Cause of the American Revolution
1763-1776
What is the American Revolution?
The American Revolution was the time period when the 13 colonies of England decided they had enough if their conceited king. They decided they were going to, first fight against him and his laws and taxes.
So many taxes after the French and Indian War caused the colonies to revolt against many of the laws the king put upon the colonies.
All of this eventually led to a war that helped the colonists gain their independence.
Navigation Acts
One of the very first things that began the beginning of the American Revolution was the Navigations Acts.
The Navigations Acts were laws that said the colonies could only buy traded goods from England and England only. The colonists were not allowed to buy goods from other countries which lead to colonists smuggling goods. Anyone caught smuggling was to be punished and most colonists were guilty of smuggling until proven innocent.
This riled up resentment for the colonies' mother country.
Proclamation of 1763
After the French and Indian War, the colonies had retrieved the land east of the Mississippi River and as the colonies became full of people many were willing to move west. King George apparently had other thoughts. The king issued a proclamation that said no one was allowed to settle or move west. Now George's intentions was to avoid another costly war against the Indians, seeing as they didn't care about whether the French or British won. The Indians stayed put and were ready to fight if any settlers wanted their land.
The colonists were very displeased because they worked so hard to win this land. Many lives had been lost for the land that sadly was not to be used.
Stamp Act
Like everything else in the revolution this anger the colonists and some even took action. Samuel Adams along with the a group he formed, the Committees of Correspondence, found ways to share news of the act and ways to fight against the act. A popular method they used to fight against Britain was to protest and boycott. They refused to buy any goods that had a tax on them.
This went on for some time until a congress of nine colonies met in New York. In discussion of the Stamp Act Congress was to decide that only the colonial government should be allowed to make taxes, later sending a request to the king to repeal the act. Benjamin Franklin went before Parliament and reasoned that if the king repeal the act them the colonists would stop protesting. King George had no other choice but to do so and then approved the Declaratory Act, that handed over the legislation of the colonies from the King to Parliament.
Quartering Act
The Quartering Act was created as more colonists boycotted against the Stamp Act and more people smuggled goods. Due to the Quartering Acts colonists were enforced to quarter, or house, soldiers, giving them their food, beds, and mostly rum.
The major issues with this was that housing a soldier was tragically expensive and, secondly, the colonists didn't like having an army in their homes.
Also in the meantime, the soldiers who were searching for anyone who was smuggling goods had the writs of assistance to use. The writs of assistance are basically blank search warrants forged by the king. This displeased everyone because the king was invading the colonists privacy and possibly rights.
Townshend Acts
In 1767, the Townshend Acts were passed by Parliament. These Acts were taxes on imported goods such as tea, glass, and paper. Once again the colonists boycotted the British goods. Even the Daughters of Liberty took action by making their own cloth instead of buying it from Britain.
Later in 1770, Parliament listened to the protests and repealed the acts. All but one though.
Britain continued to tax imported tea. The mother country did such action because they wanted to show the colonies that they still had the power to tax tea.
Obviously, anger continued to raise and the Sons of Liberty, lead by Sam Adams, continued to use violence as a protest, such as attacking British officials and colonial tax collectors. The colonists weren't going down without a fight.
Boston Massacre
The tragic events of the Boston Massacre took place on March 5, 1770 when a crowd had formed over a quarrel between a colonist and a soldier. The tension had finally reached it's breaking point.
The group of colonists gather were soon throwing insults and snowballs. When more soldiers came the mob of colonists were at a tipping point when there were shots fired. Sadly, the events of this day ended with 5 dead and the events were branded as the Boston Massacre.
Sam Adams, a leader of the Sons of Liberty, used the information of this event to encourage even more colonists to join the fight against Britain.
On the other hand, John Adams, cousin of Sam Adams, defended the soldier involved in the massacre in court. John Adams was somewhat resented for standing up for the soldiers but had told others that it was his biggest contribution he gave for his country.
Tea Act & Boston Tea Party
Three years after the Boston Massacre incident, Parliament had passed the Tea Act which allowed the colonists one company they could buy from. The company was the British East India Company.
The price of the tea that the colonists could buy from the BEIC was actually much cheaper than tea anywhere else. The colonists were still stubborn and hotheaded as the once more boycotted the goods they could buy. The Daughters of Liberty went to making their own tea to help the colonies. The colonists wanted to avoid any of their money going to Britain which lead to the Boston Tea Party.
And no, no one sat down and talked over tea. This was not a legit party, more of a rebellious act.
On December 16, 1773, the sons of Liberty, dressed as Indians, illegally board a cargo ship that held boxes of tea and threw them into the Boston Harbor. 342 crates of tea were thrown into the harbor and colonists were proud of themselves.
Coercive Acts (Intolerable Acts)
After the Boston Tea Party was news to the British government, they were probably red as cherries, blowing smoke out of their ears. But that wasn't the end of the multiple acts and laws that the colonists had oh-so-bravely rebelled. The laws called the Coercive Acts were passed in the spring of 1774 by Parliament.
To the colonists these acts were called the Intolerable Acts because the colonists thought they were harsh.
The whole point of the laws was to stop the colonists from fighting back and to finally pay all the taxes. This actually did the opposite.
Although the laws enforced the quartering acts, closed the trade between the colonies and between the colonies and Britain, and Britain did not allow town meetings. The one law that really hurt, Boston especially, was the closing of the Boston Harbor. No goods left or came into the harbor. This lead to other colonies sending support and help. The colonies were all in this together until the end.
Closed the Boston Harbor
Stopped All Trade
Enforced Quartering Act
Rest, History
Luckily, all of theses causes rose revolutionary spirit within all the colonists. Maybe Britain regrets being so harsh to the colonies. Well that doesn't matter now because soon the colonies were ready to go to war. Ready to fight for their independence. Ready to no longer have Britain to lean on. Apparently the colonies were ready for whatever came their way.
I guess you could say the rest was history.