Towards Independence: Causes of the American Revolution

• 1754-1763 between Great Britain and France

  • Both countries wanted more land in North America

• ​1763- France surrenders to Britain

  • France gives up land claims in Canada and west of​ Mississippi River

• As a result, Britain has a lot of war debt that needs to be repaid

  • This leads Britain to place new taxes and laws on colonists

​The British government said colonists could not move west of Appalachian Mountains

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​Colonists felt this was tyranny (unjust use of government power)

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​Colonists ignored and kept moving west​ or already had land there

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British sent more ​troops to the colonies

Proclamation of 1763​

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The French and Indian War left the British with a huge amount of debt

In order to pay off this war debt, the British passed a law that required colonists to buy a stamp for every piece of paper ​they used.

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​This included newspapers and letter as well as legal documents

The colonists paid taxes to their local governments and were fine having to pay taxes as long as they had a voice in the decision

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Colonists were upset because they did not have a voice in this

• Colonists had no say in how much or what the tax money would pay for ​

• The British government 3,000 miles away imposed this on them without any say- NO TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION!​