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Causes of the American Revolution
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Causes of the American Revolution Captain John Parker said in 1775, “ Don’t fire unless fired upon , but if they mean to have war , let it begin here”, This quote was between the battle of Lexington and Concord . The American Revolution had many events that were important such as, the Townshend Act, The Boston Massacre, and the Boston Tea Party. The Townshend Act the main cause was taxed lead, glass, paint, tea, and other things. In parliament the colonists were angry about these taxes because they didn’t get any representation. The colonists were so angry they started burning things,boycotting, and smuggling goods. The British parliament repealed the tax . The colonists felt confident that they can stand up to the British.
After the French and Indian War, Great Britain was in tremendous debt and had additional land to rule. By cause of their debt and their obligation to their new land, they began to put taxes on the colonists living in that land. The colonists were enraged because they were getting taxed without representation in British Parliament. Two acts that caused some of these reactions are the Stamp Act and the Townshend Acts. Overall, British actions after 1763 caused numerous reactions from the colonists, which led to the American Revolution.
Lucia Raatma’s “The Battles of Lexington and Concord” is important because it describes why the battles were fought and their effects. The American Revolution as a whole was fought to “give colonies freedom from British rule” (Raatma 4) due to unfair taxation from King III of England (Raatma 8). This shows that the driving force of the revolution was the dissatisfaction of the colonists concerning the treatment they received from the king. As a result, the colonists had had enough of the unfairness and tyranny and decided to take matters into their own hands. Several acts of protests, such as the Boston Tea Party, made the British king “furious” (Raatma 10). As a response to these protests, the king sent more soldiers and made stricter laws, which only made colonists even more upset. The back and forth tension between the colonists and the British government was the reason why the Battle of Lexington and Concord occurred, and in turn, why the American Revolution began. The American Revolution caught attention from the entire world, giving the nickname to the first shot fired the “shot heard ‘round the world” (Raatma 5). The 13 colonies who were weak economically and militarily, were taking on Great Britain, a world power with a strong military, a situation which naturally other countries wanted to see. The firing of the first shot at Lexington marked the beginning of a revolution that other countries, such as France and Haiti, would soon attempt to mimic. There were several factors that contributed to the beginning of the revolution, which are significant around the world.
“Join, or Die.” “Don’t Tread on Me.” These are two mottos often used by Revolutionary supporters and fighters from about 1754 to 1783, and even sometimes today it is still used. These were battle cries that patriotic men would scream with all their might before charging onto the battlefield, where they might take their last breath. Nearly five thousand men gave their lives, for freedom’s sake. Their sacrifices were not done in vain, as the war was ended on September 3rd, 1783. This sense of victory and accomplishment is what lead these new Americans to further establishing their country, making their mark on history, and creating a new identity for themselves, as free men and woman.
At the battle of Concord, Captain John Parker said, "Stand your ground; don’t fire unless fired upon, but if they mean to have a war, let it begin here."
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.
...e. On the other hand, the British had up to the Battle of Lexington had colonist’s rebellion as a simple nuisance. However, as the American colonists retaliated and killed British soldiers, the British knew they had to use a stronger hand to force the colonies into submission. Thus the point of no return had finally been reached and the American Revolution began.
"The Shot Heard Round The World | History of American Revolution | 1775 | Boston Tea Party
The imperial tactics of the British Empire were exercised on the colonists through heavy taxes trade restrictions because of their mercantilist economy. The Stamp Act taxed the colonists directly on paper goods ranging from legal documents to newspapers. Colonists were perturbed because they did not receive representation in Parliament to prevent these acts from being passed or to decide where the tax money was spent. The colonists did not support taxation without representation. The Tea Act was also passed by Parliament to help lower the surplus of tea that was created by the financially troubled British East India Company. The colonists responded to this act by executing the Boston Tea Party which tossed all of the tea that was imported into the port of Boston. This precipitated the Boston Port Act which did not permit the colonists to import goods through this port. The colonists protested and refused all of these acts which helped stir the feelings of rebellion among the colonists. The British Mercantilist economy prevented the colonists from coin...
