Causes of the American Revolution
1763-1776
The American Revolution
The American Revolution was a political outburst in which the people of the Thirteen Colonies broke Great Britain's hold on them. This led to the founding of the United States of America. The Boston Massacre was one of the events that helped push the colonies over the edge. The Tea Act was also one of the factors in the American Revolution.
The Navigation Acts
Great Britain put the Navigation Acts into effect to restrict the trade in the colonies. After the Navigation Acts were put in place the colonists could only trade with English ships. The biggest impact, though, was the stifling of colonial manufacturing.
The Proclamation of 1763
The Proclamation of 1763 was created after the French and Indian War. King George created the Proclamation because he did not want any conflict with the Indians. The Proclamation was created to stop the colonists from expanding west of the Appalachians. The colonists were very angry after this because they wanted to move west.
The Stamp Act
The Stamp Acts taxed anything that was printed on paper. The Stamp Act was created by Parliament to pay off debt. After the Stamp Acts were initiated Samuel Adams boycotted many of the taxed goods to protest. Samuel Adams was the one who created the Sons of Liberty to protest British Policies. After the Stamp Act was protested enough King George Repealed the act.
Quartering Act
In response to the violent protests Britain sent more troops to the colonies. Parliament made the Quartering Act to force the colonists to feed and house the troops if need be. The colonists had major issues with this. One was that they didn't want a army of soldiers in there colonies. Another major reason was that the Quartering Act was costly, because the colonists had to feed the troops.
Townshend Acts
The Townshend Acts were a series of acts that taxed many necessary goods such as glass and tea. To protest these acts the Daughters of Liberty made there own cloth instead of buying it. Although the acts were repealed, the British government left the tax on tea. The Sons of Liberty continued to use violence to protest.
Boston Massacre
On March 5, 1770 protesters were shouting and throwing snowballs at British soldiers and the soldiers started shooting at them. Samuel Adams used this as propaganda against the British. John Adams, Samuel Adams cousin, represented the soldiers. He did this to demonstrate that everyone has the right to trial by jury.
Tea Act & Boston Tea Party
The Tea Act made it so that the British East India Company was the only company allowed to sell tea. The colonists were still unhappy though even though the price of tea was lower. This was because they didn't want to pay any import taxes to Britain. The Sons of Liberty responded by dressing up as Indians and throwing about a million dollars of tea into the Boston Harbor.
Coercive Acts
The colonists called these acts the Intolerable Acts. The Intolerable Acts made trade and town meetings illegal. They also gave Britain control of Britain and also strengthened the Quartering Acts. These acts were the acts that finally stirred revolutionary conflict.