Events Leading Up to the American Revolutionary War Great Awakening (1730s-1740s) The Great Awakening was a sort of religious revival that swept through the English colonies and was a reaction against the Enlightenment which had started due to the mass of wealth and greed of the church and upper class, leading to up to the American Revolution by inspiring an idea of democracy and independence in the colonists. It connected the colonies by a religious bond and made many colonists feel they were equal because they united to protest the greed of the church and upper class, which was the sentiment of the protestant religion craze.
This freedom and equality that came with all the classes was completely opposite of the British’s idea of equality and independence. French and Indian War (1754-1763) The French and Indian War took place between the English and France and lasted from 1754 to 1763. British troops not only helped the colonists to fight the war, but were stationed in the colonies for protection after the war. After the war, the English had lot of debt. Therefore, Britain needed money to pay for the troops that had helped the colonists fight the war.
The British Parliament decided to tax the American colonies to help pay for the troops. This led to the American Revolution by taking money away from the colonists without them getting any say where the money goes giving them another reason to revolt. The colonists were not happy with the new taxes and began to protest these new taxes and laws. They said they should not have to pay British taxes because they had no representatives in the British Parliament. They began to protest “No Taxation Without Representation. ” With the loss of this war, the French became allies with the colonists.
Additionally, this led to the start-up of the idea that collectiveness gives the colonists more power. Treaty of Paris 1763 (February 10, 1763) The Treaty of Paris 1763 led to the American Revolution by increasing the taxes put on the colonists by Britain. Alternatively, the newly conquered British lands were too big for the British to protect. Another reason is that it made the colonists and French interact and become better friends after the French were defeated by the British. This gave them an ally that would stand up to the British. Stamp Act (March 22, 1765)
Passed by the British Parliament, the Stamp Act imposed a new tax on American colonists requiring them to pay tax on every piece of printed paper they used. The money this new tax generated was used to defend and protect the American Frontier. This led to the American Revolution as colonists felt that this was an unfair exertion of power by England. The colonists opposed the tax as it was imposed without the approval of the colonial legislatures, which they felt gave them very little, if any, representation for the taxes they were paying.
Furthermore, those accused of violating the Stamp Act, they could be prosecuted in courts without juries, which added to the building tensions. Stamp Act Congress (October 7 – 25, 1765) The Stamp Act Congress was an inter-colonial conference that took place in New York as a response to the Sugar Act and the Stamp Act to assert “no taxation without representation. ” Every colonial legislature but one signed the Stamp Act Resolves, which was important to the American Revolution in that it was an essential step toward the unity that would be necessary to declare independence from England in the future.
Declaratory Act (March 18, 1766) The Declaratory Act was a declaration by the British Parliament which stated that the British Parliament’s taxing authority was the same in America as it was in Great Britain (following the Sugar Act and Stamp Act. ) The message was made clear that under no circumstances did Parliament abandon in principle it’s right to legislate for the 13 colonies. It led to the American Revolution by giving the high level British taxes they can get from people 1000 miles from them in America.
This upset the colonists because the British Parliament had power over them and they did not even live in the colonies. Eventually this gave them another reason to stand up against the British. Townshend Revenue Act (Duties) (June 29, 1767) Led by Charles Townshend, the British Parliament a number of new taxes on the American colonies in 1767 called the Townshend Duties to increase revenue from the North American colonies. This act passed duties glass, lead, painter’s colors, paper, and tea imported into the colonies.
This money was to be used to pay royal officials in the colonies and make them independent of the colonial assemblies, which the colonies did not like, creating a new conflicts between the colonies and Great Britain. Reactions to these measures caused increased tensions between the colonies and Great Britain, especially in Boston. Similar to when Britain imposed the Stamp Act, the colonists began to protest and the British brought in soldiers to keep order. Boston Massacre (March 5, 1770) The Boston Massacre occurred on March 5, 1770 when British soldiers in Boston opened fire on a group of American colonists killing five men.
Thirteen people were arrested including eight British soldiers, one officer, and four civilians. They were charged with murder and put on trial. The Boston Massacre became a collective appeal for patriotism in the colonies. Although the American Revolution would not start for another five years, this event caused people to view British rule in a different perspective. Committees of Correspondence (1773) The Committees of Correspondence was an inter-colonial committee that kept the colonists informed of British actions and they planed resistance to them.
The Committees of Correspondence were the American colonies’ first efforts at maintaining communication lines with one another in the years before the Revolutionary War, when the deteriorating relationship with Great Britain made it increasingly important for the colonies to share ideas and information. Tea Act (May 10, 1773) The Tea Act, passed by the British Parliament on May 10, 1773 caused a significant revolutionary movement in Boston which was one of the final sparks that led to the American Revolution.
The Tea Act was designed to help the sales of the East India Company which was experiencing financial difficulty and had a significant surplus of tea they need to sell. The Tea Act allowed them to sell the tea at high prices. There was so much mistrust of the British Parliament by the colonists that American leaders believed that this act was a deliberate move to buy popular support for the taxes already in place and were upset that this would undercut the businesses of local merchants. Reactions to the Tea Act led to increased tensions and eventually to the Boston Tea Party later that same year in 1773.
Boston Tea Party (December 10, 1773) On the night of December 10, 1773, radical townspeople of Boston, disguised as Native Americans, overtook the ships that held the tea belonging to the British East India Company and tossed 342 chests of tea into the water, which was a significant financial loss. This defiance enraged the British Parliament. This led to the American Revolution because the people felt free from British power for that moment. They were fed up with the British Parliament and they were thinking this taxation for their goods without them getting any say where it goes and where its being used.
This ignited the idea the British need to leave the colonies. Intolerable Acts/Coercive Acts (1774) March 31, 1774 -Boston Port Act May 20, 1774 – Administration of Justice Act May 20, 1774 – Massachusetts Government Act June 2, 1774 – Quartering Act of 1774 June 22, 1774 – Quebec Act The Intolerable Acts, passed by the British Parliament in the spring of 1774 after the Boston Tea party, were viewed as a series of disciplinary laws designed to punish the Massachusetts colonists for their defiance in throwing a large tea shipment into Boston harbor.
The harshness of the acts caused the colonial leaders to view their and rights under threat, and eventually led to a boycott of all British goods. If the Intolerable Acts were not cancelled within a year, the colonies agreed to halt exports to Britain as well as support Massachusetts if it was attacked. These efforts pulled the colonies together and pushed them further down the road that led to the American Revolution (1775-1783. )
