Causes of the American Revolution
Bailey Pratt 1763-1776
Navigation Acts
The purpose of the Navagation Acts was to put the actual theory of mercantilism into place. The colonists had to send goods to England first, and certain items were only to be shipped within the empire. The Sugar Act was a tax that was put on sugar from the French Weat Indies. It forced the colonists to purchase more expensive sugar from the French West Indies. This enraged the colonists. The most significant Result of the Navagation Acts was the limitations of manufacturing in the colonies. It also made the colonies enraged toward England.
The Proclamation of 1763
The Proclamation of 1763 was created after the French and Indian War. The Proclimation of 1763 was a document that prohibited the colonists to expand west of the Appalachian Mountains. King George III issued the proclamation to prevent further conflict with the Native Americans to keep them from becoming even more in debt. The colonies were enraged by the document because they had just finished fighting a war and now we're not awarded there land.
Stamp Act
The Stamp Act was a tax on all paper goods in the colonies. As created as a way to make more money for England. The Committees of Correspondence protested the act by using the boycott method where they refused to buy certain goods, they also began protesting. Sam Adams created the Sons of Liberty, the purpose of the Sons of Liberty was to create a group that would protest British policies sometimes using violence. The Stamp Act Congress discussed taxes and determined that only the colonial government should tax the colonies. King George III in response to the colonies actions had no choice but to repeal the act.
Quartering Act
The Quartering Act was what the British did in response to the Stamp Act protests, and what they did in response is they sent more troops to the colonies and forced the colonists to house and feed all of the troops. Colonists didn't like this act because they didn't think it was a good idea that an army of soldiers with blank search warrants entering their homes. The other issue was that supplying and housing the troops was costly. The blank search warrants that the soldiers had were known as writs of assistance.
Townshend Acts
The Townshend Acts were placed taxes on items such as tea, glass and paper. The Daughters of Liberty responded to the taxes by manufacturing their own cloth instead of buying British cloth. The Townshend Acts were eventually repealed but the British continued to tax tea just to show that they still had the power to tax the colonies. The Sons of Liberty responded to the tax on tea by using violence such as tarring.
Tea Act and Boston Tea Party
The Tea Act was an act passed by parliament saying that the colonists could only buy tea from the British East India Company. The colonists where unhappy with the Tea Act because even though the prices were lower, they still had to pay taxes. The Sons of Liberty reacted to the act by tossing imported tea from Britain over the Atlantic harbor. This action is known as the Boston Tea Party.
Coercive Act (Intolerable Acts)
The colonists called the Coercive Act the Intolerable Acts because of how harsh the acts were toward the colonists. There was no more trade allowed between Boston and Britain, Britain also didn't allow town meetings between the colonies. These acts gave Britain control over Boston and further strengthened the Quartering Acts. The colonies donated necessary resources to Boston this action brought the colonies closer together as a whole. This also spread revolutionary ideas around the colonies.