Causes of the American Revolution

There were many, many factors that led to the America Revolution. To make the assertion that one event led to the Revolution is beyond ridiculous, although may people believe something along those lines. The Intolerable Acts, Boston Tea Party, Boston Massacre, skirmishes at Lexington and Concord, or any one even was not the catalyst behind it, but each of these helped shape the Revolution. In this essay, however, this author has chosen to focus on the legislation passed in England that drove the colonists to the brink of war.

The most basic, root cause of the Revolution was, quite simply, this: the colonists felt that they were still Englishmen, and as such, should receive all the rights and proper treatment, however, the British felt that the colonies were there to be exploited for the greatest benefit to the Crown. This is best seen in the years following the French and Indian War. Britain, saddled with years of war debt, believes the colonies should help pay for this, since a portion of the wars were fought on American soil. In 1763, Parliament passes the Proclamation of 1763, thus creating what is dubbed “the Proclamation Line”, not allowing colonists to settle west of the Appalachian Mountains. This act was passed primarily to protect the colonists and satisfy the Indian tribes, but to many of the colonists, this was highly offensive. The next year, the Revenue Act of 1764, more commonly known as the Sugar Act, was passed in Parliament, increasing duties on sugar to raise revenue for that pesky English war debt. (“Revolutionary War: Birth”, 2008) This act also taxed molasses, silks, wines and potash, and worked the colonists into a near frenzy. There were other Acts passed that year by Parliament that were harmful and suppressive to the colonies as well, such as the Currency Act, but the next major Act passed that was incredibly degrading to the colonists was the Quartering Act of 1765.

The Quartering Act forced the colonists to house, feed and care for any English soldier that came into their home; this Act allowed the British government to have an increased troop presence in North America without having to worry about overpopulating their barracks or paying for food, as well. The real price, however, was the increased tension between colonists and the British Regulars, as the close contact and the fact that colonists’ homes were – for all intensive purposes – being broken into, it wasn’t exactly the best atmosphere to engender good feelings and mutual respect. The Stamp Act was introduced and passed the very next year, which put a tax on virtually all things printed, and spawned the Stamp Act Congress, a group of colonial gentlemen who compiled a list of grievances against the Crown, and the Sons of Liberty, who come into play later in the story.

The Townshend Acts, passed in 1767, caused increased duties on imported glass, paper and tea, but these were simply bypassed by the colonists smuggling said items into ports illegally. When Parliament heard about the smuggling rings, however, they sent more troops to the Americas in an attempt to quash the unlawful commerce. There were no more Acts passed by Parliament for three years; but, in 1770, a mob of colonists clashed openly in the streets of Boston, where the British Regulars opened fire on the civilians after being harassed and pelted with ice and snowballs with rocks inside. Five colonists were killed, and the soldiers, along with their commanding officer were tried via court martial. Defended by John Adams, who would eventually become the second President of the United States, and Josiah Quincy, only two of the soldiers were found guilty of manslaughter: the rest, including the officer, were all acquitted. (Jones, 1999) This incident was put to excellent use as propaganda to unite the colonies against the British Crown. Both Paul Revere and Samuel Adams, among others, had the story of supposed British cruelty, and its accompanying image spreading like wildfire throughout the colonies within days of it occurrence.

The Tea Act of 1773, coupled with the tea portion of the Townshend Acts, was purely to assist the British East India Trading Company’s sales in the colonies, buy essentially creating a monopoly for them via legislation. The colonists would have none of that, so a group from the Sons of Liberty – who we saw earlier – disguised themselves as Indians and snuck aboard three British ships carrying East India Co.’s tea, and dumped all 342 chests of it overboard into Boston Harbor. This outraged the British, and when the government of Boston refused to pay for the tea, and the duties required by law, the English closed the port.

To deter any further demonstrations, Parliament passed what became to be known as the Intolerable Acts. These were passed in response to the Boston Tea Party, and placed many restrictions on the colonists, including outlawing town meetings and any sort of public assemblies and the official closing of Boston Harbor.

After the First Continental Congress met later that year, and a boycott of British goods was agreed upon, the Crown decided to take more extreme actions. In April, 1775, British Regulars set out to the town of Concord to seize colonial munitions, and to arrest both Samuel Adams and John Hancock. However, at a small town called Lexington, the Regulars encounter a group of men from the local militia. No one knows who fired the first shot, dubbed the “Shot Heard ‘Round the World”, but all it took was that little spark. The America Revolution had begun.

References

Jones, Jeremy. (1999). American Revolution Persuaders. Connecticut Business Web. Retrieved September 11, 2011, from http://www.ctbw.com/jones.htm

Kelly, Martin. (2011). Causes of the American Revolution. American History on About.com. Retrieved September 11, 2011, from http://americanhistory.about.com/od/revolutionarywar/a/amer_revolution.htm

Revolutionary War: Birth of a Nation. (2008) Retrieved from http://www.historycentral.com/Revolt/causes.html