Causes of the American Revolution
Bevin Flaherty 1763-1776
Navigation Acts
The purpose of the Navigation Acts was to benefit the mother country England. The Navigation Acts require the colonists to follow rules, only use English ships for trading, no manufacturing in the colonies, only sell raw materials to England, and only buy manufactured goods from England. The colonists didn't like this because the Navigation Acts were very costly.
The Proclamation of 1763
After the French and Indian war the Proclamation of 1763 was created. The Proclamation of 1763 is a law stating that the English colonies cannot move past the Appalachian Mountains even after winning land to the Mississippi River. The Proclamation of 1763 was issued to to save money after the very costly war. The colonists did not like being able to move into the fertile land so they started and riots and got very mad.
The Stamp Act
The Stamp Act taxed all of the paper goods in the Engkish Colonies. The Stamp Act was created to make more money. Samuel Adams and the Committies of Correspondence contacted other colonies and towns about the Stamp Act and started boycotts. Samuel Adams also created the Sons of Liberty and they protested the British policies and taxes. There was also a Stamp Act Congress that sent a letter to the King of England asking him to repeal the Stamp Act. Instead of actually opening up the letter, he sent in more troops to the colonies.
Quartering Act
Because there were troops in the Colonies, King George III created the Quatering Act. The Quartering Act required the colonists to let in the British troops to their home, clothe, and feed them. The colonists did not like this because they didn't like there being writs of assistance , which is British soldiers who have blank search warrants, and having soldiers in their homes was very costly.
Townshend Acts
The Townshed Acts were where the King of England taxed different items, some of the items included imported tea, glass, and paper. The colonists protested in different ways. For example, the Daughters of Liberty protested by using their own cloth instead of buying the British's cloth. The Sons of Liberty protested by attacking the homes of British officials and tax collectors. After the British government repealed the Townshed Acts King George III kept the tax on imported tea.
Boston Massacre
On March 5, 1770 in Boston, Massachusetts, a colonist was fighting with a British soldier. Later a riot started to form and it got so out of control that the soldiers shot and killed five colonists. Samuel Adams used this accident for a propaganda. Through the Committees of Correspondence he shared the news and ideas with other people about the Boston Massacre. John Adams, Samuel Adams cousin, represented the the soldiers in their trial and wanted to prove that everyone deserves a trial by jury.
Tea Act and the Boston Tea Party
The Tea Acts was an act that mad the British team company become ten only tea company allowed to sell tea to the colonists. The colonists were unhappy with this even though they the tea price was less than the other tea prices, because they didn't like paying import taxes. The Sons of Liverty responded with disguising themselves as Indians and throwing crates of tea off of the boats.
Coercive Acts or Intolerable Acts
After the Boston Tea Party the British became furious with Boston. They created the Coercive Acts or also called the Intolerable Acts. These laws stopped trade in Boston, didn't allow town meetings, gave Britain control of the colony, and made the Quartering Act stronger. Since the Boston port was greatly needed the economies of all the became weaker and the trading goods with the other colonies stopped. This led to revolutionary spirit throughout the colonies.
Summary of the American Revolution
The American Revolution was where the 13 colonies united to fight against the British to gain freedom and create their own country. Some of the social causes of the American Revolution were how they didn't feel like they were being treated not the way that they felt like they should've been. Some of the economic reasons were the Tea Act, the Proclamation of 1763, the Stamp Act, and basically all of the other laws passed. I do think that the colonists were justified, because the British were abusing their power and were passing all of these unnecessary acts to just get money and save money. Even though they were trying to save money, they probably could've made more money from the land they got from economic reasons.