Causes of the American Revolution
Reis Parsons 1763-1776
Causes of the American Revolution
The American Revolution was when the colonies in America wanted to break free from Britain control and become their own country with their own government. The colonists who were born in the colonies lost their tie to the mother country and have nothing to do with them. When the mother country started asking for taxes this surprised the colonies because they were not used to being connected with Britain at all. They didn't like this because they thought that they were fine on their own and didn't want Britain to be connected to the colonies in any way. Firstly the Navigation Acts and the proclamation of 1763 made the colonist angry. then there was the stamp act, the quartering act, the Townsend acts, and the Coercive acts. These were all laws that were passed. I think the colonists were justified because they left the country to live on their own without the King ruining their lives. They moved to the colonies because they wanted to live free away from Britain.
Navigation Acts
The Navigation Acts were acts that put put mercantilism into practice. Britain made any trade that the colonies were making was to only be done with English and colonial ships. Also, only certain items could be traded with the empire. Any trade destinations beside England from the colonies would have to go first to England. In 1773, the Sugar Act was passed and under that law, the colonists could only buy the more expensive British sugar from the British west Indies and not the cheaper sugar from the French West Indies. Parliament also passed the Currency Act in 1764 which made them have control the the colonial currency. There was no mines so they could only get currency from trading as regulated by Britain. This only led to more anger from the colonies.
The Proclimation of 1763
After the French and Indian war, British soldiers still stayed at the the Ohio river valley. A Native American Chief name Pontiac led the Indians to the Ohio river valley to have war against the British. This was called Pontiac's Rebellion. The British defeated the Indians but they still didn't like each other. In an effort to avoid further attacks, King George III issued the Proclamation of 1763. The colonists were not aloud to settle west of the Appalachian Mountains. This made the colonists angry because they didn't want to live with a British soldier and wanted to live free and alone.
The Stamp Act
The Stamp Act taxed anything that was printed on paper. Colonist had to buy a stamp, or seal for paper products. This was to raise funds to protect the colonies and to pay for the debt of the French and Indian war. Many people boycotted the act and one of the most famous group of protesters were the Sons of Liberty. They protested with violence instead of peaceful protests. A congress of nine colonies called the Stamp Act Congress wrote a note to King George III about repealing the act. He ended up repealing the act.
The Quartering Act
After the Stamp Act protests, even more troops were sent to the colonies to help keep order. Parliament passed the quartering act of 1765 which let the British soldiers quarter or live in a house of a colonist and the colonist had to feed them. The soldiers had blank search warrants also known as "Writs of Assistance" which aloud them to search any colonists house for no reason. Colonists didn't like that. This increased tension between the British and the Colonists.
Townshend Acts
Parliament passed the Townshend Acts, which taxed imported tea, glass, paper, and other items to help pay for the rising costs due to the Quartering Act. Colonists boycotted these goods again. The Daughters of liberty were a group of women that protested the Townshend Acts by making their own clothing instead of buing cloth from Britain. By 1770, they repealed most of the taxes because of the ongoing protests. The Sons of Liberty attacked town officials and tax collectors. This led to more British soldiers being sent to protect British officials.
Boston Masacre
On March 5, 1770, a crowd gathered around a British soldier arguing with a colonist. Colonist started to give insults to the soldier and throw snowballs and then more soldiers came. The mob grew bigger and louder and then the soldiers got angrier and they fired shots. Five colonists were killed in this riot and colonists called this the Boston Massacre. Samuel Adams and other colonists used this to their advantage and made it Propaganda. They sent this information to other colonies. John Adams represented the soldiers in the trial in court.He stated that that was his biggest contribution to his country.
The Boston Tea Party and Tea Act
In 1773, the Tea Act was passed which made the British East India company the only tea company to work with the colonies instead of the French East India Tea company. The tea costed much lower but the colonist were still forced to pay import taxes to Britain. Merchants and the daughters of liberty protested against this by boycotting. On December 16, 1773, the Sons of Liberty disguised themselves as Native Americans and boarded the British ship with imported tea on it. They threw all the tea off the ship, which was 342 crates of tea, into the Boston Harbor. This was called the Boston Tea Party.
Coercive Acts (Intolerable Acts)
The British government was mad because of the Boston Tea Party. Parliament passed laws that were called the Coercive Acts in 1774. Colonists called these the Intolerable Acts because they were harsh. The plan for the laws was to make the colonist pay for the tea and to make sure that the colonists don't plan any other attacks. The laws stopped trade between Boston and Britain. It also strengthened the Quartering act. Since the port of Boston was closed from trade, the goods normally traded with other colonies from Boston could not get to other colonies. This led to other colonies sending goods to Boston which led to revolutionary spirit being stirred throughout the colonies.