Causes of the American Revolution
1763-1776
American Revolution
The American Revolution was a big riot between Great Britain and the 13 colonies. No one could agree with anything. There was constantly arguing and fighting over the different acts that Britain put on the colonies. Some social causes of the American Revolution are when the French and Indian War ended the king at the time decided to tighten the relationship between Britain and the colonies. Some of the British economic policies that led to the American Revolution were having the colonists pay taxes on different things and made several act like the Navagation Acts, The proclamation of 1763, The Stamp Act, The Quartering Act, The Townshend Acts, The Tea Act, The Intolerable Acts, and much, much more. Yes, I think that colonists were justified in declaring independence from England because the British had ignored the colonist for several years, and suddenly he wants to rule them.
Navagation Acts
The Navagation Acts were written to have the colonies actually help England also known as mercantilism. In 1650, Parliment put this act into function. This act was to take place in ALL the colonies. The Sugar Act and the Currency Act later came into place. The Sugar Act was all colonists had to buy sugar from the British West Indies. The Currency Act made Britain control over the money. The rules that were required to be followed during the Navigation Acts were very strict and kind of ridiculous. Some of the rules were to only use England ships to trade, buy things from England, and all the things that were going to another nation had to first go to England to be taxed.
The Proclamation of 1763
King George III made this proclamation in 1763. The proclamation was issued right after the end of the French and Indian War. It was to let Indians have a right to land. This proclamation was for the colonists, they were to not move west of the Appalachian Mountains. King George also issued this because he didn't want tension between the colonists and the Indians. The colonists were very upset about this rule. To show that the British didn't control the colonists lives, they ignored the proclamation and continued to settle west.
The Stamp Act
Parliament passed this act in 1765. This act was to tax EVERYTHING that was on paper. Stamps or seals had to be put on letters or documents in order to be sent. This was created to try to reduce the debt that was caused by the French and Indian War and to help keep the colonies safe. A popular way of protesting these acts was to boycott, or not but these products. There was a group called the Committees of Correspondence. This group told others about the Acts and told them to fight the British Government. To try to end this, there was a congress put together call the Stamp Act Congress. The Congress of 9 colonies joined together to form a letter tell King George III to get rid of the act.
The Quartering Act
British Parliament made the Quartering Act in 1765. The Act made all colonists in the 13 colonies provide hospitality for all the British Soldiers. The Quartering Act was made a thing because a lot got out of control when the Stamp Act started. Britain felt like they needed to send down more troops to help keep the colonies in order. The soldiers had freedom to do anything. They were allowed to search and destroy people's homes. The permission grant was called the writs of assistance. Many problems occurred with this Act, financial problems were the biggest. Soldiers were working bad paying shifts, and the colonists did not like this.
Townshend Acts
The Parliament made another Act called The Townshend Acts in 1767. This Act made all the colonists pay taxes on a lot of British items such as: tea, glass, and paper. The Daughters of Liberty, like The Sons of Liberty, were a group of women who made the cloth by themselves for them instead of buying it from the British. However, when it reached the year of 1770, most taxes disappeared. The only tax that was left was the one on the tea. The tax that was left made colonists mad, so the Sons of Liberty went and raided the homes of the British and the tax collectors. This caused the British to send down more troops to help protect the other people.
Boston Massacre
The Boston Massacre started off as an argument between a British Soldier and a colonist. The crowd got larger as more British soldiers expanded. This event rolled out on March 5, 1770. The Massacre happened because the colonists were angry about all the taxes that they had to pay. At first it wasn't all that crazy, but as soon as the colonists mob got bigger the soldiers mob got bigger too. Only 5 people whom were colonists had been killed during this Massacre. John Adams defended the soldiers and it was to show that colonists had a right to a trial.
Tea Act & Boston Tea Party
The Tea Act was a tax put on all Tea that came to the colonies. It was passed by the parliament in 1773. The British East India Company were the only people that could send tea to the colonies. Although the price of the tea was cheap, colonists didn't want to pay the taxes. For colonists not to have to pay the taxes, the workers didn't bother unloading the crates of tea. Some people boycotted this by making tea. On the day of December 16,1173 colonial men dressed up as Native Americans and emptied 342 crates into the Boston Harbor. This was known as the Boston Tea Party.
Coercive Act (Intolerable Acts)
Parliament again passed more acts in 1774. Some people in the colonies called them the intolerable acts because of how harsh they were. The causes for making the Intolerable Acts was the Boston Tea Party. The goal for making these acts were to calm the colonies down. The Intolerable Acts stopped trade from Britain and Boston plus closing of the Boston Harbor. It also gave Britain control of the colony. These acts affected all of the trading that was being done between the colonies. So in support, other colonies helped Boston with bringing different goods. The business going on within the colonies made everyone get along better.