When thinking about the causes of the American Revolution, many tend to primarily list events that happened just before 1776: taxation without representation, the boycotts of British goods, and the Boston Tea Party, as examples. But the tensions that led the American colonists to wage war against Britain had existed over a century before the first battles and involved a series of different gripes with the government besides taxation. Over the course of a hundred years, the colonies grew distrustful and disdainful towards their government, and increasing violence in the 1770s finally led to the Revolutionary War. Many people erroneously believe that the causes for the American Revolution stem from the colonists having a different cultural identity than the British. American colonists in the 18th century saw themselves as English, not American, and emulated British clothing, architecture, and etiquette in a process called Anglicization. Furthermore, there was no united “American” identity between the thirteen colonies at the time. Each region “had developed …show more content…
England sent more troops to match the increased size of the overseas empire, and to intervene in colonial conflicts, after the Seven Years’ War. Between 1763 and 1768, soldiers began taking jobs in the cities they were stationed in to increase their income. The Quartering Act of 1765 also required inns and colonists to feed and house troops when requested. Colonists did not take kindly to having to feed the men who were taking their jobs and berated and harassed them while they were on duty. The harassment was worst in Boston, and the situation grew exponentially worse on March 5, 1770, when British troops shot and killed five Bostonians after having snowballs thrown at them. This event became known as the Boston Massacre and further damaged the colonies’ perception of their