Start Of The American Revolution

Start Of American Revolution

3 Causes of the final rupture between the 13 colonies and Great Britain between 1763 and 1775

There were many causes that brought on the start of the American Revolution. A great deal of the civil unrest was brought on by the acts that followed the end of the French and Indian War. At the end of the war, most of which was fought on American soil England had incurred a dept almost double that of when William Pitt took office. Because the war was fought for the colonists, much of England believed that that they should be the ones to recoup the great financial loss that England had suffered. The colonists disagreed, as they saw it the French and Indian War served to strengthen England's hold in the colonies, and as British subjects thy should not be held accountable, while those in Britain had not impact.

The first attempt for Britain to recoup their monetary losses came in the form The Revenue Act of 1764, or the Sugar Act, The Sugar Act gave troops the power to act as customs officials and board ships suspected of smuggling and allowed them to seize suspicious cargo. Smugglers caught without paperwork would be prosecuted in a harsh courtroom. Greenville, had hoped that this act would reform smugglers and generate a good income for England. However, this only annoyed American Shippers and enticed smugglers.

The next big attempt that Britain put forth was the Stamp Act. The stamp Act was the preface for the first major conflict between Britain and the colonies. The stamp act was something new, a tax precipitated simply to raise money. The Stamp Act said that various types of documentation, such as newas

papers, pamphlets, contracts, court documents, licenses, deeds, wills, ship's bills of lading, all required a special stamp be embossed on the documents proving the tax had been paid. Also, the stamp was required to be paid in sterling silver, and hard money was very hard to come by in these days. The Act, though passed in February of 1765, did not take effect until November of that year, and by April the colonists had been notified, leaving them with 7 months to formulate a response. While the colonial governors were unlikely to do anything against the king, being that it was he that gave them office, this did not stop the colonial assemblies from meeting to discuss their objections and their recourse if they were to all out object. Eight of the colonies held discussions on the Stamp Act. By Octoebr 1765 delegates were sent to New York City by nine of the colonies to what became known as the Stamp Act Congress where they petitioned Greenville for repeal of the Tax. Their demands were to no avail. This distress at this taxation wran much deeper then any group of politicians. This tax affected the livelihood of many Americans, all those who required

any official paperwork would be affected and taxed. Each of these people needed to decide wether or not they would comply with this new law, or should they just boycott alltogether. The first massive effort to resist the act came in Boston, where Samuel Adams organized and led a large street demonstration in which they protest the tax by a mock execution