Causes of the American Revolution
1763-1776
The American Revolution
The American Revolution was a political war where the 13 colonies rejected the British monarchy and overthrew the authority of Great Britain. The 13 colonies had almost no freedom because Britain could do whatever they wanted and they got all the money. Britain had control over the 13 colonies even though they were 4,000 miles away. Britain mad a lot of laws that taxed the Americans on things like paper, tea, glass, and many more. The Americans didn't like these laws and all of this led to the American Revolution. I believe that the colonists had a good reason to declare independence from England because they didn't like being controlled by England and having certain laws on them.
Navigation acts
The Navigation acts were efforts of putting the theory of mercantilism into practice. This restricted trade in the 13 colonies to make sure that England received as much money as possible. The colonists could only use British ships or colonial ships to trade and could only trade with Britain. The Navigation acts had a significant impacts, this impacts was the stifling of colonial manufacturing and increasing resement against the Mother country.
Proclamation of 1763
The Proclamation Line was a line that prohibited colonial settlements west of the Appalachian mountains to avoid any costly wars with the Native Americans. This was created after the Frenh and Indian war, the colonists didn't like this line and got very angry because they wanted to settle on the land be they didn't want the British soldiers to live around them.
The Stamp Act
The Stamp Act was a law taxing all legal paper issued in the colonies. The Stamp Act was created so the parliament could try to raise funds or protect he colonies and pay off the expensive debts on the French And Indian war. The Comittees of Correspondence protested the Stamp Act but contacting other towns about the British taxes and how they could fight them.
The Quarting Act
The Quarting Act allowed royal troops to live in the colonists homes. There were some major issues that the colonists had with this act was the colonists didn't like having a standing wrong if soldiers with blank warrants live in their homes and they also had lose their sense of right over their property. The soldiers had blank warrants, or write of assistance, that were blank so they could tell the colonists that they could come into their homes to live there.
Townshend Acts
The Townshend acts were taces in everyday goods such as glass, paint, oil, lead, paper, and tea. Colonists then boycotted these goods because they didn't like the taxes. The Daughters of Liberty protested the Townshend act by making their own cloth instead of buying some and having to pay the taxes that come with it. In 1770, the protests worked and Parliament repealed most of the taxes, but they left the tax on tea because Britain wanted to show that they still had a lot of power.
Boston Massacre
The Boston Massacre was a deadly riot that killed 5 colonists and was later named as the Boston Massacre. It started when Britain sent more soldiers to Boston when the colonists resisted taxes. This tension grew even larger on March 5, 1770 when a group of colonists gathered around and started to argue with a soldier. Colonists started to yell and throw snowballs at the soldier, but soon more soldiers came and shots were fired.
Tea Act & Boston Tea Party
In 177, Parliament passed the Tea ACt, which made the BEIC, British East India Company, the only company allowed to to sell tea to the colonies in America, which made this a monopoly over the tea. The price of the tea actually went down in price, but the colonists were still angry about having to pay import taxes to Britain. The colonists avoided paying the tea taxes by not unloading the tea off the ships and not selling the tea throughout the colonies. The Daughters of Liberty protested this act by making their own tea just like they did with the Townshend Act. Late in 1773, some Sons of Liberty, disguised as American Indians, illegally boarded a British ship and dumped 3412 crated of tea into the Boston Harbor.
Coercive Act
Because of the Boston Tea Party, there was a punishment. Laws enacted by Parliament in1774 restricting the rights of Massachusetts colonists and stopped the trade between Boston and Britain and the other colonies. The government assemblies and the port of Boston were closed until all the tea was payed for. The colonists called this act the Intolerable Act because British was so harsh. This law gave British control over the colony and strengthened the Quartering Act. Because the port of Boston was closed, the trading between colonies stopped which impacted the economies of all the colonies. this led to support for Boston as goods were brought in from other colonies. This also stirred revolutionary sprit through the colonies.