Nicolai Clawson

What
started the
Revolutiona
ry War
History 2700 Ted Moore

Nicolai Clawson

The

events

that

led up

the

Revolutionary War are not as well-known as the population thinks. Almost

every school child is taught that either we fought for independence from
Britain for two reasons, to free ourselves from oppression and or taxation
without representation. While these two reasons are anchorite to a point,
they do not fully cover the whole picture. While there was no one event that
pushed the Colonies to seek independence it is my belief that it was the
Intolerable/ corrosives acts. There was a domino event that took place where
several acts put the burden on the colonies until it was the Intolerable acts.
In this paper I will cover just a few of the events that I feel had the biggest
effect in pushing the colonists to independence. These Acts by the British
had side effects that they did not always foresee or underestimated how the
colonists would react to them. I will focus on three of these Acts, the
proclamation line in 1763 and how it affected the Quebec act of 1774, the
Quartering act of 1776 and finial the Tea Act and its repercussions.
The colonial states as we know were only on the East coast region of
the continent, the immediate land west of Virginia was unsettled. But
claimed by both the French and the British (Moore). The French had the land
surrounding the Great Lakes and along the Mississippi river. During the
French and Indian War in 1756 it was that unsettled region that was being
fought over by the colonists of both France and Britain (Moore). At the end of
this war the Proclamation line was established, this proclamation made it
clear that the colonists would not be crossing the Appalachians Mountains.
As well as set other boundaries for the colonists. It was this proclamation

that started to irritate some of the colonists. They were used to the notion of
being able to claim any unsettled land and claim it as their own. As we have
discussed in class several times, the social view of land is that the more you
have the higher up the social ladder you are (Moore). But the colonists saw
this as the Crown unjustly preventing them from expanding. The main
situation was the territory west of Virginia was a particular problem. It was
here that the French and the Colonists both coveted, the colonists spent
years trying to claim it but it wasnt given to them.
This is what why the Quebec act of 1774 angered the colonists,
especially those in Virginia. After Britain gained some the French Territorys
they adopted a lot of colonists that were resentful of being in British lands. To
help these colonists with the transition the British Crown gave the former
French Settlers that disputed land west of Virginia (Moore). This was done to
keep the peace with the French but infuriated the people of Virginia who
spent years trying to claim that land only to have it given away to the
French. This showed that the Crown didnt care about the claims of its
colonists. Another part of this Act was it legalized Catholicism in the colonies.
Once again this was an act made by the Crown in attempt to keep the peace
by compromise. This only further enraged the colonists since most of them
left Europe to get away from the Catholics and have also fought a war with
them (Moore). This Act was one of the last once made before the ignition of
the war. The people were angered and ready to fight back at this point due to
the past Acts and policies enforced by the British.

One of the earlier and first of these Acts that created a lot of
resentment was the Quartering Act of 1765. This made it the responsibility of
the colonists to feed, shelter and provide for the solders of Britain (Moore).
Now it is important to remember that the Colonists already payed taxes to
the Crown for the military, and on top of that tax they also had to provide for
them. This meant that a group of solders could approach any home or farm,
demand food and shelter and be given it. There was no reimbursements
given to these families or any form of repayment. The colonists were
struggling to feed themselves and make a profit without being forced to
provide for the solders of the nation they were loyal to. Another part of this
Act was that it cemented the image of oppression by the crown. Here were
the solders of the crown in the peoples homes, watching them and making
sure that they remained loyal (Moore). It is from this that I notice that this
Act effected the vast populace of the colonies. Other Acts like the Stamp Act,
Sugar Act and Revenue Act effected the people yes but mostly the upper
class on society. While these Acts did have a trickle effect to the middle and
lower classes it didnt alter their day to day life. However, when solders
started to live in the homes of the people and not just the upper classes, this
changed their daily life style. It is the Quartering Act that really started to
turn the vast undecided populace of the colonies against the British. It is
important to also remember that even then the people were still loyal to
their home nation, they still wanted to remain British (Moore). But dispute

