“ The British are coming, the British are coming!” This is a quote often attributed to Paul Revere and his ride through Lexington and Concord, when in reality it was more so the work of Samuel Prescott and William Dawes. This is just one of the many events leading up to the Revolutionary War. The major causes of the Revolutionary War include the Acts passed by Parliament, the colonists responses and actions to the acts, and the battles and skirmishes between the British and the colonies.
One of the first events in colonial history to spark the idea of separation from England was the passing of the Stamp Act. The Stamp Act was the first direct tax on the colonists. It required all written documents to have a stamp. Colonists would have to buy
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This was a direct tax on glass, lead, paper, paint and most importantly tea. Colonists were anything but willing to pay a tax on British tea, instead they just bought tea elsewhere. Warehouses in Britain started filling up again, this time with tea. Instead of repealing the Townshend acts, the King ordered for the Tea Act. This Act gave the British East India tea company a monopoly for the sale of tea in the colonies. This had two major effects on the colonists,one being that they could only get tea from the East India company, and the other being that local tea merchants got cut out of the business and lost their jobs. Colonists were fed up with Britain's taxations, especially on tea, so a group of colonists dressed up as Native Americans and dumped 1800 pounds of British Tea into the Boston harbor. This is known as the Boston Tea Party. The king is infuriated by the tea party, and he wanted punishment for the colonists. Thus Parliament passes the Intolerable Acts.
The Intolerable Acts consisted of four laws. They closed down the Boston Harbor, imposed the Quartering Act which allowed British soldiers to stay in vacant homes and buildings, allowed the King to choose a colonial governor of Massachusetts, and put Boston under Martial Law, or military control. The colonists react by assembling the First Continental
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The Second Continental Congress did many things. It named the Militia At Boston the Continental Army, and declared George Washington Commander-in-Chief. The second Continental Congress also printed money and named a committee to deal with foreign nations. The second continental congress also sent the Olive branch petition to England. The second Continental Congress played a significant role before and during the revolution. The colonies were acting together and working like they were their own nation. This showed that separation was to come and the colonies would be ready for
It was the Tea Act. This act stated that only the British East India Company could sell or transport tea. Members of parliament passed this act because many of them had stakes in the company. At the time the British India Company was going bankrupt. This act threatened all colonial businesses by creating a monopoly. In Boston, the colonists devised a plan to resist this act. Several colonists dressed as Indians to deceive the British. These colonists seized the imported tea and dumped it into the harbor. The colonists dubbed this “the tea party.” The British responded to these actions by creating four acts jointly called the Coercive Acts. These acts closed the Boston ports to all trade, increased power of Massachusetts governor, granted trials of royal officials in Massachusetts be tried elsewhere, and allowed the new governor rights to quarter his troops anywhere. These Coercive Acts only angered the colonists more. They have strengthened their non-importation of British goods. They have also begun the forming of local militia companies.
As soon as King George III heard of the tea party, he was furious. In 1774, the British government passed many laws in order to punish the colonists for their act of rebellion. Some people called these laws the Punitive Acts, and some called them the Coercive Acts. However to most, they were known as the Intolerable Acts. There were five Intolerable Acts all together. The first of these was called the Boston Port Act. This law closed down the Boston port until the East India Company was reimbursed for the tea that was ruined in the Boston Harbor. This upset the people greatly, since this was the only port in Boston and the people of Boston thrived on commerce. The bad thing about this law was that it punished the innocent as well as the guilty. The second of the laws was a modification to the Massachusetts charter of 1691. It took away many of the rights of self-government that the province had enjoyed. The third measure stated that the British
The Townshend Acts of 1767 were also a critical reason for the colonial actions taken during the Imperial Crisis. These acts placed taxes on goods imported into North America, once again resulting in a boycott. These boycotts caused the colonists to rely on American made goods rather than foreign, allowing the colonists to experience the possibilities of self-sufficiency and furthering the distaste for British rule. The Townshend Acts led to the Boston Massacre of 1770, as British troops fired into a crowd of rioting Bostonians. This event increased the tensions between the colonists and British. After the Townshend Acts were repealed, the Tea Act was enforced, requiring the colonists to pay a tax for tea. This tax was rejected in the colonies because the colonies believed that recognizing the tax would be recognizing Parliament’s authority to tax unlawfully, without consent and representation. The colonists refused the act by dumping imported tea into the Boston Harbor. This infuriated the British, who then implemented the Intolerable Acts. These acts required colonists to house British soldiers in their homes without consent, restricted the colonists’ right to assemble, and allowed governors to appoint councilmen without election. The colonists viewed these acts as major threats to their freedom and further fueled conflict in the Americas.
