Linda Crotta Brennan - The Birth of the United States

Published in the United States of America

by Cherry Lake Publishing

Ann Arbor, Michigan

www.cherrylakepublishing.com

Printed in the United States of America

Corporate Graphics Inc

September 2011

CLFA09

Consultants: Brett Barker, associate professor of history, University of WisconsinMarathon County; Gail Saunders-Smith, associate professor of literacy, Beeghly College of Education, Youngstown State University

Editorial direction:
Melissa York

Design and production:
Marie Tupy

Photo credits: National Archives and Records Administration, cover, 1, 14; Paul Revere/Library of Congress, 5, 8; North Wind Picture Archives, 7, 17, 19; American Memory/Library of Congress, 10; Currier & Ives/Library of Congress, 11; Hulton Archive/Getty Images, 13; Anne S. K. Brown Military Collection/Brown University Library, 21; Library of Congress, 23; National Archives and Records Administration, 24; Jeffrey M. Frank/Shutterstock Images, 27; Fotolia, 30

Copyright 2012 by Cherry Lake Publishing

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means without written permission from the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Brennan, Linda Crotta.

The birth of the United States / by Linda Crotta Brennan.

p. cm. (Language arts explorerHistory digs)

ISBN 978-1-61080-197-3 ISBN 978-1-61080-285-7 (pbk.)

1. United StatesHistoryRevolution, 1775-1783Juvenile literature. I. Title.

E208.B84 2011

973.3dc22

2011015122

Cherry Lake Publishing would like to acknowledge the work of The Partnership for 21st Century Skills. Please visit www.21stCenturySkills.org for more information.

You are being given a mission. The facts in What You Know will help you accomplish it. Remember the clues from What You Know while you are reading the story. The clues and the story will help you answer the questions at the end of the book. Have fun on this adventure!

Your mission is to learn to think like a historian. What tools do historians use to research the past? What kinds of questions do they ask, and where do they look for answers? On this assignment, your goal is to learn about the Revolutionary War. What were the causes of the war? How did the war affect the people of that time? How did the war influence the kind of government the United States has now? Keep the What You Know facts in mind as you read.

• Before the Revolutionary War, America was a colony of Britain. King George III of England was the ruler.
• Not all Americans were Patriots who wanted independence. Some remained Loyalists. They didnt want to be separate from Britain.
• Before the Revolutionary War, America was a loose collection of 13 colonies. Each colony had its own government.
• After the Revolutionary War, the United States of America became an independent country.
• As an independent country, the United States needed to change from 13 colonies to 13 states with one government.

Paul Revere printed this image of the Boston Massacre, which happened on March 5, 1770. British soldiers fired into a Boston mob, causing what are considered the first deaths in the American Revolution.

A student reporter is visiting the local history museum. The museum curator is setting up an exhibit about the Revolutionary War. Learn to explore history as a historian might by reading the reporters interview with the curator.

Today Im at the museum with the curator, Mr. Rosa. We enter a room filled with boxes. I help Mr. Rosa slide a large picture frame out of a box. An old map is mounted inside.

Whats this? I ask him. It looks like America, but it doesnt have all of the states.

Its a map of the original 13 British colonies at the time of the Revolutionary War, explains Mr. Rosa.

We hang the map on the wall and straighten the frame.

Whats the Northwest Territory? I ask, pointing to an area west of the colonies.

It became a U.S. territory in 1784, but the British won the region from the French in an earlier war, says Mr. Rosa. From 1754 to 1763, Britain fought a war with France. The British called it the Seven Years War. Americans called it the French and Indian War. When Britain won, France gave Britain the Ohio River Valley and Canada.