Causes of the American Revolution
Kylie Gomez 1763-1776
Navigation Acts
The purpose of the Navigational Act is that they were efforts to put the theory of mercantilism into actual practice. Under the provision of this legislation, trade with the colonies was to be conducted only with the English or colonial ships. Certain items such as sugar, tobacco, and indigo were shipped only within empire. The colonist were never fully comfortable with those law, but become opposed with the Sugar Act of 1733. Under the law a duty was placed on the imported sugar from French West Indies, forcing the American rum distillers to buy more costly sugar from the British West Indies. Parliment also passed the Currncy Act in 1764 which took control of the colonial currency system. There were no gold or silver mines and currency could only be obtained through trade as a regulated by Britain. The most significant result of the Navigation Acts upon American history was the stifling of the colonial manufacturing and increasing resentment against the mother country.
The Proclomation of 1763
When the Frnch and Indian war was over, British soldiers stayed in Ohio River Valley to keep order. Most of the American Indians wanted the soldiers to leave the area. An Ottawa chief named Pontiac led the Indians in a war against the British called Pontiac's Rebellion. After many lives lost in the battle, the British defeated the Indians but tensions remained high. In an effort to avoid more conflict and tensions with American Indians, King George III issued the Proclomation of 1763.
Stamp Act
In 1765, Parliment passed the Stamp Act which taxed anything that was printe on paper. Parliment continued to try and raised funds to protect the colonies and pay the debt of the French and Indian War through such taxes. This act caused colonist to resent British rule. Samuel Adams began the Commitees of Correspondence, groups that contacted other towns and colonies about British taxes and how to fight them. One protest that was very popular was the boycott, this is where people refused to buy certain goods in protest. Many colonial women made substitutes for the boycotted British goods. In Boston,Samuel Adams also helped form secret societies called the Sons of Liberty, which were groups of men that protested British policies and sometimes used anger and violence to get their message across. In 1765, a congress of nine colonies met in New York to discuss the taxes at the Stamp Act Congress. They decided that only colonial governments should tax the colonies and they sent a request to King George III to repeal the act. Benjamin Franklin, representing Pennsylvania, spoke before Parliament and urged them to repeal the act so that colonists could end the boycott and prevent a possible revolution. The protests and boycotts worked and King George III had no other choice but to repeal the Stamp Act. The colonies celebrated the repeal of the act, but there were still disagreements with theParliamenton many issues.
Quartering Act
After the Stamp Act protests, Britain sent more and more troops to keep order in the colonies. Due to social and political problems that took place in the colonies after the Stamp Act, the British also passed the Quartering act of 1765. This act required colonists to house and feed British soldiers. There were two big issues the colonies had with the Quartering Act. The first problem was that colonists did not like having a standing army of soldiers with blank search warrants, or writs of assistance. The other problem was that housing and supplying soldiers was expensive. The British thought that the colonist should pay their share of the expense of providing them with the protection from Indian attacks. Also the soldiers began taking jobs at a lower wage which further outraged colonists and increased tension between the colonies and Britain.
Townshend Acts
In 1767, Parliament passed the Townshend Acts, which made colonies pay taxes on imported tea, glass, paper, and other items to pay for rising military costs due to the Quartering Act. Once again British goods. A group of women called Daughters of Liberty made their own cloth instead of buying British cloth. By 1770, the protests worked and Parliament repealed most of the taxes, but left the tax on tea because the British wanted to show that they still had the power to tax. Anger still began to grow against the British government, and in protest the Sons of Liberty continued to use violence and attacked the homes of British officials and colonial tax collectors.
Boston massacre
Anger and tension continued to grow as Britain sent more soldiers to Boston when colonists resisted taxes. The tension exploded on March 5, 1770 when a crowd gathered around and angry colonist arguing with a British soldier. Colonists began to shout insults and throw snowballs at the soldier. Soon more soldiers arrived as the mob grew louder and more violent, shots were fired. This deadly riot resulted in five colonist being killed that evening and event was later branded the Boston Massacre by colonist.
Tea Act & Boston Tea Party
In 1773, Parliament passed the Tea Act, which made the British East India Company the only company allowed to sell tea to the colonies which made this a monopoly over tea. The price of tea was actually much lower, but colonists were still unhappy that they were forced to pay import taxes to Britain. In order to avoid paying these taxes colonial merchants refused to unload the tea from the British ships or sell the tea in the colonies. The Daughters of Libert contributed to the boycott efforts by making their own tea. On December 16, 1773 some Sons if Liberty, disguised as American Indians, illegally boarded the ships and dumped 342 crates of British tea into Boston Harbor. This protest was called the Boston Tea Party.
Coercive Act
The Boston Tea Party made the British government furious. British Prime minister Lord North convinced parliament to pass laws called the Coercive Acts in the spring of 1774, which colonist called the Intolerable Acts because they were so harsh. These acts were an effort to make the colonist pay for the tea and to keep the colonists from planning other attacks. These laws stopped all trade between Boston and Britain, did not allow town meetings, get Britain control of the colony, and strengthened the Quartering Act. Since the port of Boston was closed, the trading of goods between the colonies also stopped with greatly impacted the economies of all the colonies. This led to support for Boston as goods were brought in from the other colonies. In addition it's stirred revolutionary spirit throughout the colonies.