American Revolution WIP

Okay, this is a AWESOME art project I am doing for a contest. It's based off the American Revolution, The time where our country, the first 13 Colonies of America, [Georgia, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Delaware, Massachusetts, and Maryland]  was fighting for it's independence from Great Britain from 1775, to 1783 [We won of course! U.S.A! U.S.A! WOOT WOOT!]. [Keep it together out there Hetalia Fans, you know who you are! okay, I know, it's hard to keep it in, and luckily, I am a understanding person, GO CRAZY HETALIA LOVERS!!] We all know the National State Bird of the U.S.A. as the eagle right? But what is Britain's National Animal? Why, the Lion of course! And...what I did here, was a Eagle, dressed as a U.S. Continental Soldier...[A soldier that fought during the Revolutionary war to fight for freedom from Britain] And I drew a Lion dressed as a King...and the Eagle is fighting off this King Lion from trying to get to it's nestful of cash, where a angry rattlesnake is coiled around it with the word's "Don't Tread On Me!" imprinted in it's pattern. Now I know what you're thinking.......What the heck does this have to do with the American Revolution. Well, to find out, keep on reading. This is an imagery, with each thing that's in the picture that symbolizes for something.....

Eagle dressed as Continental Solder: This represents when our country was fighting King George the III and his army of Red coats....King George III was the reason the war began. There were many things that he did that were unfair to the newborn country. First off was no one had the right to choose what religion they wanted, and there were England's soldiers walking all over the place like they own the country, and quartering and bunking into people's homes for no valid reason what-so-ever [Basically freeloading] And there was the expensive Taxing. From the Sugar Act to the Stamp Act....sucking the Newborn American economy dry...and not only that.....The 13 Colonies began to think.."Hey! Wait a minute! The King lives halfway across the world and here we have to listen to him?? That makes no sense!!!" And it sure didn't! Which is why war erupted and we fought the king and told him to buzz off!

Nest filled with Cash: That is the symbol of our country and it's economy...and the #1 reason for the Revolutionary War was the King's unfair taxes. After the French and Indian war.....[Or some kind of war, my memory is a bit sketchy] King George III needed some money to pay off the damages done during the war...[even though his country reigned victorious.] So, how was he gonna do it? By mooching off the Newly made American Economy of the 13 Colonies of course!! By creating the Sugar Act, the Stamp Act, and the "Intolerable" Act....[Which was formed after a bunch to Tea that was suppose to sail off to England was suddenly dumped off into the harbor by a bunch of American rebel patriots disguised as Mohawk Indians as a result to make them pay for the tea that was dumped into the Boston Harbor] The King was able to help himself to the money that was made off those taxes. Basically, he was swiping and stealing away money that wasn't his, and we Americans.....were gonna viciously protect it....Which is what the Eagle dressed in uniform is doing! Protecting it's nest full of money from the King.

Lion Dressed as King: Isn't it obvious by now? No? Okay, then I guess I better explain this one too. The Lion is the King of England....Good ol' King George the III. And what is he doing? Well, he is trying to get his grubby little paws on the U.S. Continental Eagle's money! Which is not his! The King, [which was said before] Dumped a TON of unfair taxes on the Americans....like the Stamp Act. In order to Print newspaper, Buy Newspaper, or Produce any Press of any kind...[it may not matter now, but Newspaper back then was the world's Local News channel. There were no T.V.'s back then!] The Americans had to pay an additional Tax that was at an outrageous price to get a blue sticker in seal of approval that the Tax was paid for. And British Red Coats patrolled the place to be sure everyone was doing so. This of course, didn't sit well with the Americans. And of course, being the greedy king that he is......King George decided to put the same kind of thing on Sugar Cane! Sugar was important for many reasons! It's to make things sweeter! But the tax only left a bitter taste for the Americans, but only made it sweet for the king. How selfish is that? PAWS OFF THE MONEY KING ENGORGED!!! Whoops.....pardon me.....George.

Rattle snake that says, "Don't Tread On Me!": Everyone is probably asking....."What the heck is the snake doing there?" Little do they know, is that it ACTUALLY symbolizes a VERY important part of our American History in the Revolution against England. This is after the Gadsden Flag, which was designed and engineered by Christopher Gadsden in 1775 to design a flag for the beginning of the war. The flag was a bright yellow with a coiled up Tiber rattle snake, ready to strike with the word's, "Don't Tread on me!" at the bottom. The message is simple, and it is this...YOU MESS WITH OUR FREEDOM AT YOUR PERIL!! IF YOU CHOOSE TO DO SO, YOU'RE GETTING YOUR BUTT KICKED!!!" This flag was widely used by the Continental Army as their motto. Basically, the snake represents the people's venomous anger at the King and his tyranny! The Red Coats sure didn't listen to the message though, neither did the King. And this flag is still remembered to this day, only for it's history, but for the message. In reality, the Gadsden Flag was America's first ever flag, WAY before the Stars and Stripes that we know today was formed. How cool is that?

Well, that's your history lesson for today! Man, I sound like a History geek here. Actually I am, if it's not drawing or catching fish and snakes that I love, it's learning about Taxonomy..[classification of Animals] History, [from American to World, which is why I LOVE Hetalia to death] Space and Planetary works, Weather, Evolution, The list goes on. Hey! Look at that! You learned something new about the AmericanBlackSerpent too! Oh what fun! So yeah, now that you've waken up after that "Boring" history lesson, [Sorry Hetalia Fans, No Anime characters today. ] This drawing, is obviously not finished. It yet needs color, and don't worry, it shall be colored! So hold tight! It's coming! Just wanted to show you progress so far.