Dbq Essay On The American Revolution

The American Revolution was an important time for the American Colonists in their journey to becoming their own independent country. The American colonists changed their views from loyal to Britain in 1763 to rebellion in 1775 and pushed for the formation of a new government. This was caused by of the lack of voice they had in parliament, lack of rights, and violence within the colonies. When the colonists had officially gained their freedom in 1783, it started the formation of civil rights groups and activist groups that are still common and around today as well as the start to a new government. The natural rights of the colonists were first violated after the French and Indian war. Britain taxed the colonies to make up for war debt

The colonists that agreed with this concept and felt that their rights were in violation began to question the british. In document 3, John Dickinson wrote “A violation of our rights ... to raise money upon us WITHOUT OUR CONSENT. . . .” and “... my dear countrymen, ROUSE yourselves, and behold the ruin hanging over your heads. If you . . . admit that... Britain may [tax] us, for the purpose of levying money . . . without our consent . . . [then] we are . . . slaves. . . .”. John Adams had also made a similar point in document 1 stating “... the Stamp Act... a very burdensome and, in our opinion, unconstitutional tax is to be laid upon us all...this tax [is] unconstitutional. We have always understood it be to a grand and

The British had ‘over extended’ their stay after the French and Indian war and the colonists’ tensions grew when they still had to show them hospitality because of the Quartering acts. On March 5, 1770 colonists began harassing the british soldiers by cursing at them and pelting them with cobblestones and snowballs. This slight scuffle quickly turned into what became known as ‘The Boston Massacre’ where 5 Americans were killed from british fire. Document 4 was made by Paul Revere to showcase this incident in a way that stretched the truth to further ‘prove’ to the colonists that Britain was the enemy. The Boston Tea Party was another event that occurred with the colonists rallying against the british after the British East India Company was granted sole right to sell tea to American Colonies. The colonists were happy at first that the prices of tea were lowered but they would still have to pay the tea tax and were furious over that. The Sons of Liberty was an organization created to protest against the British but more importantly the acts that were put into place. This group organized the dumping of the British Tea into the Boston Harbor as a protest to the tax on tea. However this act of defiance didn’t go over well and the intolerable acts were set into place causing the harbor to close, forcing colonists to buy tea and to discipline the colonists because of their