Causes of the American Revolution
1763-1776
The American Revolution
The American Revolution was a period time between 1775 and 1783 in which English colonists living in the 13 colonies rose up against the oppressive English government and king by fighting a war for their freedom. Some things that caused the revolution that were social were the rich colonists that the stamp act impacted who told the poor colonists that they were having their rights violated even though the stamp act didn't affect them. Some of the the other acts/policies were the Tea Act, Navigations Act, and Quartering Act. The colonists did not like these policies because they thought they violated their rights as British citizens. In my opinion, the colonists were not justified in declaring war because they had it better off as far as taxes and prices of goods than England citizens living in England... So all in all they were pretty arrogant.
The Navigation Acts
The Navigation Acts were a series of acts passed by England that basically gave England a monopoly in the colonies on everything. The act did this by completely eliminating the colonists trade with countries besides England like Germany, France etc, and making the colonists buy their necessities from England. This is an excellent example of mercantilism in the colonies and also the first unjust act passed after the colonies had been stripped of their self rule government. England wanted to get rich off of this act but in the end it just made the colonists made.
Proclamation of 1763
After the French and Indian War, the British needed to make sure to not get into any more wars with natives because they were expensive and put England in a bad financial position. To do this, the mother country passed the Proclamation of 1763 which made it illegal for the colonists to move west of the Appalachian Mountains which was inhabited by Native Americans. By doing this, they did prevent wars but also made the colonists angry because they couldn't colonize the land that they had just won in the French and Indian War. This just fueled the rebellion in the colonists minds, especially in Boston.
Stamp Act
Continuing the onslaught of decrees brought on by the English, in 1765 the Stamp Act was passed in all colonies. It taxed all paper that could be bought sold or done anything with. This act was more geared towards the wealthy who could afford to buy newspapers and books, and the poor people weren't really affected but those who were told the poor that they were being violated and needed to stand up to the English government. As an after effect to the outrage, paper goods were boycotted and protested, and then it was repealed and the colonists were not affected anymore.
Quartering Act
This act allowed British troops to basically invaded peoples homes and the people living in the houses were by law required to quarter them, hence the name, Quartering Act. They justified the invasion of homes by "searching for smuggled goods" and most things in colonists homes were not English and if they were then they had to basically have a receipt to show that it was legal. This made colonists feel as though their rights were being violated in all economic classes.
Townshend Acts
The Townshend Acts were the most hated acts that were passed for the colonies. They taxed everything that was an essential item for colonial life. These included glass, paint, oil, lead, paper, and tea. Due to the unfair taxes the colonists boycotted the taxed goods and as a result they were repealed.
Boston Massacre
This famous event was the slaughter of unarmed colonists in Boston by redcoats and led to the painting by Paul Revere (shown below) really firing up the rebellion in the colonies, especially in Boston Crispus Attucks was the first to die and the Committee of Correspondence spread propaganda about the event.
Tea Act
This act helped the British East Company by giving them a monopoly on tea by letting them control the American tea trade. For some reason this made the colonists mad even though they were paying less for tea than anywhere else in the world. The reason for this is just all that American Spirit!! Just kidding they were just really ignorant.
Boston Tea Party
The Boston Tea Party was a protest against the British's taxes on tea. The colonists dressed up as Native Americans and threw 342 crates of Tea over the edge of the ship bringing them to Boston into the Boston Harbor. This was one of the first major acts of rebellion by the colonists, and was very poorly received by the King.
Intolerable Acts
After the Boston Tea Party, the English government needed to punish the colonists for being so rebellious. They passed the Intolerable Acts, as called by the colonists that were... intolerable. This was the ceasing of government meetings and assemblies in Boston, and also the closing of the port of Boston where all of the imported goods came into the city, which meant no goods in so the colonists were very angry about that.
1st Continental Cogress
In 1774, after the Intolerable Acts, representatives from all of the colonies came together in Philadelphia and made a letter to parliament which had a list of things that were wrong with the current government, and asked for them to be changed. Also, they asked for peace with the British crown, but the King refused both prospects.