.... The Coercive Acts were mostly to punish Boston and Massachusetts, but one also expanded the Quartering Act. Parliament also passed the Quebec Act, which arranged the land in Canada. Colonists took this as an attack on them as they lost land on the Ohio River, and it heightened the fear of losing their representative assemblies. The tensions, ultimately, would lead to the revolutionary war.
For over a century Great Britain had ruled the colonies in America. Since the founding of the Chesapeake Bay colony in the south in 1607, and the Massachusetts Bay colony in the north in 1630, the colonies had relied on the crown for many of their needs. Over time the colonists established a social and economical system that was almost independent of the British Empire. In April of 1775, after many transgressions on both sides, the colonists decided that they no longer needed, or wanted the support, protection, and leadership of the country that founded them. There were many factors, both immediate, and longstanding that lead to the decision to fight for freedom from British rule.
Among the many complex factors that contributed to instigating the American Revolution, two stand out most clearly: England’s imposition of taxation on the colonies and the failure of the British to gain consent of those being governed, along with the military measures England took on the colonists. Adding to these aforementioned factors were the religious and political legacy of the colonies, and the restriction of civil liberties by the British. Parliamentary taxation was undoubtedly one of the greatest factors inspiring the American public to rebel in the years leading up to the American Revolution. One of the most striking examples of this kind of taxation was the Stamp Act of 1765. After many years of fighting, England badly needed revenues from their colonies, and they sought to acquire these revenues from the New World, thereby increasing their influence over the colonial governments. These theories of “New Imperialism” were what prompted Prime Minister Grenville to pass the Stamp Act. The Stamp Act of 1765 stated that persons of almost any profession were obliged to buy stamps for their documents. In other words, the act imposed a tax on every printed document in the colonies. For example, a printer had to buy stamps in order to legally be able to distribute his publications. While the act itself was not so detrimental to the economy, it was the ideals behind the act (a direct attempt on the part of the mother country to further itself and raise revenues in the colonies) which drove the revolutionaries’ cause.
In attempting to describe the origins of Revolution, American abolitionist Wendell Phillips once stated, “Revolutions always begin with the populace, never with the leaders. They argue, they resolve, they organize; it is the populace that, like the edge of the cloud, shows the lightning first.” However, when looking at the foundations of the American Revolution, this was simply not the case. Yes, while it is true that the colonists did organize and argue over how to communicate their grievances effectively with Great Britain, the idea of cutting their ties from Britian was the last thing that came to their minds. In this sense, it was the the British Parliament and King, not the populace, who instigated the American Revolution. The Parliament did this by ignoring the Colonist's protests through passing the Tea Act, which was viewed by many in the colonies as a way to tempt people from their boycott of British goods, and the King did this by refusing John Dickinson's Olive Branch Proposal – a proposal which showed the last of Colonial attempts to mend the problem Parliament started without going into Revolution.
The most important issue prompting Americans to rebel in 1776 is clearly parliamentary taxation. The first time a Parliamentary imposed tax threatened the livelihood of the colonies was in 1733 with the Molasses Act, stemmed from the loss of profit for the British West Indies under the Navigation Act. However, this act was avoidable and rarely paid. Following the long and harrowing French and Indian War, Britain was deep in debt and George Grenville was appointed British Chancellor. He was determined to pay off the debt by brutally taxing the colonies. He not only reinforced the ignored Navigation Acts, but he placed the new Sugar Act which was similar to the Molasses Act which put a tax on rum and molasses imported from West Indies, but this Act would be enforced. Needless to say, the colonists were not used to this intrusion of Parliament and felt that it was wrong because there were no members in Parliament to represent the colonies. They felt it was a direct violation of their civil liberties and the first whiff of resentment was beginning to spawn. Next was the Currency Act which disregarded the colonies paper money, forcing the colonist to pay in only silver and sending their economy into chaos. Perhaps the most important and controversial acts were the Stamps Acts that placed a tax on legal documents, almanacs, newspaper, pamphlets, playing cards and dice.
