Causes of the Revolutionary War Essays

Causes of the Revolutionary War Essays Causes of the Revolutionary War Essay Causes of the Revolutionary War Essay In 1763, the French and Indian War ended by the final defeat of the French and their Native American allies in America. When the Americans thought the British were leaving, they did the exact opposite. The British brought in more soldiers and these same American colonists found themselves locked with the British more violent than ever. Britain sent more troops to receive money for their war depts. This was shocking news for the America’s English colonists because there was still the policy of salutary neglect existing. Due to this violent control, Americans felt unfair and as if they had no choice to follow what the British say. To stand up as one voice towards Britain, the American colonists justified in waging war and breaking away from Britain. Therefore, the American colonists were reasonable in doing this. When the British put new taxes on stamps and pamphlets, they viewed it as a way of American colonists contributing to war depts. and in return for all they did for them in the French and Indian War. According to Document 1, Thomas Whately, an advisor to the British Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Grenville, believed that the Americans should contribute to the government in preserving and maintaining all the advantages they’ve received. They thought the colonists should be willing to pay higher taxes without a doubt but in the eyes of the American colonists, the new taxes that the British created were viewed to be for the purpose of increasing the revenue. In Document 2 Dickinson writes, â€Å"Never did the British Parliament, [until the passage of the Stamp Act] think of imposing duties in America for the purpose of raising a revenue. † In addition, the fact that Britain didn’t even bother to ask about their opinions before putting these new taxes, made the colonists feel as if they were threatened with no rights. This is when the American colonists decide to justify in waging war and break away from Britain. As time went on, colonists became more upset and violent. One of the reasons why colonists became more violent was because many colonies were persuaded â€Å"that the government is going to make absolute slaves of them. †(Document 4) One tragic event that occurred due to the colonists becoming violent was the Boston Massacre. â€Å"A crowd of Boston boys and men surrounded a number of British soldiers and began taunting and cursing them while pelting them with snowballs. †(Document 3) This led the frightened soldiers to fire their guns into the crowd as self-defense. In the end several people were dead and many more wounded. The Boston Massacre caused many more colonists’ anti-British feelings to arouse. According to these documents, we can see that the American colonists were justified in waging war and breaking away from Britain. This was to prove their point and more importantly, to stand up as one voice. They believed that the British were putting taxes just to increase revenue and believed that they had the single purpose of collecting money. This is a reasonable belief because there was no explanation given to them and they had no say in the matter whatsoever. This is why the colonists acted the way they did.