French and Indian War

A revolution is an overthrow or repudiation and the thorough replacement of an established government or political system by the people governed. The American Revolution transformed thirteen British colonies into fourteen states and bound them into one republic. It expressed the feelings and concerns that the American colonies had against the Great Britain's regime. And also changed the identity of millions of people, and transformed their dominant political idea from unequal subjection to equal citizenship.

After the end of the costly French and Indian War in 1763, Britain imposed new taxes and trade restrictions on the colonies to make up for the massive debt that Great Britain was under as stated in "The Sugar and Stamp Act" document, this fueled growing resentment and strengthening the colonists' objection to "taxation without representation" in the British Parliament. Over the years, Americans were forbidden to circulate local printed currencies, ordered to house British troops, made to comply with restrictive shipping policies, and forced to pay unpopular taxes. So this ultimately led to protest, boycotts, and where a local patriot group called the Sons of Liberty erected "liberty poles" to hang images of tax collectors and even tarred and feathered one minor royal official as seen on page 150 of the chapter. Worrying Parliament, they eventually conceded and repealed the Stamp Act in 1766, which overjoyed the colonists. But shortly after the Declaratory Acts were passed which reserved Britain's right to govern and "bind" the colonies whenever and however it deemed necessary.

This raged the locals even more and tension arose against the colonist and Great Britain's locals which led to events such as the Boston Massacre where five Bostonians died due to a clash with an angry mob. In 1773, Parliament passed the Tea Act, which stated that colonist were only aloud to by tea from the finally troubled East Indian Tea company because they were in trade with Britain and if they went down so would Great Britain. Although this meant cheaper tea for the colonist it felt as if Britain was once again trying to take away their right of free will. In response, sixty men including some members of the Sons of Liberty boarded the East Indian Tea Company ship on the night of December 16, 1773 dressed as Native Americans and dump the tea chests into the water. The event became known as the Boston Tea Party. This was the last straw for Parliament who then passed the Intolerable Acts that put a hold on trade for Boston, set curfews, and as includes the Quartering Acts which says that all colonist must house British militia. They did this to make Boston an example for the rest of the colonies.

The colonists were being denied their rights as Englishmen, namely no representation in government. After years of trying to negotiate with England, with no positive results, the colonists wanted