspapers. When the governor said every paper I didn’t really think he meant by every single paper. That afternoon a mob formed in front of the governor’s house, there were dozens of protestors. They were all yelling;” No stamp act” vigorously. Soon I joined this protest and chanted too. Everyone was sick of the Parliament not treating the colonies in America fairly. Later in the day a group of people who called themselves sons of liberty went around to stamp collectors and warned them to resign.

At the moment I saw the poster, I knew this was no small change. Everyone in Massachusetts was already relatively dissatisfied with the fact the there are no representative in the parliament to argue the Colonies points and now they make such a huge decision without even listening to the colonies’ suggestions. My neighbor John Adams told me that he didn’t like the situation right now and soon enough there’s going to be a rebellion and I should join the rebellion army. He called this unreasonable act taxation without representation because we did not have a single bit of control over our rules. Even though the parliament is 6 weeks away on ship, and have no clue about our living conditions they are the ones setting unacceptable laws and rules for us. What have we ever done to Great Britain besides volunteering to pioneer America, and live in a complete new place so the British government would benefit from this? We have been through so much and this I how the politicians of Britain treat us. This will not end here, we: the colony citizens have had enough and will not tolerate the current treatment and if this continues we will not be as civilized as we are right now.

Boston Massacre and Boston Tea party

A painting drawn from a patriotic perspective.

Boston Tea party

Battle of Lexington and Concord

A Remembrance stone dedicated to the fallen ones.

• Bang! I have never been more frightful in my whole life than today afternoon. Last night I got word that a bunch of red coats were going to Lexington and concord to confiscate weapons and a few Acquaintances and I quickly rushed to warn the fellow militia there and when we did they told us that they were actually going to face the red coats off with their muskets and they would need all the man power they could get so we joined them.

• A few years ago in Boston my neighbor’s cousin Sam Adams was in a friendly protest against the governor of Boston and some lobster back started shooting at him and 4 unarmed citizens were killed. A few years later the parliament take our love of tea and make it a weakness by forcing us to buy tea from the East India Trade company because the British parliament has ties to that specific company so they will be raising the prices and so our love of tea would make it inevitable to pay the price. After a few weeks of paying for such a high price for tea, a dozen of citizens started planning out a protest and soon they started recruiting people to join, without even hearing the plan I joined. I could not take this anymore and so I would participate in any plan to hurt the Parliament, no matter if it’s economically or physically. That night we were given Indian disguises and secretly boarded a East Indian Trade company boat and started throwing tea off the boat and into the water to show our dismay and dissatisfaction. After that night, in response to our protest they enacted another one of those paying acts and this time they were no longer nice about it. At this moment I knew everything changed.

• Since the Intolerable acts, the tension has risen a lot and things have started becoming violent. I knew sooner or later there was going to be a gunfight however I never thought it was so soon. John Adams my politically intelligent neighbor educated me and advised me to join the militia because war will be imminent and it is better to fight than just to spectate. I took his advice and started working as a part time spy for the militia and report everything I see or hear, even the rumors. Last night I heard a rumor that included Lexington and Concord being confiscated of weapons and so I rushed to my friend’s stables and got on a horse and headed for Lexington.

• When I got there it was 5 in the morning and I was exhausted however I was determined to fight for honor and so I picked up a musket and joined the militia in a march to face the red coats. The musket was very heavy and hard to shoot with but none of this mattered when I saw farmer George’s personal gardener. I did not like the thought of looking hostile in front of the greatest army in the world however I was not a big woman’s blouse so I stayed and looked tough. Attempting to show courage, soon I started shivering. I eyed my fellow Americans and saw about 60 of us. While I counted their numbers I saw even more red coats, there were at least 500 of them. Soon enough we were wondering if we should retreat instead however at this moment a shot was fired. Even until now no one knows who fired the shot. As soon as the shot was heard everyone started firing and it was a full-scale battle in progress.

• The British mowed down the soldiers however our soldiers did not fight by any rule and just went at the red coats like crazy and soon the red coats became full of fear and were missing their shots. We took this opportunity and returned counter fire and soon we were the dominant ones the fight. A while later a British horn was blown and British soldiers started retreating and I knew we have won a complete unfair battle.

• After this battle I knew this wasn't the last time we are going to face the mightiest army in the world but with such a good start we cannot end here. I will fight along side my fellow colonial citizens until we get reasonable treatment.

Declaration of Independence

The Continental Congress

The signing of the declaration of Independence

Battle of Yorktown

The drummers in the War

Freedom at last! The colonies are finally free to live their lives without the tyrant across the sea making absurd laws. General George Washington, our army leader just signed the Treaty Of Paris and all this can finally end. I’m not quite sure anyone in America has ever been happier this whole decade.

It feels like just yesterday that the 13 colonies started working together and formed a congress. I remember July 5th 1776 very clearly. That day I was made Major because Washington became General. The most important thing about that day was the congress announced our independence and we finally starting to stand up against the tyranny of Britain. Thomas Jefferson, a smart congressman wrote the most significant piece of writing I’ve read in my whole life, which was the declaration of independence, because it states the rights of freedom entitled to each person, and that everyone should live in liberty to what they want to do. Everyone was created equal and so everyone should get fair treatment from the British parliament. This is so true that all 56 delegates of the continental congress representing 13 colonies signed this.

That piece of writing changed many people’s lives by opening up their eyes and helping them realize that we’ve been living under a dictatorship and we have to rise up against the current government. Hundreds of citizens joined the continental army that day and we were officially ready for war. At the start we did not do well in the battles however none of us gave up and soon the Spanish and French rushed to support and provide us with man power to fight the mightiest army in the world and finally at the Battle Of Yorktown we surrounded the British army and diminished their forces to the point that they had no choice but to surrender.

There have been tough times in these 18 years and I have thought of giving up multiple times however I never did betray the Americans like Benedict Arnold and finally I have ended with what I came to fight for. I am now 38 and have not seen my children for 10 years, I feel irresponsible but what can be a better excuse than fighting for 13 colonies’ freedom.

The question right now is who will lead us in this new age and not take away our freedom like Farmer George did. The best person I have in mind is George Washington. No one this whole 18 years has been more active in the revolution than him and I think he would not throw all these 18 years of fighting for freedom away by not making us feel freedom. I’m glad this has finally ended and I wish, the world will never face problems like tyranny and dictatorship.

Citations

• "The American Revolution." The American Revolution. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Mar. 2015. http://latinamericanstudies.org/american-revolution.htm

• "The Boston Massacre." Ushistory.org. Independence Hall Association, n.d. Web. 11 Feb. 2015. <http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/related/massacre.htm>.