The Intolerable Acts, otherwise known as the “Coercive” Acts, caused the most unrest among the colonies and led to the American Revolution during the 1700’s. In 1733, Parliament passed the Tea Act. This made it so that colonists could only buy tea from the British East Indies Company. Even though the Tea Act lowered the price of tea, the colonists thought of it as another restriction of their freedom. A group of opposers, dressed as American Indians, threw three-hundred forty chests of tea into the Boston Harbor. The British were enraged and passed the Intolerable Acts. This gave the British all control over Massachusetts and forced colonists to pay back the money for the tea they ruined. Although the Coercive Acts only applied to Massachusetts,
There were multiple causes for the American Revolution, but the most important was the violation and deprivation of rights from the American People. The American people were faced with multiple acts and taxes that violated and took away their rights. Americans were continuously being taxed after the French and Indian War by acts like the sugar act, the stamp act, the Townshend acts,the tea act, and many more(Hedtke, et al., The American Saga). Despite all the taxes being placed on the Americans and the things they would buy, they still were not being represented in the British government. The British government claimed that the Americans had virtual representation, and that British parliament represents citizens of England anywhere they
On April 27, 1773, the British Parliament passed the Tea Act, which was supposed to, as History’s article, “Tea Act,” states, “was not to raise revenue from the colonies but to bail out the floundering East India Company, a key actor in the British economy.” The colonists viewed the Act as another example of the British Parliament abusing taxation. To further express the colonists’ hatred towards the Tea Act, John Green explains in his YouTube video, “Taxes & Smuggling - Prelude to Revolution: Crash Course US History #6,” that “Some colonists were upset that cheap tea would cut into the profits of smugglers and established tea merchants, but most were just angry on principle.” At the time, tea was just as equally an important beverage to both the colonists and the British, and having the British tax the tea showed
A great things started somewhere. For a powerful, free, and role model country like the United States of America started somewhere. The journey of our storied revolution and transformation to one of the world’s premier powers have its roots derived from Great Britain. Unjust colonial rules implanted by the King of England acted as the catalyst for revolution amongst the colonies. Once a happy family, key events triggered discussion about possible separation from the harsh rule of the mother country. The citizens of the 13 colonies were justified in rebelling from Great Britain due to the act of numerous grievances committed by the King, mistreatment and abuse by
The Tea Act. Lowered the price of the Tea, but the American colonists already did good business trading the Dutch tea, and the tax on tea was still in effect in the ports. The colonists wanted the ships with tea to be sail, but local governors will not let them leave, ships sat in Boston Harbor, and then the Boston tea party occurred.
The Revolutionary War was from 1775-1783. The war was between Great Britain and North America. When the orders had arrived in america, British's orders were about two months out of date. Britain was fighting against us at war, while they were retaining the allegiance of loyalists. The war had ended with The Treaty of Paris in 1783.
