Page 136 - American Stories, A History of the United States

5 The American

revolution From Elite Protest

to Popular Revolt, 1763–1783

Moment of Decision:
Commitment and Sacrifice

e ven as the British army

poured into Boston in
1774, demanding obedience to king
and Parliament, few Americans wel-
comed the possibility of revolution-
ary violence. For many colonial families, it would
have been easier, certainly safer, to accede to
imperial demands for taxes enacted without
their representation. but they did not do so.
For the Patten family, the time of reckoning
arrived in spring 1775. Matthew Patten had been
born in Ulster, a Protestant irishman, and with
scots-irish friends and relatives, he migrated to New
Hampshire, where they founded a settlement of 56
families known as bedford. Matthew farmed the
unpromising, rocky soil that he, his wife elizabeth,
and their children called home. in time, distant
decisions about taxes and representation shat-
tered the peace of bedford. the Pattens found
themselves drawn into a war not of their own
making but which, nevertheless, compelled
them to sacrifice the security of everyday life for
liberty.

Learning O b j e c t i v e s

5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4

Why did What events What events Why did it take
Americans eroded the in 1775 and eight years
resist bonds of 1776 led to of warfare for ThE PaTTEn Family FaRmsTEad in BEdFoRd, nEw
hamPshiRE scots-irish immigrants and others on the colonial
parliamentary empire during the colonists’ the Americans frontier in the 1770s worked to keep their farms running and
taxation? the 1760s? decision to gain struggled to live normal lives even as Revolution engulfed the
p. 105 p. 109 to declare independence? country.
independence? p. 121
p. 117

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