By Bob Rebers

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Causes of the Revolutionary War

Click on a cause to find out more.

• Independent feeling of Colonists • French and Indian War• Mercantile Policy• Taxes• Neglect• Boston Massacre• Boston Tea Party

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Independent Attitude

The reason many colonists came to North American was for freedom, religious or otherwise.

Frontiersmen’s Attitude

British response

The British felt colonists owed them greatly for the financial help to start colonies and for the protection England gave them. This became especially true after the French and Indian War.

What if… French and Indian War

Frontiersmen had a very independent attitude. They traveled west into lands claimed by the Indians and the French causing disputes which lead to the French and Indian War.

What if… French and Indian War

French and Indian War

Because frontiersmen kept moving west and French fur traders kept expanding their fur trade east. The two groups eventually started claiming the same land. War ensued, England won, but had huge war debts. Who would pay?

Colonists British

• What if the British had started the colonists out and then gradually allowed them self-government?

• Would the War have been avoided?

• Would England have lost money or had a better trading partner in the colonists?

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• What if the frontiersmen had set up boundaries with the French and Indians?

• Would they have carried on prosperous trade?• Would there still have been a war with the

French and Indians eventually?

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If the colonists should pay for the war debts, how should they pay?

Taxes Trade What if…

British felt colonists had to support some of their own costs for defense by paying taxes.

To taxes

• What if England said we can’t take care of you any more, you, colonies need to be self-sufficient? You, colonies need your own army? You need to support yourself?

• Would the colonies have flourished?• Would trade have increased?• How would expenses be paid?

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Colonists could pay the war debt through taxes. The easiest way to tax colonists was through the products sold to colonists.

Taxes

Colonists could pay the war debt by continuing to trade with England. This trade could also raise money by the customs taxes or tariff charged for products.

Mercantile Trade

Mercantile Trade The British believed in the Mercantile

Trade Policy. This simply stated that the colonies existed for the benefit of the Mother Country.

Agree Disagree

The British controlled trade with the colonies and already in 1650 started the Navigation Laws. Colonists were prosperous because of British trade, especially the merchants in New England.

Eventually caused the Boston Tea Party

This control led to other laws to control income

Colonial merchants, mainly in New England, wanted more control of trade. They felt they could make more money trading with other nations and not following British trade laws.

Colonists action

Some colonial merchants broke the trade laws and smuggled goods into and out of ports not controlled by the British. These actions led to the Boston Massacre and the Boston Tea Party.

Boston Massacre Boston Tea Party

Taxes The British tried to raise revenue and control

trade through the following laws or acts. Click on them for more information.

• Sugar Act• Stamp Act• Quartering Act• Townshend Acts• Tea Act• Coercive or Intolerable Acts

Colonists view British view

Neglect

Colonists felt the British had neglected them after starting the colonies.

Colonists view British view

Boston Massacre A riot breaks out in Boston where tensions are

high between British soldiers and colonists. Five colonists are killed. This causes more disagreement and anger between the two sides leading to war.

Colonists view British view

Boston Tea Party The Tea Act gave the East India Tea Company

the right to sell tea to the colonists directly but with a tax. Colonists were angered by the law and threw 342 cases of tea into Boston Harbor bringing both sides closer to war.

Colonists view British view What if…

Sugar Act Passed in 1764 to raise money by taxing

molasses from the West Indies, this law was also known as the Revenue Act. George Grenville pushed this act through Parliament.

The Sugar Act also gave the British the right to search for smuggled goods.

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Stamp Act George Grenville pushed for this law in

March of 1765. It taxed all legal documents, such as, marriage licenses and wills. It also required stamps on newspapers, playing cards, calendars, dice, and other items. The Stamp Act lead the “Sons of Liberty” to boycott British goods.

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Quartering Act In May 1765, 10,000 British troops were sent the

colonies. This law required colonists to house and feed these troops in their own homes. The troops were in the colonies to protect the colonists. The colonists hated having to house the soldiers.

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Townshend Acts Passed in 1767, this law taxed paper,

lead, glass, paint, and tea. Named after Charles Townshend, head of British Treasury. This law lead to an even stronger boycott by the Colonists.

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Tea Act

To help the East India Tea Company, Parliament passed this law in May 1773. It allowed the East India Tea Company to sell directly to colonists with a tax on tea after Townshend Acts were stopped.

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Coercive Acts

Also called the Intolerable Acts by colonists, these laws came as a result of the Boston Tea Party. It shut down Boston Harbor until lost tea was paid back. It also was supposed to stop the colonists from meeting. This law led to the formation of the First Continental Congress.

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Colonists claimed “taxation without representation”. They felt they had no voice in the government that controlled them.

British neglect

Colonists didn’t want taxation with representation. British tax laws weren’t greatly oppressive until the Intolerable Acts. The Intolerable Acts were a result of the Boston Tea Party.

Boston Tea Party

Colonists claimed they had no voting rights in Parliament, were treated like second-hand citizens, and were being used by British for England’s profit.

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British felt they had paid to start the colonies and had protected them at a great cost. Colonists should be loyal to the king.

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Colonists are outraged as soldiers open fire on unarmed citizens. Propaganda was used by colonists to gain sympathy for their cause.

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British soldiers were harassed by a mob of colonists who threw snowballs and ice. Colonists had provoked the soldiers with names, like “redcoats” and “lobster backs”. Soldiers felt they were only doing their jobs.

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Colonists felt their protests were getting nowhere. They needed to take action, even if it was destructive. They needed to show the British they were to be taken seriously.

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The British lost goods and money. They felt the colonists had gone too far. The British responded with the Coercive or Intolerable Acts. Even Ben Franklin agreed that the colonists should pay for the lost tea. The British felt they had to take control. War was close.

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• What if colonists had continued to boycott British products?

• Could the colonists have held out long enough?• Would the British have repealed their laws?

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The End

You have now reached the end of your review. Be prepared to write an essay on the causes of the Revolutionary War

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