Causes of the Revolutionary War: A British Perspective

The Tea Act of 1773 was a tax passed by the British Parliament, which lowered the tax on tea, meaning Parliament could sell their tea cheaper than the American merchants. The Tea Act angered the American colonists because the act gave Parliament a monopoly over tea sales in the colonies. In response to the Tea Act, many colonists dressed up like Indians and dumped tea into the Boston Harbor to protest against the Tea Act. George Hughes stated on December 16, 1773, “ … We then were ordered by our commander to open the hatches and take out all the chests of tea and throw them overboard, and we immediately proceeded to execute his orders, first cutting and splitting the chests with our tomahawks…” (Doc. 1). Hughes go into detail explaining how he and the other colonists executed orders to dump the tea into the Boston Harbor because they

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.

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 English government reacted to the "Tea Party" with outrage and passed the Coercive Acts, which closed the port of Boston and put the entire colony under what amounted to martial law.

The Revolutionary War started in April of 1775, with the battles at Lexington and Concord. This war would mark the beginnings of the United States as a nation, fighting against the most powerful fighting force at the time, the British Army and Navy. This conflict would go on for a brutal 6 years until the final British surrender at Yorktown on October 17, 1781. In the end, both sides have lost tens of thousands of men, but how did it all start? The Conflict has its star with the rising tensions between the colonists and the British crown in the aftermath of the French-Indian War in 1763. The financing of the war had caused Britain to be in heavy debt after mobilizing troops to defend colonies. To offset this debt Britain began taxing its colonies, introducing the Townshend and Stamp acts. This act of taxation would anger the 13 American colonies as this was seen as an attack against their rights and to protest this, colonist boycotted and protested, but were met with the Boston Massacre on March 5, 1770. Tensions would rise, and the Boston Tea Party would begin on December 16, 1773. This would lead to the deployment of British troops in Boston and the eventual start of the war. But after all, it may not justified. The Revolutionary war cannot be justified only by a resentment of taxes on imports and a distrust of an Empire that had only finished fighting a war to defend its colony.

This is about the American revolution and the taxes the King of England put on the American colonists and how the American colonists thought that King George was a tyrant. The reason that writing this is to show how the American colonists reacted to the Acts that the King put on them. One of the laws was the sugar act of 1764 and the imports from Britain. There was also the stamp act of 1765 that made the colonists real mad . The result of the Tea act was the Boston tea party lead by the Sons of Liberty. The quartering act was the direct cause of the Boston massacre where eleven people were shot and five of them died.

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,

When the thirteen colonies were created, the colonies depended greatly on England in order to survive and make something out of this new land. England not only helped them economically but also in time of war against the French during The French and Indian War. It meant that England had to spend extra money helping out the colonies and also with any necessary equipment required to fight in the war. Back home, England had been fighting a war for around 100 years already, so helping out the colonies just added more to their expenses. England wanted to earn some of the money they had wasted, so England decided to raise and put new taxes on the colonies. The colonials thought some of these taxes were outrageous and began getting furious at England. This was one reason for the tension that grew between the colonies and England. Other reasons like the Boston Massacre, in which British soldiers shot and killed 5 colonials, and the Intolerable Acts, led to more anger and tension between these two. All this things eventually led to the colonies declaring war on England. I believe the most significant cause to why the colonies declared war on England was because of the

The American Revolution was undeniably the most pivotal time period in respect to United States History, but who was really to blame for initiating the conflict? While both the British politicians and American colonists shared the blame for the kindling of the revolution, one party was certainly more at fault than the other: the British. Through short-term causes of taxation and incommodious trade acts, and long-term causes of salutary neglect and involvement in the burdensome French & Indian War, the British politicians proved to ultimately be the most responsible for igniting the Revolutionary War.

By March 1774, new rules were already being setup by the Parliament, including the Boston Port Act, which closed all ports in Boston. This was one of the most crucial parts of the Intolerable Acts. A man by the name of Edward Burkos gave a speech that was against the Boston Port Act. His speech included this sentence,” To make a place Situate on a sea coast, as an inland place, is the heaviest punishment that can be.” This act now affected the people inside and as well as the people outside of Boston. The people inside Boston where now unable to send things outside to other colonies for money, and the people couldn’t send anything to Boston to make their money. Now each place is down a special thing that they need in order for survival. This causes people from both places to know break the law and smuggle in supplies for survival. The Parliament decided that the people of Boston need to pay back the British for their damage from the Boston Tea Party. Because they couldn’t send out any goods for money, they can’t get any money to pay back Parliament, creating a sticky situation for Parliament and for the colonists. Parliament put themselves and Boston up a creek with no paddle.

The causes of the American Revolution don’t just start at the acts that were passed, they go way back. Starting in 1763, the end of the French and Indian war. Wars are costly, so after this war Britain was in great debt, so as always they put that on the colonists, raising their taxes. Next is the Treaty of Paris 1763 when British gained land because of their win in the French and Indian War. From this gain of land, settlers began to move west making the Natives very unhappy. To save Britain from another all out war, they decided to pass the Proclamation of 1763 which stated that settlers were permitted to settle west of the Appalachian Mountains. This made the Natives happy, but us colonists felt differently. Britain should have fought for our land and our rights, instead they just gave it up to the Natives. Shows how much they care about us, right!

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

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.

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.

In 1770 an extraordinary number of British troops were stationed in Boston. The Colonists didn’t understand why there were so many troops after the war. This added to the already existent tension. The colonists taunted the Red Coats and on March 5, 1770 the colonists threw snowballs resulting a hasty decision by the Red Coats to fire at the colonists. Five colonists were killed and nine were wounded. This night is known as the Boston Massacre.