From: Tasheeva Drayton
Date: 2/14/00
Time: 8:37:13 PM
Remote Name: 155.247.152.65
Tasheeva Drayton
When and how did the Americans decide that independence was their only option?
There were many events that led to the Americans seeking independence. It started with The Parliament making decisions without the colonies being represented. The colonist thought that this was unfair that decisions the affected them were being made without their input on the situation. Next came the attack mad on English settlements by the native Americans. The British army had not protected them and many colonists died. The Americans had also planned on settling the region west of the Appalachian Mountains but this was prohibited by the newly issued Proclamation of 1763. Britain was also in a huge debt and felt that their only choice was to heavily tax the colonists and make sure that they only trade with Britain. The Revenue Act, The Sugar act and the Navigation Act all made sure of this. Then came the Stamp act which required Americans to buy a special seal for all their packages it also placed a tax on deeds, marriage licenses and plying cards. This angered the Americans and so they created the Stamp Act Congress. They petitioned against this and soon the act was repealed. This caused a lot of tension between Britain and colonies because Britain knew that the colonies were gaining power. Next cam the tax on tea and Quartering act, which said that colonists had to give British soldiers lodging in their homes. Lastly the two events that would spark the fire were the Boston Massacre and the Boston Tea Party. These two events were acts of violence and showed that there was no going back to the way things were. So in 1774 the colonies got together and formed the Continental Congress in which each colony was represented. They all knew that it was time for them to break away from British rule. The British did one last thing and that was make the Prohibitory Act which declared war on American Commerce. So they had no choice but to go to war and they did in 1776.