By the time the colonists had settled into their new land they had established some order such as small governments to keep the colonies in line. The ocean separating England and the colonies made it difficult though for England to guide the colonists successfully the way they had wanted. The main thing the British tried was implementing taxes, but they also went so far as letting the colonies on their own for awhile and using military to keep them in place. On the other hand, the colonists saw that the British were stalling their attempts at self-governing so they worked together to disregard any British policies. By the eve of the Revolution, colonists had developed a sense of their identity and unity as Americans that was brought about by the British parliament. Exasperated by British efforts to hinder their growing self-reliance, colonists began pushing them away by doing various things such as rioting, boycotting, or voicing their opinions on paper.
Without colonial consent, the British started their bid to raise revenue with the Sugar Act of 1764 which increased duties colonists would have to pay on imports into America. When the Sugar Act failed, the Stamp Act of 1765 which required a stamp to be purchased with colonial products was enacted. This act angered the colonists to no limit and with these acts, the British Empire poked at the up to now very civil colonists. The passing of the oppressive Intolerable Acts that took away the colonists’ right to elected officials and Townshend Acts which taxed imports and allowed British troops without warrants to search colonist ships received a more aggravated response from the colonist that would end in a Revolution.
Some of the colonists were divided about the Intolerable Acts because they thought the people involved in the Boston Tea Party acted irrationally and gave American's a bad name. Others were incensed that the actions of Parliament caused such a drastic reaction from the colonists.
The 13 colonies shocked the British when they won the American Revolution. In April 1775, the colonists rebelled against King George III so that they could because independent. The American Revolution's fighting began in Lexington and Concord because the colonists did not want to pay taxes to the British. To win the American Revolution, the colonists had to have great leadership, motivation, and resources.
In the 1770’s the American colonists were being taxed too much by the British and they started to want their independence. Britain was taxing the colonists to pay their debts from the French and Indian War. The colonists started to fight back by tarring and feathering some tax collectors. Britain sent troops to the colonies which caused more problems.
There are a ton of reasons that made the colonies turn against Britain. Most of which involve taxes. Or more specifically, taxation without representation. This is the act of the government taxing the people who have no say in what happens to the government or their country. Other reasons involve laws, closing trade and the increase of british soldiers in the American colonies. The American colonists refused and boycotted the laws that the british were enforcing, causing the American Revolution.
Parliament needed to start taxing American colonists throughout the Seven Year Wars. They couldn’t raise taxes in the British population because their taxes were already too high. Their next option was to tax American colonists. American colonists were taxed on coffee, sugar, glass, paper, wine, and printed materials. Previous from the tax, tea from the colonies would be smuggled in from the Dutch since it had to be sent to England first.
Many people have the misconception that the American Revolution occurred because British colonists did not want to be British citizens any longer. This may have been the case for a select few, but many British colonists desired to maintain their status as British colonists and citizens. The foremost reason that the colonists began protests, boycotts, and petitions against the British was because they believed their innate rights as British citizens were being violated. The American Revolution occurred due to a chain of events and a complex set of intertwined reasons.
Overall, the imperial policy of the British Empire urged the colonists into a state of total rebellion. The colonial economy, geography, and politics had all been subjected to unfair consequences. The acts that were passed served as a way for England to push the responsibility its debt and issues on the colonists. If the colonists’ grievances were appealed to, the colonists may have never rebelled against their mother country.
As a result of the outlandish taxation on the colonists, the colonies were outrage and about the taxes, that it resulted in their reason to rebel against the crown, and meanwhile the British frowned upon them in-trying to kept a tight control on them. An example of this is the Boston Tea Party, that the colonist dump all the tea into the Boston Harbor, in a act to show that they were not happy with Great Britain. Which resulted in with even more ACTs (laws) being passed by the British, that would only benefit Great Britain, and in their efforts of controlling the colonies. Great Britain ...