The prime purpose of the First Continental Congress was to form a colonial resistance to the Coercive acts. The meeting lasts from September 5th to October 6th, 1774, and the delegates considered many options, such as an economic boycott of English trade. In the end, they chose to petition King George III with a document addressing the grievances of the aforementioned Acts. They would also prepare for a second Continental Congress in the event their petition was ignored. Ultimately, their appeal to the king had no effect, and was disregarded by King George III. The Congress was not without effect, however. There were two main accomplishments of the First Continental Congress. The first was a compact the colonies made to boycott British imports that would . The compact went into effect on December 1st, 1774. This movement was strictly enforced, so much that committees of observation and inspection were to be formed in each Colony to ensure compliance with the boycott. If the Intolerance Acts were still enacted, the colonies would completely end with Britain on September 10, 1775. The latter would not come to pass because of the Revolutionary War. The other contribution of great importance was that the First Continental Congress had been prepared to set up a subsequent meeting
There were many thoughts and ideas that the colonists of America had, but there was one thought that surpassed the rest. Revolution. Now this word does not mean war, though many may think that immediately after hearing such a powerful word. Revolution means change, and that was what the colonists needed. Though they still had the "rights" that were provided abroad, these rights were not the same in the colonies. Also the taxes that were being placed in the colonies had no help to them, but only to the king. With many changes needed to be made for America to be great, it was time for the colonists to act.
This outraged the colonists, especially the ones from Massachusetts. As a result of this act, the colonists assembled the First Continental Congress. The First Continental Congress had fifty six delegates from the colonies meet in Philadelphia to discuss American rights. They agreed that the colonies had the rights to run their own affairs and if the British used military force, they would fight back. This congress was very important because it signifies the colonists working together in unison against the British.
After a long and growing unrest in the colonies, the American Revolution was a long time coming. The Seven Years’ War between France and England brought many issues to the colonies and for their settlers, which would build up to cause a longstanding battle between nations.
A year later the Stamp Act was repealed because of the violent acts that the Sons of Liberty committed, a violent liberal group. In 1767 the Townshend Acts were passed. There were duties placed on colonial imports of lead, glass, paint, paper, and tea. It resulted in a Boycott of British goods. It also legalized the Writs of Assistance, which were search warrants (Encarta 99). In 1770 Crispus Attuckus and followers gathered at a Boston customs house. Several colonists threw snowballs at soldiers, which ended in the deaths of five patriots. This was called the Boston Massacre. Innocent people were being killed which turned over a new leaf in the rise to revolution. In 1770 all of the Townshend acts were repealed except for the tax on tea. This lead to the Tea Act of 1773, which stated that only the East India Company could import and sell tea. When the very first shiploads of tea arrived in the thirteen colonies, the Sons of Liberty were ready to act. In South Carolina they locked the tea in warehouses, in New York and Philadelphia they forced ships to turn around without unloading their tea, and in Maryland they lit ships on fire that carried tea. The worst was in Boston where the Sons of Liberty boarded all of the ships and dumped the tea into the harbor. This event was named the Boston Tea Party (King, McRae, Zola 95)
These acts had been around for a long time and caused little problems. They often benefited from these acts because although they had to buy from England, it was the most advanced industrial country and could often offer the best prices. The first tax to cause trouble in the colonies was the Sugar Act followed closely by the Stamp Act. The Sugar Act was truly just a restatement of old customs laws in an effort to raise money. The Stamp Act was a tax in which anything formally written or printed would have to be on specially stamped paper which was shipped from London. The colonists would soon pay taxes "at every stage of a lawsuit, that diplomas and deeds, almanacs and advertisements, bills and bonds, customs papers and newspapers, even dice and cards, would all be charged," (Morgan 19). The colonists reacted very violently to these taxes. They protested and boycotted throughout the nation and the British Parliament soon repealed the tax. Radicals began to proclaim the fact that there should be no taxation without representation. This meant that colonists should be represented in Parliament if they were going to be taxed by them. The British stated that every member of the Parliament was there to represent the whole Empire, not just the electors he represented. Therefore, the Americans would have no representation in Parliament. In 1773 the British decided to tax tea. They granted the British East India Company to ship their goods