American Revolution Dbq

Introduction The American Revolution began in 1775 when rising tensions between the British and the American colonists escalated beyond repair. The American colonists had become fed up with the way the British ruled over the colonies, they felt they needed more direct action than what could be provided by the British monarchy that was 3,000+ miles away. Many of the colonists wanted freedom of religion and judicial freedom. These were not the only things that the colonists were after however, the colonists also wanted economic freedom, they had many concerns about how the British government was crippling the colonies economy to boost their own. Some examples of this that will be discussed are the Navigation Acts, taxation, and the Townshend

Although some of the acts were ignored and violated the acts were a major source of irritation to the colonists. The most violated acts were the Act of 1651, the Molasses Act (1733), and the Iron Act (1750). The Act of 1651 was intended to completely cut off the colonies trade with the Dutch, and it stated that all goods must be carried on ships owned by the English or the colonial merchants, brought directly to England and taxed before being exported to the other European countries. The colonists were mainly upset with this act because it took longer to get good, and once they arrived they were largely more expensive and some products could even go bad in the time it took to

The Townshend Acts were the final straw of the economically abused colonies; the colonists didn’t want the British to continue reaping the new worlds benefits. Perhaps the most aggravating of all of the Townshend Acts was a tax on tea which then inspired the Boston Tea Party, taking place on December 16th, 1773. The colonists were angered further because they had just gotten the Stamp Act repealed, and there was another tax on even more than just print items. The colonists wanted to have representation if they were to be taxed, directly or indirectly through the British government. Realizing that they had been economically taken advantage of, had no representation for their taxation, and that the British government did not listen to any of the complaints, the colonists began taking