Causes of the American Revolution
1763-1776 By: Mason Wilbanks
Navigation Acts
The Navigation Acts were made to put mercantilism into real practice. The King and the parliament put these acts into order. The colonists could also only trade with English and colonial ships. All other traded goods to other colonies had to go through England first. After a tax was put on all sugars and the colonists had to pay more for sugar. This was in 1763 when all this non sense happened. And this was in the British colonies.
The Proclamation of 1763
The King made a imaginary line, so the colonists couldn't go to the land that the British won in the French and Indian war, so there wouldn't be anymore American Indian attacks or conflict with them. This was in 1773. King didn't want to pay more for conflicts with American Indians so he let the American Indians pretty much have the land that British won.
The Stamp Act
This put a tax on all things printed on paper. The King still needed money for the debt the British owed for the French and Indian War. The Committees of Correspondence protested this by telling other towns to show propaganda and also to boycott items. The Sons of Liberty also used. Ilene to protest this act. The Dtamp Act Congress also discussed all the taxes. This was in 1765.
The Quartering Act
Britain sent more soldiers to the colonies. The colonies had to house, feed, and clothe the soldiers. The soldiers also could search anyone's home if the soldier had wrists of assistance. This happened in 1765. This also happened because of social and political problems in Britain.
The Townshed Acts
This was a tax on pretty much everything you would buy. Tea, glass, paper, etc. A lot of colonists boycotted goods. The Daughter of Liberty made their own cloth so they didn't have to buy it from merchants. The Sons of Liberty always kept using violence to solve problems and make points across the town about how Britain should stop all of the taxes. This happened in 1767 and it was to pay. For more military costs.
Boston Massacre
This happened because of tension building in Boston because of all the taxes and all the British soldiers that have come to the colonies. This "massacre" happened in 1770 in little alley way. Colonists were arguing with British soldiers and then a soldier started shooting and after it all, 5 colonists were dead and British soldiers had a trial and were innocent. This ended up being a disaster even though only 5 people died. After this event people were al upset because the soldiers weren't even accused of doing it. And that was this "massacre".
Tea Act & Boston Tea Party
This all started with the Tea Act. This was a tax on tea that lead the British East India Company, the only source of tea for the colonists. The price of tea was actually lower but colonists were still mad because they didn't want to have to pay a tax on tea. This lead the the Boston Tea Party. This was where some members of the Soms of Liberty disguised themselves as American Indians and boared British ships illegally. Once they boarded the ships, all of them emptied 342 crates of tea into the Boston Harbor. This was all in 1773.
Coercive/Intollerable Acts
In 1774 the British government passed laws that prevented the colonists from doing a lot of things and put a tax on tea. This act didn't allow any trade between Britain and Boston, there were no town meetings allowed, Boston was controlled by Britain, and the Quatering Act was unforced even heavier. This made all the other colonies get into a bad economy because they relied on trade from Boston. This pretty much put all the colonies down the crapper and stirred up a ton of feelings of revolution between the colonies.
The Whole American Revolution
The American Revolution was a long mess between the colonies and Britain that took place for about 13 years. A heavy social cause was religion. A lot of people wanted to have their religion and be free. Another cause was finding gold or just making a lot of money. Major economic policies were all the taxes on everything and also the stopping of trade between colonies and the colonies and other countries. Also, I believe that the colonies had a very good reason for declaring independence from England because they didn't want England to control them(the colonies) for the rest of time.