Write a paragraph
describing the main person featured in your Book. What is your reaction to this
person? Why?
As
far as I have read the book the main person featured in the book is Benjamin
Franklin. To this point, I have been in awe of his character as the event and
the status of leadership we have been told in the book by the authors is
extraordinary. As told, he was the son of a simple candlemaker and was among
seventeen children they had. He was not born with any kind of privilege and yet
he laid the foreground for American Revolution. “He had to leave school to work but continued
to study on his own any book that he found” (Huizenga & Huizenga,
2006)
By reading more about him the reason why I had a positive reaction to this
person was the lesson that his life taught. It showed that America is a place
where anyone can have the opportunity to grow and become a historic all one
needs is the will and dedication to put in hard work.
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| Benjamin Franklin |
What is the setting of
the Book?
For
the part, I have read the book is set in the years before American Revolution.
It narrates the various events that happened before the American Revolution and
how Benjamin Franklin struggled to be one of the fathers of this movement. The
book is set in the 1700s when the colonists came to America and later started
resisting the government of Britain for their unfair treatment.
Write a paragraph
describing what you have read so far?
Benjamin
franklin published a picture in the newspaper showing a snake which was cut
into thirteen pieces telling how the colonies of America had to unite to
survive. In the 1700s Britain was a very strong country and their land
encompasses to Mississippi river in America. When the British came to America,
they claimed it to be a New World and were looking for a new place to live. As
the colonies grew lands were destroyed and Native Americans lost their homes.
America became a land with no opportunities for the Indians while the colonists
dominated. Slavery started growing. Their journey was however not very pleasant
for the colonists as well. “Before the American Revolution, most colonists
never traveled more than fifty kilometers from home” (Huizenga & Huizenga,
2006)
They overcame a very hard journey to come to America mainly because it had a
lot of opportunities here. Franklin was also an example of people who found
opportunities in America during that time. He was not a very special person and
belonged to a normal family. He had to leave his school and study on his own.
He arrived in America without money or a job but soon became a very important
businessman. The colonists soon started to think of getting independent. Soon
this growing thought of independence was noticed by the British prime minister
who said, “I love Americans but we are the mother country, they are the children
and they must obey” (Huizenga & Huizenga, 2006)
and it was not long when the American colonist was no longer worried about what
Britain had to say. When the war between France and Britain was over the cost
needed to be recovered and Britain was looking for Americans to help pay but
the Americans did not agree. A lot of them were also involved in the war and
thus they said, “We helped Britain to win the war…” We don’t want to pay for
it” (Huizenga & Huizenga, 2006). Some colonies remained
loyal to Britain but most of them were not. The colonies had to buy almost all
their stuff from Britain which was more expensive and not only that they had to
even sell their coffee, sugar, and tobacco to Britain as well and soon they
knew selling to other countries would be more profitable. Thus, Americans
filled a large ship with their stuff and sailed out. The British found out
captured their men and put them in jail. Colonists were angry. To further make
them angrier the King introduced the stamped Tax. The colonist now had to buy
British stamps for every kind of paper they used, and they didn’t want them in
America. The colonists didn’t mind paying taxes to their governments buy they
had a problem paying them to Britain where they had no representation. The
anger of colonists resulted in them capturing a few stamp sellers and “brushed
hot black tar all over their skin” (Huizenga & Huizenga, 2006).
Franklin himself was surprised how much anger Americans had against the British
now.
Soon
the king in 1766 stopped the stamp tax and it was not long before another tax
appeared on the glass, paper, and tea. There was resistance and the king sent
British soldiers to the colonies. These soldiers were unwelcomed in America.
They were beaten for the smallest mistakes and they soon started hating their
life. A fight between British soldiers and American citizens happened in 1770(Huizenga
& Huizenga, 2006) in Boston. This fight resulted in the
death of Crispus Attucks a slave who escaped and was the first man to die in the
American Revolution. Newspaper exploded with news and the kind had to move his
soldiers out of Boston. In 1773, on December 16 British ship sailed with tea in
it. Colonists were angry at Boston for the tea tax introduced. They seemed to
have made the impression that this tax was not justified. Samuel Adams one of
the leaders of the Sons of Liberty along with Jhon Hancock took a hundred
members of the Sons of Liberty and did something unforgettable. They picked
their axes marched to the Boston Harbor and destroyed 342 boxes of valuable
British tea. Benjamin Franklin narrated this event like the Boston Tea Party.
King was furious and thus resulted in closing the harbor and ordered that they
won't open it until the colonists “pay for the lost tea”. It was a mistake.
This unites the colonies.
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