Causes of the Revolutionary War

I. After the French and Indian War a. The Native Americans became alarmed in the Great Lake and Ohio River Valley regions became worried. b. The Natives response was to attack the British, so the King passed the Proclamation of 1763 which banned settlers from moving west. c. British Financial Troubles i. The British were in financial trouble because of the cost of the war and turned to the colonists to help pay for it. d. What did the British do the colonists? i. The Sugar Act 1764 1. Colonists had to pay 3 cents on sugar (and coffee/wine/indigo) ii. The Quartering Act of 1765 1. Colonists had to provide shelter and supplies for British troops that were left in the colonies iii. The Stamp Act of 1765 1. Placed a tax on newspaper, legal documents and other printed material iv. Declaratory Act 1767 1. When the Stamp Act was repealed, the British (on the same day) passed this act which said Parliament could make any policy and rule over the colonists. v. Townshend Acts 1767 1. Placed duties on imported goods like glass and tea vi. The Tea Act 1773 1. Gave the British East India Company the rights to sell in North America without paying taxes 2. Bostonians resisted by blocking ports to not let the British East India trading company into the city, then sneaking onto the ships in the middle of the night and dumping all of the tea into the harbor. vii. Coercive Act 1. The acts stripped Massachusetts of self-government and historic rights,
triggering outrage and resistance in the Thirteen Colonies. They were key developments in the outbreak of the American Revolution in 1775.

e. Colonial Response i. Colonials responded strongest to The Stamp Act because it was a deliberate move to raise money 1. Colonists created the Stamp Act Congress which claimed no taxation, without representation. 2. The Stamp Act Congress would petition and write letters to the king ii. Boycotts

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1. A refusal to buy certain products or use different services. 2. The people would boycott British products and policies iii. Sons of Liberty and Daughters of Liberty 1. Groups opposed to Britsh rule. f. Boston Massacre i. Mach 5, 1770 ii. Colonists and British soldiers squared off in Boston, when British soldiers fired into the crowd killing 5 people. iii. Britain cancelled the Townshend Acts soon after g. Sam Adams and others formed a committee between all the colonies to organize resistance The First Continental Congress a. September 5, 1774 the First Continental Congress convened in Philadelphia to plan a united response to the Intolerable acts b. 56 delegates came from every colony but Georgia and they had a wide range of views c. Results i. Boycott English products ii. Form a colonial militia iii. The foundation of English liberty, and of all free government, is a right of people to participate in their legislative council: and as the English colonists are not represented andcannot properly be resented in the British parliament, they are entitled to a free and exclusive power of legislation in their several provincial legislatures, where their right of representation can alone be preserved iv. The King remained stubborn and saw war as the only way to put down the colonial rebellion.