The British authority responded by passing the coercive Act which closed the ports until the debt for the tea was paid off. Prior to the seven years’ war, the colonist enjoyed great autonomy. The mother country rarely interfered with the colonist affair but however, after the war, the autonomy the colonists once enjoyed was significantly reduced. Britain put limitations to the colonies by adding the inauspicious Acts. The Acts fueled anger toward the Mother Country making their relationship precarious.
This gave colonists a sense of separation from Britain that exploded into war with a series of events starting at the Boston tea party and leading up to the battle in Concord. Each time Britain tried to gain hold of their colonies in America, the results backfired. Mercantilism was a way to keep American colonies in check but more so a means of monetary income. To Britain, their colonies were simply income of raw materials for production which equals money. To gain this money they had to export more goods than import.
Causes of the American Revolution Economics are the number one concern in America today just as it was in the 1760’s. America was built on economics, mostly by the British because of their help in the French and Indian War. The British helped the colonies fight the French in hopes of winning and controlling North America. They were successful but fell into a huge debt crisis and turned to the colonies for what the Brit’s considered to be pay back, taxes. Before The British could tax the colonists, repayment to the Indians for their help in the French and Indian War was necessary.
He put taxes on the colonists' tea, paper, and many other items that they used frequently, if not daily. These taxes were called the Townsend Acts and King George did not give colonists any say or vote in Parliament in the taxes. Part of the money collected even went to the colonial governor's pocket! To free themselves from these tyrannic taxes, the colonists united and boycotted British products. These boycotts caused the English merchants to lose money and so they turned against King George for provoking the boycotts.
In response, colonist Samuel Adams founded the Sons of Liberty. The group 'Sons of Liberty' was a mysterious group that led colonial protests, it is known as the first response from colonists because of British tax actions. Some examples of how the Sons of Liberty protested is that they would raid and destroy officials’ homes within the colonies, as well as boycott all British product that were taxed. Unfortunately for the colonies, that wasn’t the end of Britain’s unfair taxing that forced a colonial rebellion.Another example of Parliament and King George's attempts to retain control of the colonies was with what is known as The Tea Act of 1773. This tax action instilled by Parliament, the Tea Act, was put in place by Parliament to keep the British East India Company, a competing tea company within the colonies, from failing.
They thought that colonists were British subjects who should obey British law and the taxes were due to the French and Indian War which was fought to protect the colonies. They also felt colonies profited from trade with England, and that the colonies were too far away from England to have representation in Parliament. Patriots believed that they deserved rights that were not to be taken away by the government, and taxation violated those rights. They claimed to have done their part during the French and Indian war fighting, and that they could not be taxed without representation in Parliament. Patriots also believed the British were causing violence, riots, and death (Boston Massacre & Boston Tea Party).
This is because with the Stamp Act, which put a tax on receipts from a variety of commodities, went against the colonial policy of “no taxation without representation.” The Navigation Laws, they limited colonial trade to only British territories. This only would help Britain because they would have a market to sell their goods. This could have potentially crashed the colonial economy because they did a lot of trading with France and Spain along with other countries. Their market survived only because many colonists overlooked the law and smuggled the goods back and forth. The Townshend Acts were similar to the Stamp Act but they taxed different items, and they were put in place after the tax was repealed.
However, the many taxes passed by the British Parliament hindered their progress, upsetting the colonists. One of the first significant taxes was the Sugar Act of 1763, enacted by the british parliament, which added a tax to sugar bought by the colonists. This tax enraged the colonists because they enjoyed the use of sugar and they didn’t want to have to pay more for it. The colonists, in response, began to smuggle sugar and other goods. The british, in response to the smuggling, set up a court without a jury present and the presumption was that the colonists were guilty.
The colonists couldn’t afford to pay many of the taxes imposed by Britain, and thought that they were unfair and unreasonable. For example, The Stamp Act taxed pretty much everything, like newspapers, bonds, leases, deeds, college diplomas, and even playing cards. Because of the colonists extremely opposition against this act, the British finally repealed it in 1766, but it didn’t take them long enough to replaced with the Declaratory Act. It stated that Britain had full authority to impose whatever taxation they wanted to. Another act that directly affected the colonist was the Quartering Act of 1765, requiring all colonists to provide provisions and housing, which could be the use of inns and empty buildings by the British troops under any circumstances.
The war between Britain and France ended with the victorious British deeply in debt and demanding more revenue from the colonies. The Sugar Act, Currency Act, Stamp Act, and Quartering Act were all designed to make the colonies(which were in fact deeply indebted to England)carry some of the load for and provide support to their mother country. Unfortunately these legitimate acts were made illegitimate by the fact that they were demanded without representation. A popular phrase before the revolution was in fact, “No taxation without representation.” When the colonies applied for representation in Parliament they were ultimately brushed aside.The colonial leaders called continuosly for a boycott of English goods and the British sent troops in the city.These troops shot and killed five men in the Boston Massacre.The colonies responded with the Boston Tea Party and the fight went on until the win of the U.S. The enlightment ideas also helped American people in their revolution with thinkers such as John Locke and