The American Revolution of the 1700s

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The American Revolution was the very first contemporary revolution. A revolution is defined as an aggressive takeover of a government or a command in order to get a new, better system in place. The American Revolution was fought between America and Great Britain. In 1755, the Revolution took place because America wanted and needed a change; they wanted to be independent from Great Britain. America craved liberty and independence. The American Revolution was the first historic time that a group of people would fight for independence for the reason of gaining a set of moralities that were universal and would act as laws. The main reason why Americans wanted to be free of the rule of Great Britain was because of trade regulations, and taxes. The American Revolution ultimately started because of the issues that the British economy put in place. The first drama of the era of revolution was the opposition to the Stamp Act; it was also the first major split between the colonists and Great Britain. The issue of freedom was brought up with the drama of the Act. The Stamp Act was the first time Parliament would attempt to raise money from direct taxes in colonies. This is when the phrase “taxation without representation” became a well-known and popular phrase. The colonist did not have any representatives in the British parliament, which meant that they had no way to vote on how they would be taxed or how they would be represented. With this lack of representation the British were free to tax the colonist on whatever they wanted and for how ever much they wanted. This caused uproar from the colonists, and made them want freedom from Great Britain. America wished that in the name of liberty they would be able to govern their own activities. Countless crises took place between the British and Americans, the Townshend Crisis, when London decided to impose a new set of taxes on Americans; a boycott began in Boston and soon spread to the Southern colonies. Americans showed resistance to the British goods. Boston soon became a focal area of conflict between the British and Americans. In March of 1770, after a snowball fight between Bostonians and British what is known as the Boston Massacre took place, leaving five Bostonians dead. The Tea Act also took place where there was a tax on tea, which just furthered proved the power of the British.

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