The Boston tea party was a brief incident among many, composing, economic, and political crisis that ultimately caused a revolution. These events consisted of The French and Indian war, the Stamp Act, the Townshend Revenue Act, the Tea Act, and of course the Boston Tea Party. The incident caused by the colonies infuriated the British government therefore as punishment parliament responded to the abuse with the Coercive Acts of 1774 . When the thirteen colonies once again decided to resist the British troops revolution spread. “We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.” This act later on lead to the American Revolutionary War, were years later independence was
The connection between Britain and the English colonies was that of the ruling of the colonies by the king of Britain, King George III and his parliament. The king’s ruling was very unfavorable for the colonists because of his tyrannic dictatorship and unjustly taxations. The mere thought of an island ruling an entire continent thousands of miles away with poor communication and lack of supervision of the colonies by the king, did not work in favor of the colonies nor for Britain. Three contributing factors for the outbreak of the American Revolution were (1) the king’s taxes, (2) neglect of the 13 colonies and (3) England’s mercantilism policy. King George III and his decisions were one of the major causes that had the English colonists fumed with anger towards Britain and this eventually led to the American Revolution.
The relationship between Britain and her Americans colonies slowly deteriorated between the 1750s and the beginning of the American Revolution. When the first British immigrants settled in America, the relationship of the colonies and their mother country was somewhat peaceful. In the following generations, however, their relationship became tenser as Britain imposed policies and taxes on unrepresented American colonists. The British believed they were right in doing so because they had large debts to pay from ongoing wars with France. These taxes caused uprisings among colonists which contributed to British occupation in America, leading to more rebellions. Eventually, the rift in the relationship between the colonists and the British led to the Revolutionary War and the formation of a new country.
This quote by John Parker is very important. He told the colonist to not fire unless the british fire first and to stand their ground. They did do these things, which can prove that the colonists did not want war, but only agreed to fire if it was their last resort. But before this battle began, Paul Revere, and four other brave colonists would secretly ride in the night through the streets. Minutemen, waiting at Lexington and concord for the British’s arrival. A war would break out upon the colonists and the british soldiers in Lexington, “the shot heard round the world” said by poet Ralph Waldo Emerson. This war would change our
We addressed what was wrong to Parliament and they sent us away. King George got angry with us because we were so active about not wanting so much tax. This scared Parliament and led to us getting the Townshend Acts. This was a series of taxes on goods like paper, glass, lead, sugar, molasses, and tea. We began protesting even more in many forms; we publically protested, boycotted the goods with extra taxes, and wrote some pretty hardcore complaints about England, like Common Sense by Thomas Paine. It got especially rough in Boston. On March 5th of 1770, there were active protests and 5 unarmed civilians were shot and killed by British troops. Later, in 1773, Sons of Liberty, led by Sam Adams and John Hancock dumped 3.5 million dollars worth of tea in the harbor. We call this even the Boston Tea Party. We wanted to let England know that we didn’t need
Wars affect a country one way another, either for best or for the worst. The outcome of the war can change a country and the citizens of the country. The American Revolutionary was a war where the affect was tremendous. The American Revolution began in 1775 till 1783. The American Revolution is also known as the United States War of Independence. As soon as people left England to come to United States there was smell of revolution in the air. The revolutionary war was a way for the United States to make a statement and move forward as a country that wasn’t underneath the British rule. John Adams, the second prime minister of the United States explains how the American Revolution began when he says, “The Revolution was affected before the war commenced. The Revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people” . Adam basically means that everyone was thinking about the revolution and in their minds they were already there, wanting to break free from the British rule. Once everyone was against England the people were ready for war. The American Revolution started for many reasons, some of the few are; social, economic, and political changes. These changes provided America to be an independent country with its own government. The increase in strict laws and violent events made many Americans angry and that’s why the revolution began. The French and Indian war, taxes without representation, as well as the first continental congress. These are just some of the reasons that Americans wanted the revolution; there are many more causes that can be justified for this major event. Americans did not want to be ruled by the British who were thousands of miles away from them, they wanted to have control of their country and have their own laws....
Today, in our lands, many people are struggling with laws that Parliament passed. These laws such as Stamp Act and Townshend Act taxed goods such as paper, lead, tea and other goods. Consequently, these laws angered many people, so many colonists are preparing to rebel and unite from England.