Apprentice – a person who is learning a trade or skill
Battalion – a large group of soldiers
Boycott – to refuse to buy or use something as a way of protest
Casualty – someone injured, killed, or captured during war
Colonies – areas that are controlled by, or belong to, another country
Debts – things owed by one person or country to another
Economy – the way a country makes and uses goods and services
Effigy – a portrait, statue, or other image of a person
Elaborate – done with great care and a lot of detail
Exuberant – very, very happy
Fatal – causing death
Fined – made to pay a sum of money as a punishment
Handbills – small, printed advertisements
Independence – freedom from being controlled by another country or government
Loyalists – people faithful to the government, in this case Britain
Parliament – a group of people who are responsible for making laws
Patriots – people who love their country, in this case America
Persuasive – having the ability to get someone to believe or do something
Profit – the amount of money made by a business after all expenses are paid
Rallied – got ready for action
Repeal – to do away with or cancel
Representation – a person or group supporting another person or group
Resentment – bitterness or discontentment
Silversmith – a craftsman who makes or repairs objects made from silver
Skeins – coils of yarn
Skirmishes – short fights during war
Taxes – the amount of money that governments require people to pay, which is then used by the governments
Treacherous – dangerous
Treason – the betrayal of one’s country
Freedman, Russell. The Boston Tea Party. New York: Holiday House, 2012.
Gondosch, Linda. How Did Tea and Taxes Spark a Revolution?: And Other Questions about the Boston Tea Party. Minneapolis: Lerner, 2010.
Krull, Kathleen. What Was the Boston Tea Party? New York: Penguin Group, 2013.
Marten, James, ed. Children in Colonial America. New York: New York University Press, 2007.
Tripp, Valerie, Love and Loyalty: A Felicity Classic, Volume 1. Wisconsin: American Girl Publishing, 2017.
Tripp, Valerie, A Stand for Independence: A Felicity Classic, Volume 2. Wisconsin: American Girl Publishing, 2017.
Trueit, Trudi Strain. The Boston Tea Party: Cornerstones of Freedom. New York: Scholastic, 2005.
Camps of both armies, the British and the Patriots, in Boston at the start of the AmericanWar of Independence
1600s – Britain sets up colonies along the northeast coast of North America
1760 – George III becomes King of Britain
1754–1763 – The French and Indian War is fought between France and Britain. The name refers to the fact that France received strong support from its Native American allies. Britain won the war, but not without going into big debt
1765 – The British government passes the Stamp Act, which requires colonists to pay taxes on certain paper documents
1767 – Britain passes the Revenue Act, nicknamed the Townshend Acts, which calls for a tax on tea, glass, paint, and more in the colonies
1768 – Around four thousand British troops are sent to Boston to control the growing resistance to the many new taxes
1770 – On March 5, five colonists are killed by British troops in Boston, in what would come to be known as the Boston Massacre
1773
May 10 – Britain passes the Tea Act, calling for a tax of three cents per pound on all tea sent to the colonies
November 28 – the first of three ships carrying tea from the British East India Company arrives in Boston Harbor
December 16 – following weeks of protests and meetings, the Boston Tea Party takes place from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
1774
March 30 – As a reaction to the Boston Tea Party, the British Parliament passes the Coercive Acts
September 5 – Delegates from twelve of the thirteen colonies meet at the First Continental Congress in Philadelphia to talk about how to respond to Britain’s continued attack on political and personal freedoms
1775 – On April 19, the opening shots of the Revolutionary War are fired at the battles of Lexington and Concord
1776 – On July 4, colonists adopt the Declaration of Independence, officially declaring themselves free from British rule
1783 – The Revolutionary War ends, with America’s final independence from Britain
Bonnie Bader grew up in Queens, New York. As a child, she loved reading books and writing stories, never dreaming that she would one day become an author! She has written over twenty-five books, including biographies about Martin Luther King Jr. and Jacqueline Kennedy. Today, she lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her husband, two daughters, and cute little dog.
Connie Porter (coauthor, Addy’s Stories) grew up near Buffalo, New York, where the winters are long and hard. As girls, she and her sisters trudged through deep snow to borrow books from the bookmobile that came to the neighborhood twice a week. After the girls finished their homework at night, they crawled into their beds and read the books aloud to each other. Ms. Porter still loves to read books. Today, she lives in Las Vegas, Nevada, with her daughter.
Read on for a sneak peek at another book in the Real Stories From My Time series: The Underground Railroad
Thousands of slaves took the risk of escaping on the Underground Railroad. Each one of them has a story.
In 1830, a slave named Josiah Henson decided to follow the North Star from Maryland to Canada, where he could live as a free man. But Josiah could not flee alone.
