The American Revolution started on April 19, 1775, with the shot heard round the world at Lexington and Concord signaling the start of the war, but what happened before the war? What happened to fuel the revolutionaries? What happened to start the war?
The British Government spent a lot of time, resources, money, and soldiers protecting the 13 colonies during The French and Indian War. The British parliament wanted the colonies people to not have land claims in areas where American Indians settled, so they imposed the proclamation of 1763 where the parliament stated that colonists could not make claims on territory where American Indians settled. The colonists saw it as tyranny, and they retaliated saying that farmers had to find new lands by moving to the west. The British decided that they would expand the British army in the colonies. They expanded their army to be 7,500 soldiers.
The British needed a way to pay for the debt from the French and Indian War. George Grenville, The British Prime Minister at the time thought that since the colonists were the least taxed people in the entirety of the British Empire that they should be taxed more. In 1765, Grenville imposed The Stamp Act which meant every colonist had to purchase a stamp for every paper product that they used, even cards! To the colonists this was an outrage because none of their politicians voted on it, just the British Government. Some people refused to buy stamps while others sent messages to parliament that showed their anger, but there were some people like the Sons of Liberty.
The Sons of Liberty were a group of patriots that would go and attack the houses of tax collectors. So, Parliament repealed The Stamp Act and introduced The Quartering Act in 1765 made colonial assemblies to give housing to British Troops. The colonists were also supposed to give British Soldiers vinegar, cider, bedding, and more. But providing for soldiers costed too much money so people and colonies such as New York and New Jersey started protesting the new law. The New York Assembly chose not to approve of funding for some things for the troops in 1767, so the assembly was forced by the British Government to not meet until they accepted the terms of the Quartering Act.
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