The French and Indian War

          From 1754 to 1763, the French and Indian War raged. It was caused by the French and Indians claiming the Ohio valley, which the English claimed, too. In Europe, the war was called the Seven Years War.

           In the war, the Indians allied with the French and England fought with the American colonists, who were English at the time.

          When it began, the English had to learn how the French fought. The French fought in the trees and took cover behind something. The English fought right in the open. For example, in 1775, General Braddock was sent to a fort along with a lot of English troops. While they were marching, in the trees were French and Indians waiting for The English. When the English came in sight, they opened fire. The British couldn’t see them but the French could see the British. This event caused Braddock and the English troops to lose their lives, but George Washington and a few others survived.

General Braddock

          Like in the Revolution, at first the English weren’t doing very well in the starting battles. Many big casualties happened to the English. One of the biggest was the battle of Fort McHenry, which ended with a massacre where Indians killed all the remaining English.

          In 1758, the luck for the English flipped and the Indians, who were allied with the French, joined the British. The French got frustrated and surrendered in 1763.

Mr. George Washington

          In February 22^nd, 1732, George Washington was born in Virginia. He was born in an English family because at the time there was no United States. George had three brothers and one sister. His family was very wealthy. His dad even owned 10,000 acres.

George was a strong man. Once he was watching a wrestling championship and somebody won. When the person won, George challenged the champion and George defeated him.

          Washington wanted to fight in the army. Once he decided to join the English navy, but thankfully he decided not to do so. In 1754, he joined the English in the French and Indian War. This war was caused by the French and Indians claiming the Ohio Valley and The English wanted to take it.  In 1758 the war stopped. In the next year he married Martha Washington.

          George didn’t like America being ruled by the English. The English put high taxes on Americans and gave them less freedom. The Americans wanted freedom. So in 1775 George Washington became a commander of the American army. In 1776 the revolution began. The American didn’t do well in the war, at first. The Americans weren’t good at fighting. They were fighting against the strongest army in the world at the time. 

          The Americans thought they wouldn’t win. They were losing battle after battle. Washington wanted to encourage them. So on the night of December 24^th, George and the army had a plan. They planned to cross the Delaware River, march to Trenton and capture the Hessians while they’re celebrating Christmas. Hessians were Germans fighting with the English.

          Soon enough, the plan took place. In December 25^th, 1776, they crossed the Delaware and marched to Trenton. The Hessians were celebrating Christmas. The commander of the army was named Rall. Rall really liked playing cards and drinking. While the American army was marching to Trenton, he was just playing cards.  While he was playing, he was handed a note. The note actually said to watch out for George but he was having too much fun so he didn’t even read the note. Sure enough, the next day, all the 500 hessians were captured by the Americans. After this, there was more hope of winning the war.

          In 1783 the French joined the Americans and the British surrendered. America won the war.

          In 1789, George was elected as our first president. Everybody thought he was going to be a king. When George was called king, he got mad and said that he was not a king, he was a president. On December 14^th, 1799, he died at his house.

 

Franklins useful inventions

                                               Bifocals

        Franklin invented bifocals in 1784. Bifocals are glasses with an upper and lower half. The upper half is for distance and the lower half is for reading. They are mainly made for people with presbyopia.

 

 

Electricity

Of course, Benjamin didn’t invent electricity. He just discovered that lightning was electricity. One day in a thunder storm, he flew a kite with metal attached to it. He could not see it in the storm, but lightning struck the metal. He gave up but then he noticed that the strings on the rope were standing up. And to prove that he touched the electrified metal with another metal and it created a spark.

Lightning rod

          Ben learned how destructive lightning can be, so he he set about to protect houses from lightning strikes. He invented the lightning rod. The lightning rod is a metal rod put at the top of a house to protect it from burning down and to protect the people from electrocution. Connected to the bottom of the rod is a wire that goes from the rod down the house and harmlessly into the ground.

