Essay Sample on the American Revolution and the Independence form Great Britain

America’s decision to declare independence from Great Britain stemmed from both the desire to change economic policies and to spur development of life refining and liberty. After driving the French out, with the help from the Indians and British troops, colonists began to quarrel with Parliament insistence of testing the limits of their power in North America. Their control was at risk when residents decided to smuggle and boycott goods. Eventually, the colonies’ resistance and loss of patience would lead them directly to independence.

The Proclamation of 1763 was the first to anger the colonist. It was issued by Great Britain exactly when the well-known French and Indian War ended. The main reason was that the British wanted to appease Native Americans through checking the European settlers’ encroachment on American Indian lands. This, in turn, created the so-called proclamation line. The latter was used in order to separate the British colonies located on the coast of Atlantic Ocean from the lands that belonged to American Indians. According to the historical data, this proclamation became one of the key cornerstones of Native American law in Canada and the US.

In order to assure the Indians that the settlers would not invade tribal lands, Britain emphasized colonists not to expand to the westward region. Shortly after, the use of writs of assistance, which allowed customs to search anywhere without the use of a warrant, placed a major infringement upon colonial natural rights. The Sugar Act (established at the same time) was an attempt to discourage smuggling by lowering the price of molasses below smugglers cost. It also stated that exports could only go through British ports before being sold to foreign countries. As a matter of fact, the Sugar Act became the reinvigoration of the so-called Molasses Act passed in 1733. The Act provided solid customs enforcement of the duties on molasses and refined sugar that was imported by the non-British Caribbean areas into the colonies.

When merchants were accused of smuggling, they faced a jury-less trial and were often convicted. Violators of the Stamp Act of 1765 also faced the same issues, when they did not buy special watermarked paper for newspapers and all legal documents. Taking into consideration the fact that the Stamp Act was an internal tax on the colonies, it motivated the first actual structured response to British impositions.

Violence eventually broke throughout the colonies. As a result, a range of colonial groups, such as the Loyal Nine and the Sons of Liberty were formed to organize the resistance and assemble the citizens in attempts to stress Parliament to revoke the act. Because of the overwhelming protest of business owners (and the forced evacuation of stamp distributors), Britain’s economy was severely damaged. Consequently, they were forced to cancel the act. However, it was not long before Parliament tugged on the strings of the colonist again. In 1765, Parliament provided a range of amendments to the Mutiny Act. The latter became also known as the Quartering Act. The Act of 1765 demanded colonial assemblies to pay for supplies for troops residing within their colonies. The act did not affect much of the colonies, except for New York. At the time, New York had a significant amount of troops stationed and refused to comply with the law. Parliament, in turn, threatened to nullify all laws passed by the New York colonial legislature, taking away what self-government they had. To avoid more hardships, New York decided to obey Parliament. It is important to mention that relationships between colonial civilians and British soldiers were always pretty strained. More often than not, conflicts arose between groups of people and resulted in violence, especially in the area of Boston. The most famous episode was March 5, 1770. After a couple of intense exchanges, a few of British soldiers began to fire into a crowd of local people. As a result, five people were shot dead, while six Bostonians were wounded. Today, people in the United States know this event as the Boston Massacre.

Finally, the colonies bit their last lip when a man named Charles Townshend assumed the duties of Britain’s treasurer. Britain’s House of Commons decided to cut their taxes by one-fourth and proposed to make up for the loss by passing the Revenue Act of 1767. Townshend drew a plan that put taxes on glass, lead, paint, paper, and tea that entered the colonies. Though it only raised 37,000 pounds, compare to the 500,000 pound pay cut in the treasury department, Townshend duties were very effective in arousing political dispute that had laid inactive since the withdrawal of the Stamp Act. But the reality is that American colonists, who weren’t represented in Parliament, considered this Act pretty abusive to their power. The British sent soldiers to the American lands in order to implement the new laws that weren’t popular. This, in turn, began to dramatize things between American colonies and Great Britain. This tension became one of the signals of the upcoming American Revolutionary War. The revolution was growing strong and would finally be established after an incident in Boston in 1770.

Because of continued violence in Massachusetts, British troops were brought in to relieve tension at the end of 1768. Ironically, situations grew worse with time. The reality is that the troops were very unwelcomed by the colonists. The colonists felt as if all rights were under the watchful eye of the king. In 1770, an irritated customs officer shot an eleven year-old boy for throwing rocks at his house. Even despite the fact that the troops were not responsible for the shooting, they were usually under fire for hostility toward British power. After the boy’s funeral, violence erupted outside Boston’s custom office. After the conflict, five colonists were dead. The news spread through the colonies as the Boson Massacre. To cool down the hostility of the colonists, the Townshend duties were soon erased.

Despite the fact that the British were deciding to pursue less controversial policies, colonists could no longer bare the abuse of their rights that Britain trampled on. They were soon to be democratic nation and were tired of supporting an empire center around monarchy. The representatives of every colony made a decision to unite and rebel against abuse and violence. This, in turn, has become what we know today as American Revolution.

When it comes to the end of the American Revolution, it is important to mention the Treaty of Paris that was the document that concluded the war. On September 3rd, 1783, the treaty was signed by the representatives of the United States of America including John Jay, John Adams, and Benjamin Franklin and people of King George III (Richard Oswald and David Hartley). The treaty formally put an end to the American Revolutionary War. On January 14, 1784, the treaty was ratified by the Congress of the Confederation.

There were many battles during the American revolutionary war. People did their best to fight for a revolutionary idea. The latter was that they could live independently and rule themselves. Every step that people took got the whole nation closer to the independent country of the United States.