their loyalty to their home nation they were being pushed to a braking point
and declare independence.
One of the Final Acts made that finally sit the fuse to this powder keg
was the Tea Act of 1773. The British had been losing money of Tea for years
because of Smugglers. The Colonists were able to buy tea from other nations
at a lower price than form the East India Trading Company (Moore). They
Crown overlooked this for years till they decided to do something about it.
The Tea Act cut the taxes for the British Tea so low it was actually cheaper to
buy it from eh British then from the Smugglers (Moore). At first we read this
and think wonder why this angered the colonists? It wasnt the cheaper tea
that angered them it was where the tax money for this tea went than enrage
them. The local Governors were picked by the Crown but payed by the
colonists. This made it were the people had control of the local government.
In the governor did something or tried to inforce something that the people
he ruled over didnt like, the people stopped paying him taxes. This gave the
people control their government and they wanted to keep that control. The
Tea Act however paid the Governors more then what the colonists paid in
taxes. Thus eliminating the control that the colonists had over the governor
(Moore). Now instead of being concerned of angering their people who paid
them taxes, the governors now just had to please the Crown who was now
paying them. This loss of control and power infuriated the local people in the
shipping areas, it was in Boston that they decided to fight back.

The Boston Tea Party in 1773 started several events that soon spiraled
out of control for the British. First it started on December 16, 1773 with the
infamous Boston Tea Party. The party was a group of protestors that were
trying to prevent the ships full of British tea from entering port. They
approached the captain and told him to sail away, they didnt need the tea.
However, the paperwork had been turned in and the captain was financially
responsible if he didnt deliver that tea to Boston. So that Night the Party
came back and dumped in todays value of over a million dollars worth of
tea overboard (Moore). This angered the British merchants who took a
finance hit from this protest and demanded that those responsible be
brought to justice. This was the tipping point in my opinion, all of these other
Acts and events pushed the British and the Colonists to this breaking point.
Had none of the other events transpired the colonists would have remained
part of the British Empire, for the time being at least. Parliament decided to
enforce the Coercive Acts on Marc of 1774, this placed the city of Boston
under martial law and even placed the whole colonies of Massachusetts in
the same predicament (Moore). This Act was enforced till the people who
participated in the Tea Party were brought to justice, by punishing everyone
else. The entire city of Boston was held financially responsible for the loss of
the Tea, even though few people knew who it was that did it they all had to
pay a hefty price. The punishments were also taken to the colony of
Massachusetts itself; the Dissolution of the Massachusetts Legislature,
Limitation of town meetings though out the colony and the Crown had the

right to modify the Massachusetts Charter (Moore). All of these actions were
observed by the rest of the colonies as a violation of their rights and a sign of
oppression by the Crown. This was the beginning of the end of British hold
over the Colonies.
All of these events lead up to the Intolerable/ Corrosives acts being
established by the British. They had given the colonies too much
independence and to them the colonies were behaving like undisciplined
children. So the Crown and Parliament passed the Intolerable acts to reign in
the colonies and in a sense put them back in their place as a colony (Moore).
However, the Colonies had to desire to revert to a colony, for the past
several decades they had enjoyed more independence and self-governing
power than any other British colony (Moore). The Intolerable acts first held
Massachusetts responsible for the lost tea. While that could have been
considered it was the influence of the charter that ended it. Parliament
wanted the power to change the Charter without consent or permission from
the colonial congress, that was the deal breaker (Moore). The Continental
Congress refused to lose that right and refused to agree to anything else
unless Parliament agreed that in order the change the Charter they had to
have the approval of the Colonies. Parliament felt that this was observed
because none of their other colonies had this level of freedom and refused to
allow the American colonies that power (Moore). This was the straw that
finally broke the proverbial camels back, before this all of the other acts and
events could have been worked out, maybe not easily but it would be

possible. But it was this final event that became the line in the sand. It
became clear that Parliament wanted to reduce the independence the
colonies had and after this they started to send in troops. The Congress saw
this as the end of political discussions, they had been trying to be England,
not a colony, but now it was clear that wouldnt happen.
In conclusion we can see that there was a clear domino effect that lead
to the revolutionary war. The stamp act and Tea act both got the people
upset but not enough to start a war over. The Homestead act had a sever
negative influence on the population, it made the people feel as if they were
under Martial law. But like I said all of these and other events could have
been sorted out though diplomatic means. But it was the Intolerable acts
that finally crossed that line of no return.

Bibliography
Moore, Ted. "Pontiac's War and Results." History 2700. Taylorsville. 5 Feb. 2016. Lecture.
Moore, Ted. "The French and Indian War 1756." French Claims. History 2700, Taylorsville. 2
Feb. 2016. Lecture.
Moore, Ted. "Boston Tea Party 1773." Tea Party. History 2700, Taylorsville. 7 Feb. 2016.
Lecture.
Moore, Ted. "The Tea Act." The Coercive Acts. History 2700, Taylorsville. 7 Feb. 2016. Lecture.