The ideas of liberalism and democracy are the basis of the U.S. political system. As the colonists built their new society, they believed more strongly in these ideas. Britain’s 13 colonies grew in population and economic strength during the 1700s. Although ruled by a distant government, the colonists governed many local affairs.
1) liberalism 自由主义
2) democracy 民主政治
3) govern 统制 管理
After Britain won a costly war with France in the 1750s, the colonists were asked to help pay for the war, and for Britain’s large empire. These policies restricted the colonists’ way of life.
1) costly 代价高的，花钱多的
2) empire 帝国
3) policy 政策
4) restrict 限制 约束
For example, the Royal Proclamation of 1763 restricted the colonists from settling new land. The Currency Act of 1764 made it illegal to print paper money in the colonies. The Quartering Act of 1765 forced the colonists to provide food and housing for the royal soldiers. The Stamp Act of 1765 taxed all legal papers, licenses, newspapers, and leases.
1) illegal 非法的
The Stamp Act united the colonists in an organized resistance. The main problem was that they weren’t allowed to participate in the government that taxed them.
In October 1765, 27 delegates from nine colonies met in New York. They passed resolutions saying that the individual colonies should have the right to impose their own taxes. This satisfied most of the delegates, but a small number of radicals wanted independence from Britain.
1) delegate 代表
2) radical 激进分子 someone who has new and different ideas, especially someone who wants complete social and political change
One of those people was Samuel Adams of Massachusetts. He wrote newspaper articles and made speeches. The groups he helped to organize became a big part of the revolutionary movement.
1) revolutionary 革命的
By 1773, colonial traders, who were angry with British regulation of the tea trade, were interested in Sam Adams’s ideas. In December 1773, a group of men sneaked on three British ships in Boston harbor and threw the cargo of tea overboard. This event became known as the Boston Tea Party.
1) harbor 海湾 海港
2) cargo ： the goods that are being carried in a ship or plane
The British Parliament punished Massachusetts by closing Boston’s port and by restricting local authority. Colonists called these new laws the Intolerable Acts and united to oppose them. All the colonies except Georgia sent representatives to Philadelphia in September 1774 to talk about their “present unhappy state.” It was the First Continental Congress.
1) the First Continental Congress 第一届大陆会议
Colonists were angry with the British for taking away their rights, but not everyone agreed on the solution. Loyalists wanted to stay subjects under the king. Moderates wanted to compromise and build a better relationship with the British government. The revolutionaries wanted complete independence. They began collecting weapons and getting men ready—waiting for the fight for independence.