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Causes Of The American Revolution

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The thoughts, concerns, and ideas that provoked the American Revolution did not happen in one day. Many factors over several decades brought about these thoughts and ideas and, ultimately, led to the Revolution. The most important factors that led the the American Revolution were parliamentary taxation which led to the colonists feeling as though they were not being represented, restrictions of civil liberties which led the colonists to feel restrained after a period of salutary neglect, and the legacy of colonial political and religious ideas which encouraged colonists to consider a life of self government. The most often discussed topic concerning the provocation of the American Revolution is “taxation without representation”. Although this is not the only thing that led to the Revolutionary War, it certainly played a large part in causing the colonists to want their independence from Britain. Following the French and Indian War, Britain was in debt. It seemed perfectly logical to the British to pay off these debts by taxing the colonies. After all, the colonies and the fight for them against the French and Indians was what caused the debts in the first place. So, the British put a wide variety of acts in place to pay off these debts. These acts included the Sugar Act, the Stamp Act, the Quartering Act, and others. Because the colonists were previously experiencing a period of salutary neglect, they did not take well to these taxes. The colonists did not have a

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