Causes of The American Revolution
1763-1776
Opening
The American Revolution was the separation of colonial America and England. With the many taxes and rules brought upon the settlers, its no wonder that they eventually were fed up with England. Laws such as the Quartering Act and the Tea Act violated the colonists rights and freedoms and they wanted justice. This all started because the French and Indian war was very expensive and King George the 3rd needed money. Tensions grew and shots were fired by British soldiers. I think it was right for the colonists to break away from England because the situation was bound to get worse.
Navigation acts
The Navigation acts was the law that put mercantilism into affect in Colonial America. This act made it so the colonies could only conduct trade with English or colonial ships. Trade with other countries had to go through England first. The Americans were not too comfortable with these laws, but many more would come.
Quartering Act
This act allowed British soldiers to basically invade your home and expect a bed, food, and basic needs. These new soldiers were also allowed to use blank search warrants to salvage your home of any smuggled goods you might have in your house. These warrants were called Writs of Assistance. The colonists didn't like this at all. They had lost their homes to soldiers and it was costly.
Stamp Act
The Stamp act taxed anything that was paper. Cards, newspapers, books, and etc. The Sons of Liberty began the Committees of Correspondence, a group dedicated to finding ways to fight these taxes and rules. A popular tactic was boycotting. These colonists refused to buy English paper and decided make their own. In 1765, a group called the Stamp Act Congress wanted to make the king repeal the stamp act. They succeeded and the king repealed it.
The Proclamation of 1763
After the French and Indian War, King George the 3rd decided that wars with the Natives were to costly. So he made settling west of the Appalachian prohibited. Settlers were very angry because their brothers in arms had died for no reason during the French and Indian war. Lots of settlers settled west anyway because they wanted their land.
Townshend Acts
This act almost taxed every single household object you could think of. The colonists boycotted these objects once again. A group called the daughters of liberty decided to make their own cloth rather than buying that pitiful lobster-back cloth. The British repealed most of the taxes, except for tea.
Tea Act and Boston Tea Party
In 17373, Parliament passed a law allowing the British East India Company be the only one to sell tea in the colonies. The price had dropped significantly, but there were high import taxes.. The Daughters of Liberty decided to make their own tea, but the Sons of Liberty took a more violent approach t the situation. They dressed as Native Americans and dumped 342 crates of British tea off of a ship. This was the Boston Tea Party.
Boston Massacure
Tensions were very high in Boston. Protesters were out late, provoking British soldiers. They called them things like lobster-backs and throw snowballs at them. Eventually British grew tired and fired on the unarmed protesters. The Sons of Liberty put up propaganda posters to sway the public. Believe it or not, but our second president actually defended the British soldiers. His name was John Adams.
Coercive Acts (Intolerable Acts)
The king and government grew very tiresome and angry with Boston and the other colonists, so they made the colonies pay for the lost tea and stopped colonists from planning attacks. All trade with Boston and England was canceled, stopped town meetings, and enforced the Quartering Act. This made the feelings for revolution sky high and the other colonies helped Boston recover, bring them together.