Important Events Leading to the Revolutionary War

Prior to the Revolutionary War there were many important events which had huge impacts on the decision in the American colonies whether or not they wanted to go to war with Britain. Two important events include the Boston Tea Party and Boston Massacre.

In the Americas, most of the people and states were content with British rule. The states each had their own indentity and the British form of indirect rule in which they allowed their colonies to keep their own leaders prevented a revolution. However it was when the British put a tax on tea that the people in the Americas became discontent. The people felt that since they did not have representation in the British parliament then they should not be taxed on a product that they had no say over. That is where the famous slogan “No taxation without representation” came from. In the 18th tea was a very important beverage as most people would love to sit around and talk while drinking tea. Tea was a hot commodity that most people could not live without. Furthermore many jobs in the states were in the tea business.

That is why people got angry at the British when tea jobs were outsourced from the states and given to the British East India Company in 1773. The Tea Act was also passed which put a tariff on all tea. In 1765 the Stamp Act imposed on the colonies by King George III as well as the Coin Act angered the colonies. These events led to the Boston Tea Party in which a group of colonialists seized control of a British Tea ship and dumped all of the Tea into the ocean as a sign of protest. In December of 1773 a group of men dressed up as Mohawk Indians and dumped thousands of pounds of tea into the ocean.

In 1770 the first acts of violence occured in the Boston Massacre, leaving five people dead. All of these events would lead to a bigger rift between Britain and the colonies and the Declaration of Independence. The Declaration of Independence was basically a list of grievances that the colonies had with British rule including all of the Acts of imported goods. Thomas Jefferson was the main man responsible for writing this document which was meant to unite the colonies against Britain.

On July 4, 1776 the Declaration of Independence was signed by many of the oringial founding fathers and colonies. Today, events in the Revolutionary battles and documents can be seen in Williamsburg, Virginia which is a historic landmark site.