American Revolution Dbq Essay

The American Revolution was an ongoing controversial topic that is the subject of many debates and historians’ studies. A war that some say was all to blame on the colonists. On the contrary to this belief, this war was to blame on the British due to their irrational acts, laws, and taxes passed. These enacted rules angered many colonists as the acts, in turn, caused bankruptcy for many citizens. The unfair ordinances resulted in a series of bloodshed battles, beginning in 1775 and ending in 1783. Many of these laws provoked angry colonists, leading to the war declaration. Three specific events in which the British are contributing to the tensions that led to the revolution were, the Proclamation of 1763, the Sugar Act, as well as the Stamp

This was previously enacted in 1733 under the name of the Sugar and Molasses Act. This act was the first tax on the American colonies imposed by the British Parliament. Parliament began enforcing this tax more strictly than the Molasses Act tax. Colonists were expected to “… pay a tax of six pence per gallon on the importation of foreign molasses.” The new act included taxes on, “foreign wines, coffee, textiles, and indigo imported into the colonies…” Colonists were outraged that the Act about to expire was renewed and changed to have more taxes imposed. They felt unrepresented and believed that the British were only using this tax money for their own wealth. Colonists began rebelling after this because they felt that it isn’t fair for Parliament to impose “taxation without representation”. Colonist had no say in any of the official government decisions that were made for the Colonists. They wanted to be represented in Parliament before any taxes were

Colonists protested and did it very well. The British had already enforced taxes on imported goods so the colonists began making their own necessities. “Crowds calling themselves Sons of Liberty prevented stamped papers from being unloaded from British ships. Daughters of Liberty, organizations formed by colonial women, promoted the manufacture of homespun cloth, as a substitute for imported British cloth, and circulated protest petitions.” Colonists were smart. They knew what they wanted and got it by making their own goods instead of relying on British or imported goods. This strike against British, in turn, caused people who disagreed with the colonists to feel embarrassed or ashamed. “‘In every colony, from Georgia to New Hampshire inclusively, the stamp distributors and inspectors have been compelled by the unconquerable rage of the people to renounce their offices. Such and so universal has been the resentment of the people, that every man who has dared to speak in the favor of the stamps, or to soften the detestation in which they are held … has been seen to sink into universal contempt and ignominy.’” This quote by John Adams in December of 1765 spoke the truth about the political consequences of the Stamp Ac. This last act, ten years before the war erupted but in the same year that war was declared is most definitely a factor in that decision as well as a reason the British caused the war to take