Causes of the American Revolution Essay

1- The French and Indian War (1754-1763) was a seven-year-long war among England and France. (France was unified with the Indians). The war did not authoritatively start until 1756. They were battling for the control of North America. This war was a part of a bigger war that was going ahead in Europe.

The American Revolutionary War was caused by the political disagreements between Great Britain and the American colonies. Most of the Americans initially didn’t want to completely separate from England but wanted to regain the rights that Parliament had taken away from them. England made war unavoidable with its unwillingness to negotiate, heavy taxation of the colonists that violated their rights, and strict trading policies.

The problem with the Plan was that the leadership community of the American colonies was more conservative and it was a small government, as well as the fact that the British were not ready to give up such control during a time of war to their own colonists. The British began to tighten their grip on the American colonists with the Proclamation of 1763 and the increase in troops that were present in the colonies. The Proclamation of 1763 dealt with the “Indian” problem, essentially ignoring the native people and restricting colonial ventures to all territory east of the Appalachian Mountains.

After the war finished in 1763, the british government tightened its reins on the colonies politically. One political way they changed the relationship between colonies and the british government, was by enforcing the Proclamation of 1763 in order to prevent any further conflict between the Native Americans and the colonists. In Document B, the purpose of this document is meant to be viewed by the british government in order to see the chief of the Onondaga Nation expresses his frustration towards the settlers taking over their land and being able to know his point of view on the topic. Even though the king was probably only trying to settle this feud, the colonists didn’t see it this way. They believed that the government was trying to restrict their use on the land in order to better control the colonists. For example, in Document A, the purpose of this document is to show us the land owned by Britain, and if Britain owns all this land, it is easy to understand where the colonists are coming from. However, by Britain imposing this constant on the colonies, it began to shift the relationship between the colonists and the british government. It didn’t help that Britain was suddenly enforcing laws such as the navigation law that was created years before it was enforced. The british government didn’t enforce the navigation law in 1763 even though it was created in 1651.

This enraged the colonist and made them rethink their political views. The Proclamation of 1763 also had a significant effect on the attitudes of the colonials towards the British. After the war and the Treaty of Paris, the Proclamation of 1763 was one of the first documents issued to govern the colonies. This proclamation simply stated that no further settlement beyond the Appalachian Mountains would be allowed. The colonists looked at the proclamation as putting an off limits sign on the Ohio River Valley which the whole war had started over. The Proclamation was actually misinterpreted by the colonist and Britain’s failure to clearly identify its intentions began the chain of events that led to the American Revolution. Each political step taken by the British after the French and Indian War drew Americans closer and closer to revolution.

Parliament decided that the colonies should help pay towards the cost of the recent war debt and for future defense. The first step towards this was the Revenue Act of 1764, generally referred to as the Sugar Act. The Sugar Act was also known as “an Act with Teeth,”(Mass Historical Society) symbolizing that it was an act with depth or of importance. The Act itself was divided into two sections. First, it was intended to raise money from trade between the British colonies in America. It levied import duties on a list of raw materials including: sugar, coffee, indigo, wine, rum, lumber, and various cloths. The Sugar Act made the Molasses Act of 1733 perpetual. Although it cut the tax on molasses in half, from sixpence to threepence per gallon, to discourage smuggling and to make the tax attractive. Second, the Act revamped and reinvigorated the customs service, which managed the collection of these import duties. For the first time, colonists argued that Parliament was depriving them of a fundamental constitutional right to have these goods duty free.

They gained all the land the French previously owned. However, they were left economically damaged. The cost of war was so much for the British to handle. According to an article on the effects of the war, it said the British victory on the war “meant a great expansion of British territorial claims in the New World.

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 French and Indian War had political repercussions on the relations between Britain and its colonies. For example, as shown in in a land ownership map of North America before and after the war, the French and Indian War ended with Britain receiving a huge portion of France’s land in the New World, all the way up to the Mississippi River. Since land is power, England grew far more powerful and influential on the continent of North America. Initially, the colonists were satisfied with the outcome and excited to expand. But in 1763, the British government passed the Proclamation of 1763, declaring the land west of the Appalachian Mountains not accessible to the colonists. This was because of the political juggling that the British government was trying to do. They needed a way to repay their Indian allies and fulfill the promises they made before the war. They couldn't do this and satisfy the colonists, so they chose to compensate their allies. This stirred contempt among the

The taxes that followed this Proclamation are: (1) 1764 the “Sugar Act” was passed which was an attempt from the British to actually collect the tax on molasses. Originally it was a tax of 6 pence per gallon that was impossible to collect. By the British reducing this to 3 pence per gallon they thought this tax would be easier to collect. (2) 1765 “Quartering Act” This act stated that during

There were many events that took place in the 1760’s and 1770’s that led to the Revolutionary war. During these years the British did many things that upset the colonists. These upset colonists would eventually get sick of all the British ways and fight for their freedom.

This resource loss had a massive impact on Britain. The outcome of the war never truly made up for the resources the British had to use to win, so they had to find another way to make up for the lost funds. This was achieved by taxing the colonies on many types of goods. The first thing Britain wanted to do was stop illegal smuggling. They attempted to do this through the Sugar Act. The Sugar Act, created by George Grenville, actually lowered the tax on

On July 4th 1776, a committee, formed to draft a letter to the King of England, formally signed a document containing a list of demands and statements of position that ultimately started the Revolutionary War. This action was not popular with all the citizens of the colonies but the majority of the people were in favor of it and the cause prevailed. This declaration was a poke in the eye of England and forced them to try to put the colonies in their place and reestablish the Empire.

The irregular and disorganized British rule of the American colonies in the previous years led to the outbreak of the Revolutionary War. Most Americans did not originally want to separate from mother England. They wanted to stay loyal to the crown. England’s unwillingness to compromise, mismanagement of the colonies, heavy taxation of the colonists that violated their rights, the distractions of foreign affairs and politics in England and the strict trading policies that England tried to enforce together made the revolution inevitable. The British were definitely expected to win the dispute because they significantly over powered the Colonists in most areas. They had more money, weapons, people, etc. However the American’s prevailed with

The French and Indian War, also called Seven Years War, was a massive conflict involving Austria, England, France, Great Britain, Prussia, and Sweden. The war took place in Europe, India and North America. The English and French fought for the total control of the colonies in North America, the Caribbean, and in India. While the English ended up winning the war, they were left with a debt so enormous it almost destroyed the British government. One of the ways the British government tried to shrink their debt was by collecting taxes from the colonies in America. One of the first taxes was the Sugar Act, which imposed taxes on sugar. Although resented, the Sugar Act tax was hidden in the cost of import duties, and most colonist accepted it. However, England was just getting started with colonial taxes.