Causes of the American Revolution

Navigation Acts  Series of four acts that required all colonial goods to be transported on British ships only  Benefited British because of mercantilism, a theory that a country should sell more goods to other countries than it buys

French and Indian War   French and native Americans fight against British because of trade (mercantilism)  British win all French land in North America, except New Orleans  British is left with a large war debt for colonists to pay

Proclamation of 1763  Passed to prohibit colonists from settling west of the Appalachian Mountains  British stated it was protect colonists from the savage Native Americans, but the purpose was really to keep more control of the colonists by keeping them closer together

Stamp Act  Passed in 1765  Required colonists to purchase special stamps to prove that they paid the tax on paper goods, such as newspapers and legal documents  Way for British to make $$$ to pay off debts from the French and Indian War  Colonists reacted by harassing stamp distributors, boycotting British goods, and preparing a Declaration or Rights and Grievances  Slogan “No Taxation without Representation”

Quartering Act  Passed in 1765  Required colonists to house, feed, and provide clothing for British soldiers at the expense of the colonists

Declaratory Act  Passed in 1766  Stated that British parliament had sole authority to govern, tax, and make decisions for the colonies in “all cases”  Colonists reacted by boycotting British goods

Townshend Acts  Passed in 1767  Taxed certain colonial imports such as glass, tea, paper, lead, and other goods that the colonists needed because they did not produce them  Stationed troops at major colonial ports to protect customs officers  Colonists reacted by protesting “No Taxation without Representation” and organized a new boycott of imported goods

Boston Massacre  March 5, 1770  the killing of five unarmed colonists by British soldiers

Tea Act  Passed in 1773  gave the East India Company a monopoly on the tea business  Shut out colonial tea merchants by selling tea directly to shopkeepers at low prices  Colonists blocked all east India Company ships from colonial ports, except those that arrived at the Port of Boston  In 1773, a group of colonists dressed as Native Americans and dumped 342 chests (18,000 pounds) of British tea into the Boston Harbor  Boston Tea Party

Boston Tea Party  December 16, 1773  a large band of Patriots, the Sons of Liberty, disguised as Mohawk Indians dumped 18,000 pounds of tea into the harbor in protest of the Tea Act

Intolerable Acts  Also called the Coercive Acts  Passed in 1774 in response to the Boston Tea Party  Caused control over Massachusetts to be tightened by closing Boston Harbor  Restricted the colonists’ rights, including right to trail by jury and allowed British soldiers to search, and even move into, colonists’ homes  Colonists reacted by forming the First Continental Congress in September of 1774 and drawing up a Declaration of Colonial Rights

First Continental Congress  1774  12 of 13 colonies attended (no Georgia)  did not advocate independence;  it sought rather to right the wrongs that had been inflicted on the colonies and hoped that a unified voice would gain them a hearing in London  Sent the Declaration of Rights and Grievances, a list of wrongs committed against the colonists by King George

Lexington and Concord  April 19, 1775  Shot Heard ‘Round the World  First shots of the American Revolution

Thomas Paine’s Common Sense  January 1776  Pamphlet that encouraged undecided colonists to favor independence  Appealed to a colonist’s pride and intelligence