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Franklin Stove

          In colonial America, homes were warmed by fire places instead of heaters. Those fireplaces went out quickly and created a lot of smoke. Then Franklin invented the Franklin stove. The Franklin stove was a fireplace that was set in the middle of the room instead of the wall. It was made of iron and created less smoke. Its iron walls absorb the heat and stay warm for a long time after the fire went out.

 

 

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Swim Fins

          At the young age of 11, Benjamin Franklin created swim fins that go on your hands. They made him go faster, but he was not satisfied with them, because the fins caused his hands to get exhausted.

Armonica

          The armonica is an instrument named after the word, harmony. It has 37 bowls standing vertically. When the rims of the bowls are touched, it will make a musical sound.

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Odometer

          Although odometers were invented in ancient times, Ben made his own version of them. He was always curious of how far he travels on land, so he created the device to measure the distance he traveled.

Long Arm

          Benjamin loved books, but getting books on high shelves was a challenge. In 1786, he created the long arm. It is just a wooden pole with a mechanical grasping hand at the end.

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          Benjamin Franklin was a great scientist and inventor. He cared for the people and keeping them safe. Some our newer inventions even come from his work.

Benjamin Franklin -the Sciencey and Printy Man

          In January 17, 1706, Benjamin Franklin was born in Boston. In Benjamin’s family there were 17 kids! Ben was the third youngest because he had two little sisters.

Benjamin loved books. Back then there were not any public schools or text books, so he educated himself by reading books.

          In 1718, he began looking for a job. At first, he wanted to become a cutler. His parents wanted his cousin to teach him, but he wanted a high price that the Franklins couldn’t afford. Then he, became a printer with his brother James. Ben loved printing but not with James. James would always beat Ben and abuse him without cause. When he was 17, he decided to leave his job and find a job at New York.

          There was not many good jobs in New York. At one printing shop, he was told that there were good jobs in Philadelphia so he went there. In Philadelphia, he was very hungry so he bought three giant loafs of bread for three pennies. At that time money was worth more. For example, a penny back then could buy the same as 28 dollars today!

          While he was walking down a street eating the bread, a woman named Deborah laughed at him because he looked so goofy. Later, Benjamin married Deborah and had some kids. Ben was strolling toward a Quaker meeting house. Benjamin was a Quaker. During the meeting, he didn’t pay much attention because he was sleeping.

          Benjamin found a printing shop to work at and he stayed at a boarding house which was owned by the father of Deborah. Ben became the greatest person in Philadelphia. For 25 years he wrote an almanac once a year called “Poor Richard’s Almanac”. He also wrote a lot of other books and articles.

          In 1757, he came back to Boston and then went to London, England, to start a printing shop or maybe start a newspaper.

          Around 1780, he started helping the American Revolution. He also became an ambassador to France and helped to convince France to join America’s side in the Revolution. When he was about eighty, he signed the constitution.  In April 1790, now 84, years old, he died in Philadelphia.  

          Benjamin Franklin was a great man. He was a good inventor, scientist, and printer man. He made some sayings such as “A penny saved is a penny earned” and “Early to sleep and early to rise makes a person healthy, wealthy and wise.” Even today, we use his inventions and sayings.

Salem Witch Trials

                We all know what witches are. The fake warty girls with flying brooms that brew potions and cast spells. But in the 1600s, everyone thought that they were real.

          In 1692, in Salem, which is in New England, two girls, who were nine and eleven, started playing weirdly. First, they were acting crazy and their dad, Samuel Paris, got worried about them. He got the doctor and the doctor thought that they were cursed by witches. Even doctors believed in witches. At present day doctors would instantly find out that the girls were faking, but this doctor was wrong.

          The girls liked the attention. The girls accused an old Indian woman of witchcraft. She was put on trial to see if she was a witch. They said that if she bit her lip, she was biting everyone. Also, they said that when she laid on the ground screaming she was crushing them. She was hung. Soon, the girls started accusing more people and older girls joined the girls. Soon other people started accusing everybody. For example, a dad accused his own wife.

          The people would beat the accused people until they would lie and say that they were a witch so they would stop beating them. Some would not admit it and were killed or sent to jail. Also, some that had confessed felt bad about lying and so took back what they said.

