US History

U.S. History Study Guide

Chapter 5: Road to Independence 1763-1776

5.1 Road to Independence This chapter will cover the beginnings of the American rebellion from the British Empire as a colony from the years 1763 to 1776. This chapter will go over the events that caused America to declare war on its parent country, Great Britain. 5.2 The Beginnings of Unpleasantness The British government had massive debt after fighting the French and Indian War, and now looked to the colonies to help pay it. King George III and his prime minister, George Grenville, believed that the colonies had benefited most from the war and had paid very little in comparison to citizens living in England. Parliament passed a series of acts to get revenue from the colonies. The British revoked their policy of salutary neglect and began to enforce the Navigation Acts to their full extent, and created new taxation policies to squeeze the colonists even more. Angry colonists spoke out against these new policies in addition to the tight control after years of self-governance. In regards to equality, the British elite viewed the colonists even of the same wealth as below them. In England you were held to the highest standard, judged by not only wealth but by the family you came from. To be a gentleman in such society you must have these qualifications but many of the colonists didn’t, even the wealthiest in the colonies. They were often dismissed as low browwith only commercial success, but with all this, up until the very end the majority of colonists were proud to be English citizens. They could not even fathom separation from England, they were proud to be the sons and daughters of such a sophisticated and enlightened country. This would all change as a series of events and people would cause a chain reaction that amounts to the Revolution. 5.3 The Writs of Assistance Tensions between the colonies and England started during the French and Indian War. Colonial traders smuggled French goods from the French West Indies in order to avoid English taxes set by the 1733 Molasses Act, which the English taxed molasses, rum, and sugar imported from non-British territories. As war debt mounted, England strictly enforced the Molasses Act in order to raise more revenue from the colonies. In 1760, England authorized British revenue officers to use writs of assistance. Writs of assistance served as general search warrants, allowing officials to enter and investigate any ship or building suspected of holding smuggled goods. The Writs of Assistance allowed officials to ransack private homes and ships without proving probable cause for suspicion, a customary prerequisite for any search in England.

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