The American Revolution can also be referred to as the United States War of Independence, “by which Great Britain's 13 colonies won political independence and later formed the United States” (Wallace, “American Revolution”). But there was no one event that started the American Revolution. I can say there were some major events that lead to the American Revolution, like the Passage of the Stamp Act, Boston Massacre, Boston Tea Party, and Battles of Lexington and Concord. This paper will address the events that created the American Revolution by also further explaining my personal thoughts on how these events came about.
Due to Great Britain having huge debt from the French and Indian War, British Parliament passed laws placing taxes on the colonists in America (Price, “Reasons behind the Revolutionary War”). The Sugar Act was an attempt to trick merchants to pay existing duty. The Stamp Act soon came about, creating a new direct tax. The Stamp Act was created so that all legal documents had to have a stamp and in addition, colonist gave british government money. Most colonist weren’t upset due to not having direct representation in the parliament imposed the tax. This Act had something to do with the American Revolution because colonists rioted against the Stamp Act. Also “boycotted British merchandise, and on March 4, 1766 the House of Commons voted to repeal this Stamp Act” (Holton, The History of the Stamp Act Shows How Indians Led to the American Revolution”).
Popular resistance throughout the colonial society started to spark. First, caused a major affect to numerous groups including lawyers and printers. Second, it affected the economy. Merchants agreed to not import, sell, or buy goods from Great Britain. Lastly, there was protest throughout the colonies. Still British being in debt, Britain tried to put new tax on the Americans in the form of the Townshend Act. The Townshend Act imposed taxes on a variety of imported goods such as glass, lead, paper and tea. The importation of goods were controlled over the high ranking officials. Soon after the Townshend Act was passed the Boston Massacre occurred on March 5, 1770. No, the massacre wasn’t massive, but it was considered to be the first battle of the Revolutionary War. It started with a small argument that began to escalate as more colonist gathered. With the bickering of the colonist yelling and throwing items at the soldiers, one heard fire and soon shots went into the crowd. This massacre left a total of three to five dead. The soldiers were trialed for murder but acquitted, soon after came the repeal of the Townshend Act.
The Boston Massacre holds important events that turned sentiment against King George II. The Boston Massacre quickly spread through communication throughout the colonies. Once again resistance led to repeal. Parliament didn’t repeal the one about tea, but still kept the right to tax the colonies. While the resistance for the Stamp Act was going on, elites went out of their way to react with violence. Mobs burned and tore down houses.
Soon after the Boston Massacre, the Tea Act passed. Which led to the Boston Tea Party. The Tea Act allowed companies to sell tea in the colonies directly. This lower the cost of tea for the colonist. Just like the Sugar Act, the Tea Act affected only small groups of people. Most people complained of a monopoly from the East India Company. By the Act being passed, it caused a group of Sons of Liberty members to disguise themselves as Mohawk Indians, board three ships in the Boston Harbor and pour out thousands of pounds of tea. The Boston Tea Party began a chain reaction which ended up resulting in the nation being free to drink tea in peace.
The Lexington and Concord was the first military engagement of the American Revolution. Tensions was already building between the colonial Americans for years over taxes. The night of April 18, 1775 British Redcoats marched on to Concord in order to seize an arms cache and Lexington to capture rebel leaders Samuel Adams and John Hancock. The colonist were warned and Adam and Hancock escaped. Colonial militiamen assembled at Lexington and faced British forces that were much bigger. Neither sides wanted to exchange shots but a shot was let off. Both sides soon exchanged shots and colonial militia fled to Concord. British Redcoats wasn’t able to find the hidden weapons in Concord. The militia was also known as the minutemen because of their speed with which they could mobilize fire on the British Redcoats from trees and houses forcing them to retreat. This caused the American Revolution to officially begin.
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