Preview

# Major Events That Led to the American Revolution: ~ Essay Example

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
336 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
# Major Events That Led to the American Revolution: ~ Essay Example
# Major Events That Led to the American Revolution:~
The road to revolution built slowly over time. Many events fed the growing desire of the thirteen colonies for independence. Following are the major events that led to the Revolution.

• 1754-1763 - French and Indian War

- This war was between Britain and France.
- British, colonists and Native Americans allies fought French And Native American French .
- Great Britain's national debt nearly doubled during the war.
- British expected Americans to help pay for protection.
- The war lasted 9 years.

• 1764 - Sugar Act

- This act raised revenue by increasing duties on sugar imported from the West Indies.
- Duty on sugar and molasses not obtained from Britain.
- Smuggling cased tried in Great Britain.

• 1765 - Stamp Act
This required tax stamps on many items and documents including playing cards, newspapers, and marriage licenses. Prime Minister George Grenville stated that this direct tax was intended for the colonies to pay for defense. Previous taxes imposed by Britain had been indirect, or hidden.

• 1767 - Townshend Acts

- These taxes were imposed to help make the colonial officials independent of the colonists and included duties on glass, paper, and tea. Smugglers increased their activities to avoid the tax leading to more troops in Boston.
- Money used to pay royal government.
- No Taxation Without Representation.

• 1770 - Boston Massacre

- The colonists and British soldiers openly clashed in Boston. This event was used as an example of British cruelty despite questions about how it actually occurred.
- British open fire killing 5 Americans.
- Parliament canceled the Townshend duties.

• 1773 - Boston Tea Party

- British sold tea even more cheaply than smuggled tea.
- Colonists dressed up as Mohawks.
- Colonists board tea ships
- Tea was dumped over board.

• 1774 - Intolerable Acts

- These were passed in response to the Boston Tea Party and

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    The British desperately needed to restock the Treasury and decided to increase taxes on British subjects, especially the colonist. In 1764, Grenville’s government passed the Sugar Act, which placed a new tax on the sugar that was imported from the Indies. Previous taxes had been put in place to support the local British officials, but this tax was created with the sole purpose of refilling Parliament’s empty Treasury. Along with other Acts passed, in 1765 the British government passed the Stamp Act which required certain goods to bear an official stamp showing that the owner had paid his or her tax on items like paper goods, legal documents, licenses, newspapers, leaflets and even playing cards. The Colonist were very against this Act because the British government was using the increased money to increase British troops in the colonies.…

    • 638 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    This Act taxed imported British goods, paid upon entry of port such as glass tea, and paper. Goods that the colonists did not produce themselves. This enraged the…

    • 407 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Declaratory Act 1765

    • 151 Words
    • 1 Page

    Since the thirteen colonies were deep in debt due to the seven year war they needed a way to get money to pay off the debt so Prime Minister George Grenville who thought that the colonists didn’t get taxed enough gave the idea of taxing the colonists for paper.…

    • 151 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    7 Years War Dbq

    • 637 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In order to pay off these debts, the British enforced taxes on the colonist. The following acts were placed on the colonists: Sugar Act, Stamp Act, Quartering Act, Townshend Act, and Tea Act. The Sugar Act placed a 35% tax on imported sugar and other items such as textiles, coffee, wines, and indigo. The Stamp Act placed a tax on all paper items such as legal documents, licenses, commercial contracts, newspapers, pamphlets, and playing cards. The colonists boycotted these goods in order to have the Stamp Act repealed. The Quartering Act was an indirect tax that required colonists to house, supply, and feed the British troops that were sent to protect the colonists. The Townshend Act is another indirect tax that was placed on the colonists. This act required a tax to be paid at the sea ports before the items reached colonial stores. The colonists began to boycott this act as well. Britain’s East India Tea Company was struggling as tons of tea sat in warehouses. Britain established the Tea Act to eliminate all imports of tea to Britain, and therefore tea prices were lowered. This was Britain’s way to attempt to deceive the colonists into paying a tax that they were trying to boycott. The colonist’s infuriation with the British led the Sons of Liberty to disguise themselves as the Mohawk Indians and poured forty-five tons of tea into the Boston Harbor.…

    • 637 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    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 of the Exchequer. He was determined to pay off the debt by 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 resentment was beginning to spawn. Next was the Currency…

    • 1770 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Well in the year 1770 the Boston Massacre happened. It started with colonists verbally insulting a British soldier stationed at a street corner. This later led to a physical assault acted upon the British soldier by the colonists. Eventually when more soldiers showed up to help aid their fellow soldier, they too were physically assaulted. This led to the soldiers firing into the crowd of colonists.…

