research paper

https://books.google.com/books?id=TNRCAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=the+declaration+of+independence&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiZlNPV5PHVAhUE-mMKHWwrA1MQ6AEITDAG#v=onepage&q=the%20declaration%20of%20independence&f=false

• In August 1585 1, the Roanoke Island colony (in now North Carolina), the first English settlement in the New World, was founded by English explorer Sir Walter Raleigh. It was the start of English colonization in North America.

• In May 1607 2, seeking security from Spanish discovery and attack, the English colonists arrived in North America and sailed up the James River in Virginia about sixty miles. They established Jamestown beside a swamp on the north bank for their settlement, which was named after their King, James I. The settlement became the first permanent English settlement in North America.

• In the late 18th century, relations began to deteriorate between the colonies and the mother country. In October 1763 3, the British Royal Proclamation was issued by King George III following Great Britain's acquisition of French territory in North America after the end of the French and Indian War. The proclamation was mainly to conciliate the Indians by checking the encroachment of settlers on their lands. The Proclamation of 1763 angered the British colonists because it prohibited colonial settlement west of the Appalachian Mountain range. The colonists who had already settled in the region were even required to relocate to the eastern side of the Appalachians. The Proclamation angered American colonists who wanted to continue their westward expansion into new farm lands and wanted to keep their control of local government.

• In order to support the British East India Company, the British Parliament adjusted the import duties. As a protest against the taxation on tea as well as the monopoly of the East India Company , on the night of December 16, 1773 4, American patriots Samuel Adams and the Sons of Liberty boarded three ships in the Boston Harbor and threw 342 chests of tea belonging to the British East India Company overboard into the harbor. It is the famous Boston Tea Party. Other protests happened in 1773-1774, too.

• The cumulative effect of colonial resistance to British rule during the winter of 1773–1774 was to make Parliament more determined to reinforce its power in America. The Intolerable Acts (also called the Coercive Acts) were harsh laws passed by the British Parliament in 1774 5 to punish the Province of Massachusetts and thus assert its authority. The acts took away Massachusetts' self-government and historic rights and they were meant to punish the American colonists for the Boston Tea Party and other protests. By making Massachusetts an example, the Parliament wished to stop the colonial resistance. However, these acts triggered outrage and resistance in the Thirteen Colonies. They were key developments in the outbreak of the American Revolution.

• In order to to organize colonial resistance to Parliament's Coercive Acts, delegates from the 13 colonies except for Georgia, a group of 56 men, met as the First Continental Congress from September 5 to October 26, 1774 6 at Carpenters' Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They decided to organize a boycott of British goods and petition the king for appeal of the act. The boycott of British goods took effect in December 1774 while the petition did not succeed.

• In April 1775 7, the American revolutionary war, also known as the American War of Independence, broke out. Most colonists, however, still hoped for reconciliation with Great Britain, even after the first fighting began at Lexington and Concord, partially because they did not want to commit treason to the Great Britain. The war fought for the independence of America and lasted from 1775 to 1783.

• The Second Continental Congress convened at the Pennsylvania State House in Philadelphia in May 1775 8. Some delegates hoped for eventual independence, but no one advocated declaring it. Many colonists no longer believed that Parliament had any sovereignty over them, yet they were still loyal to King George. However, the king announced to suppress the rebellion with foreign resistance later in 1775 and thus disappointed the colonists.

• At the beginning of June, 1776 9, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston appointed to a committee to draft a declaration of independence. Jefferson, at the request of the committee, drafts a declaration. Jefferson's copy was then reviewed by the committee. The Declaration of Independence expresses the ideals on which the United States was founded and the reasons for separation from Great Britain, which the Congress had voted for on July 2. The ideals include Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.

• On July 4, 1776 10, Congress approved the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia. It marked the independence of the United States of America and thus July 4 is the Independence Day of the United States. Later in July, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was dispatched, published on newspaper and read publicly before the American Army.

• In August, 1776 11, delegates from the thirteen colonies begin to sign engrossed copy of the Declaration of Independence ordered by the Congress.

• In January, 1777 12, Congress, now sitting in Baltimore, Maryland, orders that signed copies of the Declaration of Independence printed by Mary Katherine Goddard of Baltimore be sent to the states.

• In 1783 13, The British recognized American independence, which marked the end of the Independence War.