Causes of the American Revolution
Jacob Lauderbach 1763-1776
What was the American Revolution?
The American Revolution was a Revolution between Britain and America because America was angry about all of the rules that England had made America follow after being left alone for so long. The beginning of the American Revolution started when the French and Indian war had ended. After the French and Indian war Britain had started taxing America for the expenses of the war and were not letting the colonist go past the Appalachian mountains and settle on the land that they had received from winning the war. Some main social causes of the American Revolution were that the colonist did not like being taxed and were also very angry that the British soldiers were on their soil and bossing the colonist around after Britain had left the colonies alone for over 150 years. Some of British economic policies that led to the American Revolution were the navigation acts, the proclamation of 1763' the stamp act, the quartering act, the Townsend acts, the Boston massacre, the tea act, the Boston tea party, and the intolerable acts. From all of this fighting and anger residing inside the colonist I think that it was just and fair for the colonist to declare independence from Brittain.
Navigation Acts
The navigation acts were a restriction on trade given to the colonist. These restrictions made it so that colonist could not trade with any other countries beside Britain, and that the colonist were not allowed to manufacture any goods from raw material for profit. The colonist could only grow and collect raw materials and send them to Britain on British ships for the goods to be manufactured only in Britain. This act also lead to the sugar act which was a tax on sugar given by Britain. Colonist were opposed to this act because they could only buy sugar from Britain. These acts made it very hard for the colonist to trade and buy sugar because they were restricted to only doing business with Britain.
The Proclomation of 1763
The Proclomation of 1763 was a barrier given to the colonist by the King of England. This barrier was given in 1763 after the French and Indian war. The barrier was along the outside of the Appalachian mountains. This line made it so that colonist could not cross for the benefit that England would not want to risk starting any more wars and that they wanted to save money. This reason for wanting to save money were because of the war that cost England a grand amount of money to buy guns, weapons, and uniforms. The colonist did not appreciate this unfair law because they had wasted a lot of lives and time fighting for the land that they could not use or migrate to.
The Stamp Act
The stamp act was an act given to the colonies by England that made it so that all paper products had to have a stamp to buy them wich made all paper products taxed. The stamp act was given to the colonist in 1765 to pay for the debt that the French and Indian war had cost England. One particular colonist, Samuel Adams reacted to the stamp act by getting colonist to boy-cot all paper goods and start a rebellion called the Sons of Liberty. women also made their own paper goods to substituted. In 1765 a group of representatives go together to write a letter to King George to repeal the act or that there was going to be a rebellion. After the letter was sent King George repealed the stamp act.
Quartering Act
The quartering act was an act sent to the colonies by England in 1765. The act was an act in which citizens had no choice but to house, feed, and clothe a British soldier if asked. The quartering act was sent in response to the stamp act protest and more soldiers were sent in to the colonies. The two major issues that the colonist had with this act was that the colonist did not like that all of the soldiers were allowed to enter houses without a proper warrant. The other issue that the colonist had with the act was that housing, feeding, and clothing British soldiers was very expensive because they had to but extra food, clothes, and water.
Townshend Acts
The Townshend acts was an act given by Britain in 1767. This act made all colonist have to pay taxes on normal household goods such as tea, glass, paper, and other usual household goods. This act was given because Britain had to pay for the extra cost of military due to the quartering act. After the act was given colonist immediately started boy coting the goods that were being taxed. In Response to this boy coting of British goods a group called the Daughters of Liberty started making their own goods and cloth. In 1770 the british government repealed some of the taxes. The one tax that they left was the tax on tea this made the colonist very angry and dangerous resulting in even more british soldiers being sent to the colonies.
Boston Massacre
On march 5, 1770 a crowd of colonist were crowding around a British soldier. The colonist were arguing with the soldier and picking up sticks and snowballs to throw at him. The soldier got back up and more soldiers arrived to contain the crowd. As colonist got angrier and more threatening the British laid fire into the crowd. These shots fired killed 5 colonist that night. Soon after the incident Samuel Adams used the massacre as propaganda for other colonist to turn away from British soldiers.
Tea Act & The Boston Tea Party
The tea act was an act placed by parliament to make the east India company the only company that the colonist could buy. The colonist were unhappy with this act because it created a monopoly over tea. The colonist rebelled to this act by not unload the tea from British ships and did not sell the tea. The daughters of liberty also helped the colonist rebel by making their own tea. On December 16, 1773 the sons of liberty group disguised themselves as native Americans and entered British ships, dumping out 342 crates of British tea. This was an act of protest and was later called the Boston tea party.
Coercive Acts (Intolerable Acts)
The Coercive Acts were acts passed by the British prime minister who talked the parliament into creating the act. These acts were created because of the Boston tea party which made England very angry and to keep colonist from not planning any later or future attacks. The colonist called the Coercive Acts, the intolerable acts because the colonist thought that the acts were very unneeded and harsh. These acts consisted of stopping all trade between Boston and England, ending town meetings, gave British control of the colony, and strengthened the quartering act. Since the ports in Boston were closed the economy in Boston crashed dramatically which caused other colonist to send goods to Boston. These line of events made colonist furious and sparked a fire of revolution in the hearts of all the colonist.