The Causes of the American Revolution

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The Enlightenment and Great Awakening was an intellectual movement where colonials were becoming antiauthoritarian, questioning authority, and the Puritan faith needed a more honorable society that had people who had a desire to be more Christian. Quoted by Rev. Jonathan Edwards a Puritan minister, “Sinners in the hands of an Angry God” is an emotional and descriptive explanation of how god will treat you if you do not repent, which opened the eyes of many colonials. More pilgrims, or people who wanted to separate from the Church of England, were beginning to question the authority given to them from England and whether it was fair or not. This was just the beginning to the unagreeable riots/wars and legislatorial acts pass that led to the American Revolution.

In 1763 George Grenville was the British Prime minister who used the army as an excuse to tax colonials. The first act passed by Grenville in 1764 was the Sugar Act was an external tax that cut taxes on farm molasses, raised tax on farm molasses, and put an import tax: wine, coffee, silk, and linens. The act required shipmasters to provide a list everything in their cargo to help crack down on smuggling. The other influential law passed by Grenville in 1764 was the Stamp Act. This internal tax required a revenue stamp to be placed on certain documents within the colonies. All commercial and legal documents like: license, newspapers, broadsides, pamphlets, and college diplomas required a stamp that could cost anywhere from half a penny to ten pounds depending on the importance of the document. March 1765 newspaper men began spreading the word of the wronging of the tax and by November the Boston Gazette printed a paper at an angle to make a point to the king that the taxing they were giving was wrong. Grenville had beyond started pissing the colonials off and this lead to riots and demonstrations in the import cities. Grenville actions influenced the birth of the Sons of Liberty, a secret mob society made up of artisans, mechanics, merchants, and sailors, who organized riots against their target and carried their action with minimal voice. Stamp collectors were getting beaten up, run out of town, or tarred and feathered by the Sons of Liberty. His actions also introduced the Stamp Act Congress which included all the colonials who wanted to petition the king.

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