Causes of the American Revolution
1763-1776
Causes of the American Revolution
The American Revolution was a war from 1763-1776, it was a war between the Americans and the British. Causes of what led to the American Revolution are, after the French & Indian War and Britain was in a lot of debt, they needed money and the only way of getting money is to raise taxes. King George iii raised the taxes without asking the Colonists, the Colonists did not like that so they got upset and revolted. Some social causes are how the Red Coats invaded, and lived in the colonist houses, also the stamp act and how the wealthy people told the poorer colonists. I think the Colonists were justified in declaring independence from England, they did not like the way England was ruling them they thought it was unfair and said they should change it. Britain did not change it so they revolted and rebelled against it.
Naigation Act
The purpose of the Navigation Act, were efforts to put the theory of mercantilism to actual practice. Some rules the colonist had to follow when trading goods is, the Sugar act of 1733 and the Currency Act of 1764. The Sugar Act, made the sugar for rum a lot more expensive and made the colonist buy sugar from the British West Indies. The colonist was opposed to the Sugar Act because, it forced the American rum distillers to buy more costly sugar from the British West Indies money. The impact of the Navigation Act was upon American History that was the stifling of colonial manufacturing and increasing the resentment against the mother country.
The Proclamation of 1763
The Proclamation of 1763 was created after the Pontiac's Rebellion, the British defeated the Indian's but tension remained high. The British soldiers stayed in the Ohio River Valley to keep order. King George iii issued the proclamation because, to avoid more tension and conflict between the Native Americans. The colonist did not like that because, they wanted to settle on land and not have British soldiers among them.
The Stamp Act
The Stamp Act taxed anything printed on paper, it required the colonist to buy a stamp or seal. The Stamp Act was created because they needed to pay off debt from French and Indian War. Samuel Adams and the Committees of Correspondence protested the Stamp Act by, boycotting or not buying certain goods. Samuel Adams created the Sons of Liberty, their purpose is to get the message across by boycotting them sometimes using violence to get the message across. At the Stamp Act Congress in New York, taxes were discussed.
Quartering Act
Britain sent even more troops and soldiers to keep order in the colonies, because of the Stamp Act protests. The Quartering Act required colonist to quarter British soldiers. The two major issues that the colonist had with the Quartering Act was, first that the colonist did not like having soldiers just invading their homes without search warrants. The other issue was that the housing and supplying of the soldiers was very costly. The writs of assistance were search warrants.
Townshend Acts
Some items that were taxed during the Townshend Acts are, imported tea, glass, and paper. The Daughters of Liberty protested by making their own cloth instead of paying for the British cloth. The British government continued to tax tea after the Townshend Acts even after they were repealed in 1770. The Sons of Liberty responded to the continuation of the taxation of the colonies by, using violence and attacking the homes of British officials and colonial tax collectors.
Boston Massacre
The tensions grew more and more as Britain sent more soldiers, and when Boston colonist resisted taxes. So on March 5, 1770 angry colonist arguing with the British soldier, colonist started screaming and yelling and threw snowballs at the soldiers. More soldiers arrived and more colonist saw what was going on and the mob grew louder and shots were fired. Samuel Adams and other colonist used this incident as propaganda. John Adams chose to represent the soldiers in a trial to demonstrate that the colonists value the right to a trial by jury.
Tea Act & Boston Tea Party
The Tea Act made the British East India company the only company allowed to sell tea to the colonist. This made the colonist unhappy because, they were forced to pay imported taxes to Britain even though it was cheaper. The Sons of Liberty by, disguised as American Indians, illegally boarded the ships. They dumped 342 crates of British tea into the Boston harbor.
Coercive Act (Intolerable Acts)
The colonist called the Coercive Act the Intolerable acts because it was so harsh, it made the colonist pay for the tea that was dumped at the harbor, and to keep the colonists from planning other attacks. Four laws were enforced because of the Intolerable acts, these laws stopped all trade between Boston and Britain. Did not allow town meetings gave Britain control of the colony. The colonies did not like this because they used Boston as a trading port, they responded to the Intolerable Acts by supporting Boston, it brought revolutionary spirit through out the colonies.