          This whole horribleness lasted for about a year. About 19 people were hung. One was pressed to death and four died in jail.  Then, the people regained their senses. Jail doors were open and the people stopped believing in witches. The two girls were never punished for what they had done, but one of them confessed later in life. Many people were hung and sent to jail. Some were even brave enough to get killed rather than to lie.

Roger Williams

          In 1603, Roger Williams was born in England.  He was a Christian. In December, 1629, he married Mary.

         When he was 26 years old, he became a minister. During that time, Charles I was the king of England and he did not like ministers thinking for themselves about religion. Charles wanted the Church of England to be more Catholic and ordered that anyone that spoke against him would be thrown in jail or executed.

        In 1631, Roger and Mary left England and landed in the colony of Massachusetts, which was owned by England. Roger and Mary thought that there was religious freedom there. However, they were wrong. Roger was sent to trial and the jury’s verdict was guilty of heresy and he was banished from Massachusetts.

        Roger decided to make a new colony in the land of Rhode Island. He left for it but Mary stayed in Massachusetts until Roger built the colony. In 1636, he founded the colony of Providence. Providence in the present day is located in the city of Providence, which is the capital of Rhode Island.

        Roger asked the King of England for permission for him to be governor of the colony and the King said, “Yes.”  Williams decided to put religious freedom in his colony so the people can have whatever religion they want. Roger was a minister but made little money ministering so he got money by trading with Indians.

        The people of Massachusetts thought that Providence wasn’t going to last long, but instead it was never destroyed. Once 3000 people landed in Massachusetts and most of them went to Providence.

In 1683, he died in Providence. Roger Williams was a great man. He built the colony of Rhode Island and made the first colony in America with religious freedom.

New Netherland

 

 

          

In 1609, the English explorer Henry Hudson discovered the land, which is southern New York. In 1633, the Dutch West India Company took the land for the fur trade. Shortly after setting up camp, Peter Minuit traded trinkets to the Indians for Manhattan, which at present day is New York City. They called the land New Amsterdam.

New Netherland didn’t make their own laws. Instead the Dutch West India Company hired governors to come to come to New Netherland to make the laws. One of the most famous governors was Peter Stuyvesant, who I’ve already talked about.

          In England, when Charles II came to the throne, the English became interested in the Dutch colonies. In 1644, Charles II sent a powerful military unit to New Netherland and Peter Stuyvesant was forced to surrender. Charles II gave the land of New York to his brother, the Duke of York. Some Dutch were able to stay there and became citizens of New York

          The Dutch left some cultural contributions such as Santa Claus and Easter eggs. The Dutch citizens began telling the English about Santa and Easter Eggs. The way we know about it is because the English became Americans and they started telling a lot of people.

            

 

Peter Stuyvesant

 

          In 1592 Peter Stuyvesant was born in Holland. He lived a life of commanding and conquering forts. When he was old, he was a chubby man, who had a wooden leg. He got the wooden leg when he went to conquer the Spanish island of Saint Martin in April, 1644.  He lost his leg due to a cannon ball.

 

 

          From 1642-1644, he worked for the West India Company. From 1647 to 1655, he was the governor of New Amsterdam, which was in present day New York. New Amsterdam was a colony run by the Dutch Republic.  In 1655, he conquered New Sweden, which at present day is on the border between New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware. Sadly, in 1664, the English began to attack and Peter had to surrender New Netherland.

 

          Since he wasn’t powerful and rich anymore, the English let him stay on his bowery, which is a Dutch word for farm.   Later at the age of 80, he died of old age and was buried in the church, which was on his bowery.

 

          Peter Stuyvesant was a good guy. He was honest and did his best for New Amsterdam. He even made one of the first fire companies. His company inspected buildings and chimneys which could start fires. He cared a lot for his colony.

 

 

 

       

 

                                                    New Netherland                  

 

           

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Did you know, that Governor Hamilton Fish

 was descended from Stuyvesant?