Causes of the American Revolution
1763-1776
Intro to the American Revolution
The American Revolution is a revolt by the colonists against King George lll and his money making laws after the French and Indian War. Some causes of the American Revolution are the taxes, laws, and the proclamation line. Some of the policies that were enforced by the British were the Navigation Acts, Quartering Act, Stamp Act,and the Townshend Acts. I think that the colonists were justified to declare independence from England because they were in a whole new land and could start their own country instead of being controlled by England.
Navigation Acts
The Navigation Acts was one of the many policies made by the British. The purpose of the Navigation Acts was to put the theory of mercantilism into actual practice. There were two major rules that the colonists had to follow. The first one was that the colonists could only conduct trade with English or colonial ships. The second one was that enumerated trade was to be shipped only within the empire. The most significant impact of the Navigation Acts was the stifling of colonial manufacturing and the increasing resentment against the mother country.
The Proclamation of 1763
The Proclamation of 1763 was created after the French and Indian War. The Proclamation was made by King George III to prevent costly wars with the Native Americans. The Proclamation made many of the colonists angry so they disregarded it.
The Stamp Act
The Stamp Act was made to put taxes on anything printed on paper. The Stamp Act was created as another way to get money to pay off war debts. The Committees of Correspondence boycotted the Stamp Act as a protest to it. In response to the boycotts, King George repealed the Stamp Act and gave parliament full authority over legislation in the colonies.
Quartering Act
The Quartering Act was a response from Britain for the protests of the Stamp Act. The Quartering Act allowed British soldiers to stay in colonists' homes' without any charge because they had writs of assistance. The colonists had two major problems with this act, the first one was that the colonists didn't like the thought an army of soldiers with blank search warrants (writs of assistance). The second reason was that it was very costly for the colonists because they had to pay for all of the soldiers' needs.
Townshend Acts
The Townshend Acts put taxes on things like imported tea, glass, paper, and other items. To protest the taxes the Daughters of Liberty started to make their own cloth in stead of buying British cloth. The British government continued to put taxes on tea after the Townshend Acts were repealed to show that they still had power. The Sons of Liberty used violence and attacked the homes of the British soldiers and tax collectors.
Boston Massacre
The Boston Massacre was on March 5, 1770. The tension started when a crowd gathered around an angry colonist yelling at a British soldier. Soon more colonists and soldiers had gathered around them. Everyone got riled up and the tension got higher. The soldiers were pushed past their limit and started to fire into the unarmed crowd. Samuel Adams used the massacre as propaganda to get the colonists to see how bad the British were, but his cousin John Adams decided to represent the soldiers in a trial by jury.
Tea Act and Boston Tea Party
The Tea Act made it so the BEIC was the only company allowed to sell tea to the colonies. The colonists were unhappy about paying import taxes to Britain. The Sons of Liberty decided to protest this act by dressing up as Indians and threw 342 crates of British tea into the harbor. This protest was called the Boston Tea Party.
Coercive Acts (Intolerable Acts)
The colonists called the Coercive Acts the Intolerable Acts. The Intolerable Acts had four laws that were enforced. The first law stopped all trade between Boston and Britain. The second law did not allow town meetings. The third act gave Britain control over the colony, and the fourth law gave parliament control over government.