The American Revolution had its roots in grievances caused by changes in the relationship between England and its 13 American colonies. From the beginning this relationship was based in mercantilist principles. The colonies provided English manufacturers with raw materials as well as markets for English goods. The large merchant force needed to handle all the trade between the colonies and the mother country could easily be converted into a naval force, thus increasing the military strength of the mother country. Between 1660 and 1672, the English Parliament passed number of Acts of Trade and Navigation which ruled a) that all trade between England and the colonies had to be conducted in ships built, owned and manned by British subjects; b) that all European goods imported into the colonies had to pass through England first; and c) that certain colonial goods were "enumerated articles" and had to first be shipped to England or another British colony before going to other European buyers. One effect of the laws, which were not strictly enforced, was a thriving smuggling business centered in New England. Soon the colonies were providing England with many valuable products, including tobacco, sugar, rice, vegetables and lumber, as well as the ships to carry the goods. Between 1699 and 1750, another series of laws prohibited the colonies from exporting products which competed with English products, such as woolen cloth and beaver hats. During this period the King’s chief minister, Sir Robert Walpole, believed in letting the colonies govern themselves without political interference from England. This enabled the colonies to become accustomed to self-government.

 

The French and British fought four wars for European and colonial dominance between 1689 and 1763. The last of these wars, The French and Indian War, ended with British victory, but left England with huge debts. King George III, who had ascended the throne in 1760, believed the colonies should provide much of the needed revenue. In 1764, Parliament passed the Revenue Act of 1764, which lowered tariffs on West Indian molasses (used to make rum, a very important colonial export). It also called for very strict enforcement, which crippled the lucrative New England shipping and smuggling business.

 

 In 1765, Parliament passed the Stamp Act, requiring the colonists to buy revenue stamps for legal and commercial documents, playing cards, newspapers and liquor licenses. The colonists protested by boycotting British goods and asserting that they could only be taxed by their own representatives.

 

The Stamp Act was repealed in 1766, but in 1767 Parliament passed the Townshend Acts, which taxed imports of glass, paper, paint and tea. Part of the tax went to pay the salaries of the royal governors, whose pay had previously come directly from the colonial assemblies, giving the colonists some control over the governors’ policies. The Townshend Acts were vigorously enforced and violators were tried in military courts where the accused had no right to a jury. However, in 1770, colonial opposition forced Parliament to repeal all the taxes, except for the tax on tea.

 

The seven years of turmoil between England and the American colonies had produced a small group of radicals who organized resistance to British policies. This group formed "committees of correspondence" throughout the colonies. These committees became an established communication and coordination network for resistance to the British.

 

Parliament enacted the Tea Act of 1773, which lowered the price of English tea, thereby causing financial ruin to American tea merchants. In New York and Philadelphia ships carrying English, tea were turned back, but in Boston, radicals, disguised as Native Americans and led by Samuel Adams, boarded British ships and dumped all the imported tea into the harbor. This incident became known as the Boston Tea Party. Parliament responded to what they perceived as outrage civil disobedience with a series of measures, called the "Intolerable" Acts of 1774 by the colonists. These Acts closed Boston harbor until the destroyed tea was paid for, permitted the quartering of British troops in any town (providing a ready force to deal with any colonial opposition) and severely curtailed self-government in Massachusetts.

 

The First Continental Congress, with delegates from every colony except Georgia, convened in Philadelphia in 1774 and sent a "Declaration of Rights and Grievances" to King George III, asking for repeal of the Intolerable Acts. The Congress also adopted a complete boycott on importation of British goods and a ban on exportation to England. “Committees of safety” in each colony enforced the ban.

 

England sent troops to Boston to crush the radical movement there. On April 19, 1775, the British moved to seize arms and gunpowder supplies in Concord and to arrest the radical leaders John Hancock and Samuel Adams; Paul Revere warned Adams and Hancock, and also alerted the Massachusetts “Minutemen”, farmers from Concord and Lexington who had pledged to be ready at a minutes’ notice to resist the British. Though no one know who fired the first shot, a battle began, the first in the Revolutionary War. The battle resulted in 273 dead and wounded British soldiers.

 

On May 10, 1775, the Second Continental Congress convened in Philadelphia and appointed Virginia’s George Washington the commander of the rapidly forming Continental Army. The Congress also became the meeting ground of those who sought independence from England and those who desired redress for their grievances but who did not want separation.