Causes of the American Revolution
1763-1776
American Revolution
The american revolution was a war between England and the colonies, the King was frustrated and the colonists were angry over the unfair and injustice laws that were created. Over many years those laws included the Navigation Acts, the Stamp Act, the Quartering Act, the Townshend Acts, and the Intolerable Acts. The British economic policies were mostly the Stamp act which taxed the colonists. I think that Britain should not be controlling or taxing the colonies in America, didn't they leave England for freedom and not the King being there to take over.
The Navigation Acts
The Navigation act was an idea to have the theory of mercantilism into actual practice. This had a rule that only certain items such as sugar, tobacco, and indigo to be shipped only within the empire. The sugar act was apart of this and it was something that was placed on the importation of sugar from the French West Indies having the American rum distillers to buy more expensive things from the British West Indies. This impacted the American history, it was stifling of colonial manufacturing and increasing resentment against England.
The Proclamation of 1763
This document was created after the French and Indian War, it recognized the Indians' right to the land. It also did not allow the colonists to settle west of the Appalachian Mountains. The King did this so there would be less tension between the Americans and Indians. Which angered the colonists greatly because they wanted to settle on that land and not to have British soldiers living among them. The Proclamation was difficult to enforce and the colonists disregarded it and that showed their anger with the British trying to control them.
The Stamp Act
This taxed anything that was printed on paper which required the colonists to buy a stamp or seal for their paper products. The Stamp Act was an attempt to raise money to pay off the French and Indian War debts. Because this angered most colonists, Samuel Adams and the Committees of Correspondence would boycott (where people refused to buy certain goods) and protest against it. Samuel then created the Sons of Liberty which was a group of men that would protest this tax and would also sometimes use violence to do it. The Stamp Act Congress then discussed that only colonial governments should tax the colonies and not the King. It turns out that King George ll was listening and he had no choice but to repeal the Stamp Act.
The Quartering Act
This law was made in response to the Stamp Act, it was when Britain sent even more troops to watch over the colonies. The law required the colonists to house and even feed the British Soldiers. There was two main issues the colonists had with this, they did not like to have an army of British soldiers constantly around them with blank search warrants and the costs of having them also stay at their house with them. It was quite expensive to feed and supply these soldiers. These colonists had writs of assistance which was were they had lost their sense of rights over their property.
The Townshend Acts
This was a tax that was put on imported tea, glass, paper, and other everyday items. This cause a group of women called the Daughters of Liberty to protest and make their own cloth instead of buying it. The Townshend Acts we repealed in 1770 but there was one item that was still taxed after and it was tea. Which made the Sons of Liberty continue to use violence and attacked the homes of British officials and colonial tax collectors.
The Boston Massacre
The Boston Massacre was an event that caused British soldiers to shoot into a crowd of colonists, killing a few of them. The colonists began to shout insults at the soldiers and even started to throw snowballs at them, which caused one of the soldiers to shoot into the crowd. After this event happened Samuel Adams used this incident as propaganda (one sided information used to influence public opinion) and he spread the news to the other colonies. John Adams chose to represent the soldiers in this infamous trial to demonstrate that colonists value a right to a trial.
The Tea Act
The Tea Act was when Britain made the East India Company the only company allowed to sell tea to the colonies, a monopoly over tea. This made the colonists very unhappy that they still were forced to pay import taxes to Britain. The Sons of Liberty took care of that. They were dressed up as Indians and illegally boarded the ship and dumped 342 crates of British tea into the Boston Harbor.
The Coercive Act
The colonists called the Coercive Acts the Intolerable Acts. There was four laws that were enforced, Britain stopped all trade between Boston and Britain, they did not allow town meetings, they gave Britain control of the colony, and they also strengthened the Quartering Act. It impacted the economies of all of the colonies. Which led support for Boston as goods were brought in from other colonies.