Causes of the American Revolution
Lindy Colton 1763-1776
The Navigation Acts
The navigation acts were made to put Merchantilism to work. Colonist had to follow 2 main rules while trading, they could only use English ships, not any made in the colonies, and certain items were only aloud to be traded in the empire. The colonist disliked the navigation acts and were very opposed to the sugar act being passed, which was a law that made rum distillers have to pay more money for the sugar. Also the currency act, a law that made currency only could be received through trade that Britain regulated. The navigation laws stifled the colonial manufacturing and made the colonies have more resentment against England.
The Proclamation of 1763
After the French and Indian war, Britain passed the proclamation of 1763, a law that made the colonist not able to settle on their newly gained land past the Appalachian mountains in hope for them not to have any conflicts with the natives. The colonist were angered by this because they had just shed blood for this land and we're now not aloud to settle on it. Many disregarded the law and settled on the land anyways.
The Stamp Act
In 1765 the British parliament passed the stamp act, a law that put a tax on anything on paper. That included books, playing cards, news papers and more. They were required to put a stamp or seal on the paper to prove that they did pay for it. The act was created to help pay off the war debt but just angered the colonist and made them resent England more. Sam Adams made the committees of correspondence, a group that protested against the British laws and taxes. They would boycott and make subistitut items to protest the stamp act. During this time, the sons of liberty, a terrorist type group who would do violent acts against people in the British government by using violent messages. At the stamp act congress, the colonist discussed the fact that colonist should be able to tax their own goods, not the parliament and the king. They sent a letter to king George saying this. The letter made the king repeal the act.
Quartering act
After the stamp act protest, Britain was scared of a rebellion and sent a lot more troops into the colonies. Also, they passed the Quartering act, a law that required the colonist to house and feed whatever soldiers come there way. The soldiers were given writs of assistance, which were blank search warrants. These search warrants allowed them to search any of the colonist's houses without their consent or permission. Also the feeding and housing on the soldiers cost the colonist lots of more money that they shouldn't need to spend. These reasons made the colonist angered with the quartering acts.
Townsend acts
In 1767 the townshend acts were passed. This law taxes many imported goods like tea, glass, paper, etc. The daughters of liberty, a group of women, made cloth of their own so that they didn't have to buy the expensive British stuff. In 1770 the many protest worked and the British parliament repealed the tax, except for the one on tea. Britian wanted to show that they still had the right and power to tax the colonies. Because of the continued tax on tea, the colonist were angered. The sons of liberty attacked rotisserie tax collects and officials in protest. Now even more British troops were sent to protect the loyal British citizens.
Boston Massacre
As more soldiers filled in to Boston and the colonist anger and tension grower. On March 5, 1770 a crowd of colonist were gathered around some of the British soldiers. They were throwing snowballs and insulting them. As the group grew more angered and louder more soldiers showed up. Soon the soldiers got fed up and fired into the crowd. After a while, 5 colonist were left dead and the event started to get called the "Boston massacre". Many colonist used this as propaganda to influence everyone about England's wrong doings and bad dicisions. In the trial of the soldiers, John adams, sam Adams cousin, represented the soldiers. The trail demonstrated that everyone valued the right to a trail by jury.
Boston tea party / tea act
The tea act was passed in 1773. It was an act that allowed only the BEIC to sell tea to the colonies, giving them a monopoly. The price of the tea was actually low for the colonist but they had to pay import taxes, causing them to be unhappy. The colonist would refuse to unload the tea In protest. On December 16, 1773 the sons of liberty dressed as Indians and ran onto one of the tea shops. They then threw the tea into the harbor.
Coercive acts
The Boston tea part angered the British government greatly. In 1774, the coercive acts, or the intolerable acts, were passed to make the colonist pay go the tea and stop them form planning anything else. These laws didn't allow Boston to trade with Britain, stopped all town meetings and gave Britain control over every colony.
The American Revolution
The American Revolution was the war that made the colonies a free country, the United States of America. It started in 1765 and ended in 1783. Everything that we had just read about, like the quartering act, the Boston massacre, the tea act etc. we're the main causes of the revolution. With each new cause the colonist got a better reason to want freedom. After everything the colonist had been through with Britain, they had enough and declared the war that would eventually lead to the freedoms of the colonies and start of the USA. I feel like they had complete justification to declare independence because they had been through a lot of weird, annoying things with England and they were done.
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