Causes of the American Revolution
1763-1776
Causes of the American Revolution Summary
The American Revolution is caused by the colonists arguing about their rights and not being able to agree with the taxes and various acts/laws King George III passed. Some social causes of the American Revolution were, the Committees of Correspondence, boycotting, the Sons of Liberty, Daughters of Liberty, the Boston Massacre, and the Boston Tea Party. Some British economic policies that led to the American Revolution were the Navigation Acts, the Currency Act, The Proclamation of 1763, Stamp Act, Quartering Act, Townshed Acts, the Tea Act, and the Coercive Act, also known as the Intolerable Acts. I think the colonists were justified in declaring independence from England.
The Navigation Acts
The Navigation Acts only allowed the colonies trade to be carried out with colonial or English ships. Sugar, tobacco and indigo could only be shipped within the mother country, any other trade going outside the mother country had to go to England first. This made the mother country more successful by making more money.
Proclamation of 1763
The Proclamation of 1763 was issued by King George III after the French and Indian War. American Indians wanted the soldiers to leave the Ohio River Valley, so Pontiac, (an Ottawa chief), led the Indians in a war against the British. To avoid more conflict like this King George III passed The Proclamation Line of 1763. The Proclamation Line of 1763 used the Appalachian Mountains as a boundary to the colonists not allowing them to settle west of the mountains. The colonists didn't like this having won the war, therefore; winning the right to the land.
Stamp Act
The Stamp Act taxed anything that was printed on paper by making the colonists buy a stamp/seal for paper products. Parliament passes this Act in attempt to pay off the debt of the French and Indian War through the taxes. Colonists weren't happy with this act either. So colonists started to boycott paper products, and Samuel Adams began the the Committees of Correspondence, they were a group that told towns and colonies about how to fight the British taxes. Samuel Adams also helped from secret societies like the Sons of Liberty, these were groups of en that protested British policies and used violence to get their message across as well. The protests and boycotts worked and King George III repealed the Stamp Act.
Quartering Act
After the protests because of the Stamp Act, Britain sent more troops to keep order in the colonies. Since there wasn't much more space left for the soldiers to stay, British Parliament also passed the Quartering Act of 1765. This Act required for colonists to house, feed, and care for British soldiers. The colonists didn't like having an army of soldiers with blank search warrants meaning they had lost their rights over their property, and housing and supplying the soldiers was expensive for the colonists. The soldiers also began to take jobs which outraged the colonists.
Townshed Acts
In 1763, Parliament passed the Townshed Acts, this new act made a new tax on imported tea, glass, paper, and other items to pay for the rising military cost because of the Quartering Act. The colonists boycotted British goods again, a group of women called the Daughters of Liberty also made their own things instead of buying it from the British. By 1770, the protests worked again and Parliament repealed most of the taxes except, they kept the tax on tea to show that they still had the power to tax. From that point on, the colonists anger continued to grow against the British government. The Sons of Liberty continued their protests by violence, attacking the homes of British officials and tax collectors. As a result more British troops were sent to protect the officials.
Boston Massacre
Anger and tension continued to increase as Britain sent more and more soldiers to Boston whenever colonists resisted the taxes. On March 5, 1770 a riot went down when a crowd started to gather around a colonist arguing with a British soldier. Colonists joined in and began to shout and throw things at the soldier. Soon, more soldiers arrived and the mob grew louder, and angrier, then shots were fired. This resulted in five colonists killed.
Tea Act & Boston Tea Party
In 1773, Parliament passed the Tea Act, this act only allowed the British East India Company to sell tea to the colonies. The price of the tea was much lower than before, but the colonists were still unhappy that they were forced to pay import taxes to Britain. Colonial merchants refused to unload tea from British ships, or sell tea in the colonies to try and avoid paying the taxes. The Daughters of Liberty helped to the boycott effort by making their own tea. On December 1773, some of the Sons of Liberty disguised themselves as American Indians and illegally boarded the ships holding tea and dumped 342 crates of the British teas into the Boston Harbor, this protest is now known as the Boston Tea Party.
Coercive Acts/ Intolerable Acts
The Boston Tea Party made the British government angry, so the British Prime Minister convinced Parliament to pass the Coercive Acts in 1774, the colonists called them the Intolerable Acts though, because of how harsh they were. These acts were an attempt to make the colonists pay for the tea they overthrew and to keep the colonists from planning other attacks. These laws stopped all trade between Boston and Britain, it didn't allow any town meetings, gave Britain control of the colony, and strengthened the Quartering Act. Since the port of Britain was closed, the trading between the colonies came to a stop, this had a big impact on the economies of all the colonies. In addition, it also stirred up revolutionary spirit throughout the colonies.