The events that we covered in Issue 2 of the Revolution Minute can be accurately summed up in one word: volatile. We discussed incidents such as The Liberty Affair, The Boston Massacre, and The Boston Tea Party, to name a few.

250 years ago, the Continental Navy was formed. 

Imagine you were there the night of December 16, 1773 amongst an angry crowd of patriots. You, like the men standing beside you, have had enough of British law and tyranny. Your city, Boston, has reached a boiling point, and now a cry has risen up from the Sons of Liberty, “Boston Harbor, a teapot tonight.” There is a feeling of excitement amongst the crowd, like a gathering storm. You dress up as a Mohawk Indian, march down to Griffin’s Wharf with about a hundred other men, and board one of the three ships anchored in Boston harbor. You and your fellow patriots ply open 342 chests of tea and throw them overboard into the Massachusetts Bay. You ensure that no one gets the idea to salvage any of the tea leaves floating on the surface of the water, so you use a paddle to stir every last leaf into the sea. 

“In the fall of 1777, Philadelphia sat twitching like a nervous mouse. The British were going to attack, but no one knew where or when. Congress had fled inland to York. The Liberty Bell was secreted to Allentown. Folks thought the year resembled a hangman’s gallows and took it as a bad sign. Now, all the church bells were being removed to keep the British from melting them down into firearms.”

Let it be noted that Benedict Arnold claimed many times leading up to his betrayal that he felt overlooked by the Continental Army concerning promotion. He felt as though his rank was not equal to the service that he had provided for his country. Now, General Benedict Arnold had demonstrated tremendous courage and intelligence during the conflicts at Fort Ticonderoga, Quebec, Valcour Island, and Saratoga, to name a few. And he had been hailed a hero by his country for each of those occasions. But fame and praise were not enough for this young general. He believed his country owed him more. 

We've become accustomed to hearing words like representation and liberty. But if someone asked us to define them, could we actually give them a good definition? What about words that are a little less common, like Tory or Whig? You might find yourself struggling a bit more with those.

Now it’s your turn to put together your own personalized piece of history. You are going to junk journal. But wait a minute, you say. What even is Junk journaling?

Issue 1 - Revolution Minute Series

Here's a fact history textbooks tend to skip: the American Revolution wasn't started over some abstract political theory. It started because people got taxed on things like tea, paper, and glass and they were mad about it.

Dear Time Traveler,