    • 1450 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Sugar Act taxed all common goods such as sugar, lumber, animal skins, and whale bone. The colonists responded in a mild protest, but it was not a huge issue for most. The next act past was the Stamp Act. The stamp act highly taxed stamps and made it so every paper had to have a stamp. The colonist were very angry about this act so they rioted until the act was repealed. The next revolutionary act was the Townshend Acts. This taxed common goods such as paper, tea, paint, and glass. The colonists responded to this act by boycotting British goods. Eventually British government repealed all the taxes except for the one on tea. This was not good enough for the colonist, they wanted all the taxes destroyed. They acted on this by going out in the middle of the night and throwing in 342 crates of tea into the Boston Harbor. As a punishment British government passed the Intolerable acts. There was four laws included in this act, the Boston Port Act, Massachusetts Government Act, Administration of Justice Act, and the Quartering Act. In the Boston Port Act the Boston Port was closed until the people of Boston had payed for it all. This was very significant because that port was used to import food, the citizens would starve without it. The Massachusetts Government Act stated that all town meetings or…

    • 901 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Battle of Bunker Hill was a large violent approach by the British. It brutally murdered colonists during a fierce battle, the colonists had barely that much of an advantage because of their choice of weapons and the farmers who never had experience vs the army of GB aka the world’s superpower. The Boston Massacre 1770 was a large example of the physical abuse brought on by the British army. British troops killed colonists through a riot furthering the colonist’s anger towards Britain. The Battles of Lexington and Concord was the same, because it was mainly physical abuse/violent attacks. The Boston Tea Party was an example of the colonist’s revolt against Britain. Protesters to the tea act dumped East India’s tea into the Boston…

    • 1228 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    After the French and Indian war, British parliament executed several laws that seemed unfair to the colonists in order to recover from the expensive war. Laws consisted of housing British troops and paying taxes on items like tea, sugar, stamps, etc. The British government argued that the best option was to raise taxes on colonists. On march 5th, 1770 colonists reached a critical point in which they felt the need to take violent actions towards the mother country. On this particular day colonists opened fire against the British troops which became known as the Boston massacre or the incident on king street. News regarding the incident spread throughout the colonies via letters or images like Paul revere’s popular depiction of the Boston massacre.…

    • 253 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Stamp Act Crisis

    • 775 Words
    • 4 Pages

    One major event that reveals insight on the cause of the American Revolution was the passing of the Stamp Act by the British Parliament on March 22, 1765. It required the colonists to pay a tax for stamped paper that all legal documents including marriage licenses, diplomas, newspapers and even playing cards were to be printed on. Prime Minister George Grenville proposed that a tax should be imposed among the colonies to help offset the costs of sending troops needed for their own protection and maintenance. The revenue that would then generate from this act was to be used solely for this purpose. In addition to this, the Stamp Act would not only make money for Britain, but Grenville intended for this tax to demonstrate…

    • 775 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    1:In the Boston (Bloody) Massacre, both Soldiers and Colonists were involved. It happened because some Rioters kept throwing rocks and ice balls at troops guarding a place called the “Boston Customs House”. The rioters kept calling the troops “Rascals” and “Bloody Backs”. They dared the troops to fire onto them, which was forbidden. After a bit, someone pushed a troop to the ground and the troops panicked and opened fire.…

    • 270 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    On March 5th 1770 a horrendous war broke out between the British troops and the Bostonians, it was called The Boston Massacre. 6 were killed and 5 were injured both troops and citizens. Some people have tried to blame this war on the citizens and most blame it on the soldiers. The bostonians started the fight but they most likely didn't think that it would escalate to the point it did. They took advantage of the soldier in acting in this way and got what they deserved.…

    • 325 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Before the American Revolution occurred, the colonies had experienced a laissez-faire style of government imposed by the British. The British believed in the policy of salutary neglect, which refers to the policy of avoiding strict enforcement of laws meant to keep American colonies obedient to England. The American Revolution occurred due to mercantilist policies imposed by the British due to an effort to lower the tremendous amount of debt after the French and Indian War (1754-1763). The British imposed new taxes such as the Stamp Act (1765) which was a tax on printed items. The Americans then began the slogan “No taxation without representation” which became the cry of the American Revolution. Although men took the front-lines of the battlefield,…

    • 959 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    When Lord North had most of the Townshend Acts repealed the tax on tea was not removed. By not removing the tax on tea was their way of telling the colonists they had the right to place taxes on merchandise being shipped to America. Merchants were not satisfied and protested against the taxation without representation. American pot cities were still being sent tea by the British but the Americans were buying most of their tea from smugglers. Merchants had come to an agreement not to sell the tea and it began to pile up in the warehouses.…

    • 932 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Next, the colonies had made numerous riots due to the unfairness of the taxation from the dept. of the French and Indian war. One of the famous riots probably everyone that’s an American citizen knows which is the Boston massacre. What happened that day had changed American history forever. It was in the winter when a group of men had started a riot in the city of…

    • 500 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays