Causes of American Revolution

There was not one single event that caused the American Revolution, but instead a series of events over a period of time that presented an ideology shared by the majority of the American colonists to free themselves from the rule of Great Britain. England was a monarchy led by King and Parliament that wanted to maintain control over the colonies. They passed laws that did not have the best interests of the colonies at hand, but rather, were in the best interests of England on how to use the colonies for gain. The colonialists knew this fact and demanded to be fairly represented in Parliament. When their pleas were ignored and thought to be pointless, they had no choice but to severe themselves from English rule.

The French and Indian War ended in 1763 with the defeat of the French forces by Great Britain. Even though victorious, the war left the British with a plethora of debt. Looking for new ways to raise revenues, the British saw the colonies as the answer. Although the colonists participated in the war, they had yet to invest any money to aid England in the financial crisis. England and the King believed that the colonies should pay an increased proportion of the costs associated with keeping them in the Empire, mostly for the defense of the land. This led to Parliament imposing new taxes and laws that restricted American trade leading to a resentment by American colonists of Great Britain.

Among the first of these taxes was the Stamp Act of 1765. The Stamp Act decreed that all official documents, newspapers, and even pamphlets were required to have stamps that you would buy from a Royal official. The American colonists protested against the Act claiming that they were not fairly represented by Parliament in the formation of these laws violating their rights as Englishmen. In reaction to the Stamp Act, colonists formed groups known as the Sons of Liberty and threatened the officials who were suppose to distribute the stamps. They also destroyed the depots of stamps so that by the time the Act was to be endorsed, nearly all the stamps were destroyed or the Royal officials were too scared to enforce them. Great Britain was contemplating whether or not to send troops to enforce the new law or to repeal the Stamp Act altogether. Benjamin Franklin argued in defense of the colonists explaining that the taxes were taking a heavier toll on the colonists than England realized and that it may lead to a rebellion by the colonists. Parliament sided with Franklin and decided to repeal the Stamp Act, but passed the Declaratory Act which retained the right that Parliament had to ability to make laws for the colonies in all cases.

Parliament was insistent on maintaining control of the colonies and passed the Townshend Acts in 1767. The premises of these new taxes was that it was an external tax unlike the Stamp Act which was an internal tax. England failed to see that the colonists were against any tax imposed by Great Britain on the grounds that it was unconstitutional without fair representation. The Townshend Acts imposed duties on imports to the colonies like paper, glass, and tea. These were items that were not produced locally in the colonies and were only allowed to be bought from Great Britain. The revenue of the Act was originally to pay the cost of an army in North America, but it was changed to pay the salaries of the colonial governors and judges. This was an attempt to make the judges and governors independent of the colonial assemblies. This agitated the situation with the colonists and they organized boycotts of British goods in response. Boston especially was turbulent with the new taxes and British troops were stationed in the city in order to enforce the laws. Unrest heightened when a large crowd of colonists surrounded and began harassing a group of British troops. The troops, feeling threatened by the mob, fired upon the crowd and killed five civilians. The event came to be known as the Boston Massacre and it was used to encourage rebellion against Great Britain.

Great Britain was adamant on being able to impose taxes on the colonies, yet they were met with the same resolve by the colonists who upheld that taxes could not be levied without representatives elected by the people of the colonies. In 1773, Britain imposed the Tea Act in order to expand the monopoly of the East India Company. The British hoped that the availability of cheap tea would quell the smuggling of non-taxed teas into the colonies. Unfortunately resentment of the taxes imposed by the British was at an all time high and colonists refused to accept the tea from Great Britain sending it back to the mainland in many cases. Colonists of Boston attempted the same thing when a load of tea came to port. They refused to take it and demanded it be sent back to Britain. The Royal Governor of Boston responded by not allowing the ships to leave port with the tea remaining on board. In an act of rebellion, a group of colonists dressed as Native Americans boarded the ships and destroyed the tea by throwing it overboard. This event known as the Boston Tea Party was the peak of a resistance movement that had been growing throughout the colonies over the Tea Act and other laws passed by Parliament. 

Great Britain was angered at the colonists for their actions and passed multiple acts in response to the Boston Tea Party. These laws became known as the Intolerable or Coercive Acts and they further dimmed colonial opinion towards Great Britain. Among these new laws was the Boston Port Act which closed the Port of Boston until the East India Company was repaid for the destroyed Tea. Another was the Massachusetts Government Act which changed the government of Massachusetts by taking power away from the colonists and putting it back in the hands of the British. All positions of the colonial government were to now be appointed by the governor or the King. Britain hoped that the fear of losing more control in Massachusetts would scare the rest of the colonies into submission. They were wrong and instead it only caused more outrage in the colonies. The Administration of Justice Act stated that the Governor could move trials to other colonies or even Great Britain if he thought that a fair trial could not be obtained in Massachusetts. Many feared that this Act would give British troops a "carte blanche" by not having to face the consequences of their actions. All in all, the Intolerable Acts were extremely harsh and caused more grief and outrage rather than submission to the crown. 

Enraged over the cruelty of the Intolerable Acts, colonial leaders decided to hold a congress to determine what should be done in response. Representatives from twelve of the thirteen colonies gathered on September 5th, 1774 at Carpenters' Hall in Philadelphia. During the First Continental Congress, many options were discussed with some wanting to start their own provincial government while others were concerned with mending the bridges between the colonies and Great Britain. In the end, the Congress decided to boycott British goods which lead to a drop of British imports by 97 percent into the colonies. The Congress also arranged for a Second Continental Congress in the case that the Intolerable Acts were not repealed by the King. They would also at that point stop exporting their raw materials to Britain. Fear of the colonists rebellion grew in 1775 and on April 19th, Britain sent a force of 700 troops to confiscate munitions and arrest revolutionaries in Concord. In route, the British troops met with local militia and a shot was fired just before sunrise. So began the first battle of the American Revolutionary War.

The American Revolution was a slow process taking over a decade for the idea of freedom to be defined and acted upon. There was not any initial intent on breaking away from British rule, but more of disgust with the way that Britain was ruling over the colonies. Enough to change the opinions of a majority of the colonists towards Great Britain. In the end, American colonists saw Britain as an unjust ruler and chose to fight for their freedom to rule themselves.