The Taxation and Events that Lead to the Revolutionary War

Before the Revolutionary War, the tensions between the colonists and King George of Great Britain were “very high”. The colonists were unhappy over the unfair treatment they were receiving from Britain. They were angry with the taxes and laws that King George had imposed upon them. Despite the taxes being for the French and Indian War, which Britain had fought to keep the colonists safe, they still were angered that they had to pay them. The colonists were unfairly taxed without representation and had a legitimate reason to be angry with King George and Great Britain. The only solution that seemed possible was war, so the colonists decided to declare war. The American colonists were justified for breaking away from the British because they were unfairly taxed and were treated unfairly by the British.

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.

The American Revolutionary war began in-part because of economic struggles England faced after securing safety for it’s colonies during the Seven Years War. England needed to increase their taxation on the colonists after the war to pay off its war debts. Prior to these taxes, the colonies were wholly content while under the wing of the British Empire. Not only because the protection the British provided, but also because of their deep reverence for the Motherland. Colonists were angered by with Parliament due to their lack of acknowledgement towards colonists rights and opinions. Colonists stood together in a defiant motion towards liberation from England’s tyrannous acts of lawless duplicity. Before British government was able to fully

The Act of 1764, also known as The Sugar Act, lowered the taxes on molasses but also it had more ways to enforce the tax. In addition to the tax on molasses they taxed things such as silks, wines, and potash. The Americans were outraged with this new law. The colonists did whatever they could to ignore this new law. The British passed the Quartering Act which basically said that the American colonists have to house and feed British forces who were serving in North America. This inflamed the

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.

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.

In the period from 1756 to 1765 England was fighting the French in the Seven Years War in Europe. The English also fought the French in North America. The English won both at home and abroad, but at a high financial cost. The English government decided to make the American colonists pay for their protection against the French and help subsidise the costs of the Seven Years War. The American colonists, on the other hand, did not agree that they were vulnerable and believed they could protect themselves as they had done for the past one hundred years. So the British

“Join or die” was once the slogan of the colonists during the French and Indian War. However, it changed to “liberty and justice for all” or “No taxation without representation” during the American Revolution. The British and the colonies had just won the French and Indian War, one would have thought that they would grow closer, however, they did not. England was in great debt from the war, and they made the colonies pay for it, Bypassing multiple acts and taxes. Factors such as harsh taxation without representation, unacceptable mandates, and oppression against colonists lead to the American Revolution April, 1775 as shown in Documents 1, 2, 3, and 4.

The Americans struggled a lot go gain their independence from their mother country England. They felt like they were still under England’s control even though they were in America. They believed that if they were in America they could establish things that they wanted which was to create their own type of government. They didn’t wish to be in control of England anymore which resulted in two wars. These wars were the American revolution and the War of 1812 in which the Americans were victorious.

The events leading up to the Sugar act and needing the troops for protection, was the French and Indian War. The war also known as the Seven Years war lasted from 1756 to 1763. This war was fought between the British and France. Therefore Britain was national debt so they taxed the colonists 3% on foreign molasses.

The British defeat of the French following the French and Indian War (also known as the “7 Years War”) led to the end of salutary neglect in America. Salutary neglect was a period of time in which the British interfered very little in colonial affairs, and this lasted from the end of the 1600s up until the British victory over the French in the 7 Years War. The end of salutary neglect marked the beginning of Britain’s increasing control over the American colonies and attempt in raising taxes to help pay for the war. The most well known legislatures they passed included the Proclamation Line of 1763, which restricted the colonists from expanding westward, and numerous acts taxing the colonies on commodities such as the Sugar Act, which taxed

About a decade before the American Revolution happened in 1775, there were lots of tension building up between the colonists and the British. The colonists did not like being under British rule and control because they liked freedom and wanted independence. However, the British government attempted to raise tax revenues by imposing more taxes on the colonists to pay for the leftover debts from the Indian-French War. Some of the laws passed include the Stamp Act of 1765, the Townshend Tariffs of 1767, and the Tea Act of 1773. Some events that escalated the tension include the Boston Massacre, the Boston Tea Party, etc. The colonists were justified in rebelling against Britain.

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 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

In 1776 was the year the American War of Independence, also known as the American Revolution, started. The American War of Independence was a dispute over land between estate owners and small farmers pushed American colonists into the interior where they fell into conflict with Amerindian peoples. King George III moved to restain american smuggling and raising taxes. Because of resistance, petitions, and boycotts that slowly turned violent, a war soon broke out. A new government system was created as they fought. Woman and slaves fought in the war under false accusations of freedom.