Study sheet: Causes of the American Revolution

📋 Course Outline

1. War Debt and Royal Control
2. Taxes and Colonial Resistance
3. The Boston Massacre
4. Tea Party and Intolerable Acts

📅 Key Dates

1. 1756–1763The Seven Years’ War, also known as the French and Indian War in North America, established British dominance in North America.
2. 1760–1820George III pursued policies to increase British revenue and control over the colonies.
3. 1764The Sugar Act lowered taxes on sugar but introduced stricter anti-smuggling measures, including trials without a jury.
4. 1765The Stamp Act taxed printed materials produced in the colonies, including newspapers, legal documents, and other publications.
5. 1768British soldiers were stationed in Boston to help prevent smuggling and maintain order.
6. March 1770Tensions between colonists and British soldiers led to an armed confrontation in which soldiers fired on a crowd and killed several people.
7. 1773Members of the Sons of Liberty protested British taxation by dumping tea into Boston Harbor in the Boston Tea Party.
8. 1774Britain passed the Coercive Acts in response to the Boston Tea Party.

📖 1. War Debt and Royal Control

★ Must-know

• The British victory ended New France: Quebec was ceded to Britain, while Louisiana was given to Spain.

📌 Because the war left the British Crown deeply in debt, the British government decided to increase colonial taxation and control.

• 🔄 George III’s government increased control by: cracking down on smuggling and tax evasion, limiting the power of colonial local assemblies, administering the colonies more directly

Further detail

• France was allied with several Native American nations against Britain during the Seven Years’ War.

💡 Memory Hook

British victory → war debt → increased taxation and colonial control

📖 2. Taxes and Colonial Resistance

★ Must-know

📌 British officials argued that colonists should help repay the war debt because they had benefited from Britain’s victory, whereas colonists opposed mercantilist restrictions because they mainly benefited Britain and limited colonial economic freedom.

• The Stamp Act Congress protested the Stamp Act with the slogan “No taxation without representation,” arguing that colonists should not be taxed by a Parliament in which they had no elected representatives.

Further detail

📌 The Revenue Act placed more goods on the enumerated list, requiring them to be traded according to British regulations, mainly through England.

• Colonial protests included boycotts of British goods, such as buying locally produced “homespun” fabric instead of imported British fabric.

💡 Memory Hook

“Taxation without representation” opposed parliamentary taxation to colonial self-government

📖 3. The Boston Massacre

📝 Essential Points

• The Boston Massacre became an important symbol of colonial resistance to British rule.

💡 Memory Hook

Military tension in Boston → soldiers fired on colonists → a symbol of resistance

📖 4. Tea Party and Intolerable Acts

★ Must-know

• The Coercive Acts: closed the port of Boston except for essential goods such as food and firewood, reduced the power of local government, restricted the colonists’ right of assembly, required colonists to house British soldiers

📌 The Coercive Acts further increased tensions between Britain and the colonies and contributed to the shift from peaceful protest to open confrontation.

Further detail

• The Boston Tea Party became one of the most symbolic acts of resistance in American history.

💡 Memory Hook

Tea protest → punitive Acts → intensified confrontation

📊 Synthesis Tables

British and Colonial Perspectives

Perspective	Main argument	Perceived effect
British government	Colonists should help repay the war debt because they benefited from Britain’s victory	Taxation and tighter control were justified
American colonists	Mercantilist restrictions mainly benefited Britain and limited colonial economic freedom	Taxation without elected representation was unjust