The American Revolution was a crucial point to the freedom of America. After the French and Indian War, the British had to pay for the costs of the war. As a result, Parliament started taxing the colonists as a way to pay the debts. This led the British to believe they could abuse their power against the colonists. The British government, rather than the colonists, was more at fault for the American Revolution. To begin with, the British government abused its power. Parliament passed many laws and taxes which infuriated the colonists. They were imposed for power, regulation, and money. These new laws encroached the freedoms of the colonists. For example, the Sugar Act of 1764 increased the tax on sugar imported from the West Indies. The Quartering Act of 1765 required colonists to provide food and …show more content…
In July 1775, the Continental Congress adopted the Olive Branch Petition in hopes of a compromise. The petition promised American loyalty to Parliament as long as King George III would agree to repeal the Intolerable Acts. However, the king refused to agree on any kind of reconciliation. This proves that on the road to the revolution, the colonists tried to resolve conflicts, but the British king refused to come to a mutual agreement. Since the king declined the peace offer, the colonists only had one reasonable option. They had to fight for their freedom from Britain to escape the harsh laws and taxes that were imposed by Parliament. In conclusion, Britain was at fault for the American Revolution. Britain abused its power by making new laws in order to pay for their debts. Also, Britain would not allow the colonists to represent in Parliament. These actions made the colonist furious, which led them to protest for more rights. Lastly, the British refused to accept peace treaties, leaving the colonists with the only option of fighting back. Thus, the British were at fault for the
Soon the Quartering Act was passed, directing the colonies to provide quarters for British soldiers. Americans found this oppressive because it meant that soldiers were placed in colonial homes. In 1764 Parliament passed the Stamp Act, putting a duty on most printed materials. This was a normal tax for the British as it had been going on in Britain for a long time, and it made sense that the rest of their empire would pay the same tax. This placed a burden on merchants and the colonial elite who did most legal transactions and read the newspapers. Also passed in the same year was the Declaratory Act, which stated that the colonies were subject to the will of Parliament. This made a lot of sense to the British, as Parliament was their ruling body, but, to the colonies who had become used to their own government during the years of salutory neglect, this was a direct threat to their way of life.
The Act of 1764, also known as The Sugar Act, lowered the taxes on molasses but also it had more ways to enforce the tax. In addition to the tax on molasses they taxed things such as silks, wines, and potash. The Americans were outraged with this new law. The colonists did whatever they could to ignore this new law. The British passed the Quartering Act which basically said that the American colonists have to house and feed British forces who were serving in North America. This inflamed the
Huge debts were owed to Great Britain for supplying the colonists with military support and supplies. To pay the dues, there was the establishment of the Stamp Act, the taxation on domestic goods and services. A tax on domestic merchandise brought even more anger to the colonists. The Sugar Act, the Townshed Duties and the Tea Act were also all introduced with the same fundamentals: applying tax on goods whether it be directly or indirectly, domestic or international. “British commercial regulations imposed a paltry economic burden on Americans, who enjoyed a rapid economic growth and a standard of living higher than their European counterparts” (McGaughy). Each act resulted in irritated colonists. Some even retaliated by tarring and feathering certain English tax enforcers living in the colonies.
Both the British and the American colonists contributed to causing the American Revolution. The war grew out of contempt: England’s contempt for the colonies and colonial contempt for British policies. A series of actions by the British eventually pushed the colonists over the edge and towards independence. The results of the war gave many citizens a new role in society while others, like slaves, felt no change at all. This paper will examine the specific causes and effects of the American Revolution.
The American Revolution was justified because the colonists were not being treaty fairy and equally by the British. And according to Jefferson, “people being oppressed have a moral obligation to rebel against their oppressors”. From the beginning, the colonists were not given the full rights as British men, just because they were not living in that country. The Navigation Acts passed by the Parliament to restrict colonial trade, and all of colonial trade with Europe had to go through England, overall they wanted to keep colonies in a position of economic dependency on Britain. And that was a serious damage in the colonial economies and people’s aspirations, it makes many colonists unhappy and smuggle goods to other country. And British
Beginning in 1764, Great Britain began passing acts to exert greater control over the American colonies. The Sugar Act was passed to increase duties on foreign sugar imported from the West Indies. A Currency Act was also passed to ban the colonies from issuing paper bills or bills of credit because of the belief that the colonial currency had devalued the British money. Further, in order to continue to support the British soldiers left in America after the war, Great Britain passed the Quartering Act in 1765. This ordered colonists to house and feed British soldiers if there was not enough room for them in the colonist’s homes. An important piece of legislation that really upset the colonists was the Stamp Act passed in 1765. This required stamps to be purchased or included on many different items and documents such as playing cards, legal papers, newspapers, and more. This was the first direct tax that Britain had imposed on the colonists. Events began to escalate with passage of the Townshend Acts in 1767. These taxes were created to help colonial officials become independent of the colonists by providing them with a source of income. This act led to clashes between British troops and colonists, causing the infamous Boston Massacre. These unjust requests and increasing tensions all led up to the colonist’s declaration as well as the Revolutionary War.
