How Did The Colonists React To The American Revolution

After the Seven Years War ended, Britain was deeply in debt and trying to govern a far flung empire. Britain believed the colonists should help pay the costs for protecting them by levying taxes. In addition, they defaulted on their promise of land, in order to stay out of any new, costly battles. Both of these actions and colonists reaction to them, plus a fear of limited freedom caused the American Revolution.
The Proclamation of 1763 prohibited colonists from settling land west of the Appalachian Mountains, land that they believed they fought for during the Seven Years War. Then came the Sugar Act, which reduced the tax on molasses but established a system to stop colonial merchant smuggling. It also created non-jury courts to punish the
With increased fervor the boycott of British goods began anew. A fight broke out, known as the Boston Massacre, between a group of Boston residents and British troops stationed there and five colonists died. Wishing to avoid interruption of trade, Britain repealed the acts except for the tea tax and withdrew troops. The boycotts quickly ended. However, a new upheaval soon began when Britain lowered the East India Company’s taxes on tea, in an effort to save them financially. The tea prices ended up being even lower than those of the smugglers, prompting a group of colonists to dump 300 chests of tea in the Boston Harbor, known as The Boston Tea Party. Britain quickly responded by instituting the Intolerable Acts, which closed the Port of Boston, changed the Charter of Massachusetts, and instituted quartering of troops. The main focus of all these acts was taxation of the colonies by Britain, and the uniting call of the colonists was “no taxation without representation!” The subtler message was one of control and