Causes of the Revolutionary War
1. French and Indian War
2. Stamp Act
3. Boston Massacre
4. Intolerable Acts
5. Declaration of Independence
6. Representation in Parliament
The French and Indian War:
The French and Indian War, which is the name given to
the American theater of a massive conflict involving
Austria, England, France, Great Britain, Prussia, and
Sweden called the Seven Years War. The conflict was
played out in Europe, India, and North America. In
Europe, Sweden , Austria, and France were allied to
crush the rising power of Frederick the Great, King of
Prussia. The English and the French battled for colonial
domination in North America, the Caribbean, and in
India. The English did ultimately come to dominate the
colonial outposts, but at a cost so staggering that the
resulting debt nearly destroyed the English
government. It was that debt that caused the
escalation of tensions leading to the Revolutionary War.
Tension between England and the
Colonies:
The French and Indian War, as it was referred to in the
colonies, was the beginning of open hostilities
between the colonies and Great Britain. England and
France had been building toward a conflict in America
since 1689. These efforts resulted in the remarkable
growth of the colonies from a population of 250,000 in
1700, to 1.25 million in 1750. Britain required raw
materials including copper, hemp, tar, and turpentine.
They also required a great deal of money, and so they
provided that all of these American products be
shipped exclusively to England.
England taxes the colonies to pay for
the debts of the war:
In the peace treaty of 1763 the British got most of
the French land in North America. Also as a result
of the war, the British began taxing the colonists
to pay for the war.
Taxation of the Colonists:
The Stamp Act
The Stamp Act:
The Stamp Act was passed by the British Parliament on March 22, 1765.
The new tax was imposed on all American colonists and required them to
pay a tax on every piece of printed paper they used. Ship's papers, legal
documents, licenses, newspapers, other publications, and even playing
cards were taxed. The money collected by the Stamp Act was to be used
to help pay the costs of defending and protecting the American frontier
near the Appalachian Mountains (10,000 troops were to be stationed on
the American frontier for this purpose).
The actual cost of the Stamp Act was relatively small. What made the law
so offensive to the colonists was not so much its immediate cost but the
standard it seemed to set. In the past, taxes and duties on colonial trade
had always been viewed as measures to regulate commerce, not to raise
money. The Stamp Act, however, was viewed as a direct attempt by
England to raise money in the colonies without the approval of the
colonial legislatures. If this new tax were allowed to pass without
resistance, the colonists reasoned, the door would be open for far more
troublesome taxation in the future.
Sugar Act:
On April 5, 1764, Parliament passed a modified version of the Sugar
and Molasses Act (1733), which was about to expire. Under the
Molasses Act colonial merchants had been required to pay a tax of six
pence per gallon on the importation of foreign molasses. But because
of corruption, they mostly evaded the taxes and undercut the
intention of the tax — that the English product would be cheaper
than that from the French West Indies. This hurt the British West
Indies market in molasses and sugar and the market for rum, which
the colonies had been producing in quantity with the cheaper French
molasses. The First Lord of the Treasury, and Chancellor of the
Exchequer Lord Grenville was trying to bring the colonies in line with
regard to payment of taxes. He had beefed up the Navy presence and
instructed them to become more active in customs enforcement.
Parliament decided it would be wise to make a few adjustments to
the trade regulations. The Sugar Act reduced the rate of tax on
molasses from six pence to three pence per gallon, while Grenville
took measures that the duty be strictly enforced.
Tea Act of 1773
The Tea Act, passed by Parliament on May
10, 1773, would launch the final spark to the
revolutionary movement in Boston. The act
was not intended to raise revenue in the
American colonies, and in fact imposed no
new taxes. It was designed to prop up the
East India Company which was floundering
financially and burdened with eighteen
million pounds of unsold tea. This tea was to
be shipped directly to the colonies, and sold
at a bargain price. The Townshend Duties
were still in place, however, and the radical
leaders in America found reason to believe
that this act was a maneuver to buy popular
support for the taxes already in force. The
direct sale of tea, via British agents, would
also have undercut the business of local
merchants.
Boston Tea Party
Take your tea and shove it.
George Hewes was a member of the band of "Indians" that
boarded the tea ships that evening. His recollection of the
event was published some years later. We join his story as
the group makes its way to the tea-laden ships:
"It was now evening, and I immediately dressed myself in
the costume of an Indian, equipped with a small hatchet,
which I and my associates denominated the tomahawk,
with which, and a club, after having painted my face and
hands with coal dust in the shop of a blacksmith, I repaired
to Griffin's wharf, where the ships lay that contained the
tea. When I first appeared in the street after being thus
disguised, I fell in with many who were dressed, equipped
and painted as I was, and who fell in with me and marched
in order to the place of our destination.
Boston Massacre:
The Boston Massacre was the killing of five
colonists by British regulars on March 5, 1770. It
was the culmination of tensions in the American
colonies that had been growing since Royal troops
first appeared in Massachusetts in October 1768
to enforce the heavy tax burden imposed by the
Townshend Acts.
Boston Massacre continued…
The first British troops arrived in Boston in
October 1768 and from then onwards there
was continuous antagonism between the
people of Boston and the those trying to
enforce the King's rule. The newspapers
printed accounts of the 'atrocities' committed
by the occupiers. British officers made every
effort to prevent trouble.
Intolerable Acts
Parliament was utterly fed up with colonial antics.
The British could tolerate strongly worded letters
or trade boycotts. They could put up with defiant
legislatures and harassed customs officials to an
extent.
But they saw the destruction of 342 chests of tea
belonging to the British East India Company as
“destruction of property by Boston thugs who did
not even have the courage to admit responsibility.”
Someone was going to pay.
Declaration of Independence:
Drafted by Thomas Jefferson between June 11
and June 28, 1776, the Declaration of
Independence is at once the nation's most
cherished symbol of liberty and Jefferson's
most enduring monument. Here, in exalted
and unforgettable phrases, Jefferson
expressed the convictions in the minds and
hearts of the American people. The political
philosophy of the Declaration was not new; its
ideals of individual liberty had already been
expressed by John Locke and the Continental
philosophers. What Jefferson did was to
summarize this philosophy in "self-evident
truths" and set forth a list of grievances
against the King in order to justify before the
world the breaking of ties between the
colonies and the mother country.