Many people have the misconception that the American Revolution occurred because British colonists did not want to be British citizens any longer. This may have been the case for a select few, but many British colonists desired to maintain their status as British colonists and citizens. The foremost reason that the colonists began protests, boycotts, and petitions against the British was because they believed their innate rights as British citizens were being violated. The American Revolution occurred due to a chain of events and a complex set of intertwined reasons.
The American Revolution. An ongoing controversial topic that is the subject of many debates and historians’ studies. A war that some say was all to blame on the colonists. On the contrary to this belief, this war was to blame on the British. This is because of their irrational acts, laws, and taxes passed. These enacted rules angered many colonists as the acts, in turn, caused bankruptcy for many citizens. These unfair ordinances resulted in a series of bloodshed battles, beginning in 1765 and ending in 1783. Many of these laws provoked angry colonists leading to the war declaration. Three specific events in which the British are contributing to tensions that led to the revolution were, the Proclamation of 1763 and the stationing of British troops, the Sugar act, as well as the Stamp act.
In the years leading up the Revolutionary War, American colonist grew increasingly resistant to British authority over the colonies. The British passed a series of taxes that sparked controversy of Parliaments authority to pass legislation over the colonies. These events eventually lead to the Boston Tea party, which was a protest of the Tea Act and British rule. The British response to escalating situation in Boston was a show of force placing the city under military rule. These actions untied the Americans colonies under the goal of Independence. The American Revolution was lost by the British due to supply and terrain issues, unclear strategy, and military miscalculations.
In the year 1764, King George III of Great Britain placed taxes on colonial America causing anger to flourish within the colonies resulting in their rebellion from the British. One-third of the colony wanted independence from Great Britain, the Patriots, while another third decided to stay loyal to the British, the loyalists/tories. The Patriots soon went to war with Britain for their independence, but the rest of the colony was reluctant to join the Patriots’ cause for various reasons. The loyalists were hesitant to join the American Revolution because of the nonideal living location and the British protected them when no one else would.
The inequality between the Great Britain Colonies in Great Britain and the US was one of the long-term causes of the Revolution. These variations mainly dealt with issues such as declaratory acts, rights, the proclamation and taxation, sugar act and the intolerable acts. The British took over France's colonies in North America after the War between the French and India. Britain wanted its colonies to realize that it was in charge. Consequently, they made an effort to control the economic and political affairs in their colonies. American colonies dissented this British strategy since they were not content being under British rule. The British used their superiority to enact laws in the parliament. Unfortunately, Americans did not hold any representative seats in parliament. Undoubtedly, Americans felt that the British were infringing on their rights, which sparked a revolution.
An influential factor in the causes of the American Revolution was the lack of representation in parliament, who heavily taxed the colonists without any say from the colonies. This was a major problem after the French and Indian War ended. England had accrued a large debt, and to pay it off, taxed the colonists. George Grenville, the head of
The first reason that caused the American Revolution was that the British placed acts and taxes on the colonists. The British placed these taxes on the colonists without taking the colonists thoughts into account. They taxed things such as molasses, legal documents, glass, paper, paint, lead, and tea. They also placed the Quartering Act that forced them to house soldiers and give them supplies. In addition to those, they also placed the Intolerable Acts that closed the port of Boston so they couldn’t get food or supplies. This made the colonists
The history leading up to the American Revolution is very interesting. The aftermath of the French and Indian war played a big role in what began the colonists dissent against Great Britain. At the start of the war the colonist were glad that the redcoats were there to protect them but after the fall of Washington at Fort Necessity they started to feel disappointed towards them. After the war, Great Britain, although they won, was left with huge amounts of debt. Because of the cost to train troops and the debt the British wanted the colonist to pay their fair share. The colonists were not happy with this, although the Great Britain paid most of the debt itself. Another factor was the Quartering Act(1765). It said that the colonists were responsible for finding or
The British were responsible for causing the American Revolution because they put unfair limitations on the colonies. One of Great Britain’s limits on the colonies was the Proclamation of 1763. The Proclamation of 1763 states that the colonies can not expand their reign west of the Appalachian Mountain and the Indians could not move east towards the East Cost (Hakim 36). Britain was scared that as the colonies grew in population and in power, along with the Indians and French that were in the New World, that they would not be able to contain all of them (Hakim 36). Britain was scared that the Colonies would continue to grow in power and the risk of overthrowing Britain was an immanent threat (Class notes). Britain thought it was best to put these limitations on the colonies to prevent that from happening. The people in the colonies were forced to stay east of the Appalachians without a say from their Colonial Assemblies. This upset the colonies and they sent letter after letter to Great Britain to try to break this law but Britain would not give the colonies any say. Britain was not the only person to blame. The colonies acted immaturely to this proclamation. The colonists thought that land was perfectly fine and did not care much about the British demand. When the colonies did not follow Britain rules, Britain was upset and created taxes on the colonies. This downward spiral continued until the colonies and Great Britain were at each others throats. They kept going back and