of muskets and mayhem

Philadelphia, late 18th century Philadelphia 1774  ∙  The Fairfax Resolves  ∙  First Things: Voting, American Rights, and the Galloway Plan  ∙  The Suffolk Resolves∙  The Association  ∙  The Declaration of Rights  ∙  A Petition to the King  ∙  On Independence and Revolution  ∙  Reactions in the Colonies  ∙  Reactions in England The City of Brotherly Love Philadelphia, 1774. The ‘city of brotherly love’ lie where the Schuylkill and Delaware rivers met. Its founder, William Penn, designed an immaculate grid of broad streets (most named after trees, such as Pine, Locust, and Laurel) with roomy parks, which gave the city an affluent atmosphere foreign to older towns where narrow streets twisted this way and that. Penn’s design, however, wasn’t merely for aesthetic purposes: the wide-open spaces and broad streets helped to prevent decimating fires. Philadelphia also boasted the first volunteer fire departmen...

To Master the Colonies  ∙The Intolerable and Coercive Acts  ∙  The Boston Port Bill  ∙  The Massachusetts Government Act∙  The Administration of Justice Act∙  The Quartering Act∙  The Quebec Act  ∙  All America Aflame  ∙  Gage Arrives in Boston  ∙  The Militarization of Boston  ∙  The Worcester and Cambridge Debacles∙  A Colonial Powder Keg Parliament's Response to the Tea Party: The Coercive Acts Parliament opened on 13 January 1774 with no mention of the colonies – though the Boston Tea Party had taken place, news of it had yet to cross the Atlantic. Parliament knew the colonies chafed against North’s Tea Act, but actions taken against it remained unknown. Just a few days into the new Parliamentary session, North championed a reduction in Great Britain’s military forces. The martial-minded George III loathed these cuts, but he preferred them over raising the land tax that would fall upon the country ...