American Revolution
Causes of the Revolution
The taxes, acts, protests, and ideas that pushed thirteen colonies toward independence.
Causes of the Revolution
Causes of the American Revolution
The American Revolution did not arise from a single grievance or a sudden burst of revolutionary fervor. It was the product of more than a…
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Colonial Resistance and Boycotts
The American Revolution was not won solely through constitutional argument or military force. A crucial dimension of the colonial…
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Enlightenment Ideas and the Revolution
The American Revolution was, in significant measure, an intellectual event—a political transformation driven by ideas about the nature of…
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Sons of Liberty
The Sons of Liberty was not a single organization but a network of local groups that emerged in the American colonies during the Stamp Act…
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Taxation Without Representation
The phrase "no taxation without representation" has become one of the most recognizable slogans in American history, but the constitutional
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The Boston Massacre
On the evening of March 5, 1770, a confrontation between British soldiers and a crowd of civilians in Boston resulted in the deaths of five
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The Boston Tea Party
On the night of December 16, 1773, a group of colonists disguised as Mohawk warriors boarded three ships in Boston Harbor and dumped 342…
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The First Continental Congress
The First Continental Congress, which convened in Philadelphia from September 5 to October 26, 1774, was the first gathering of delegates…
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The Intolerable Acts
The Coercive Acts of 1774—known in the American colonies as the Intolerable Acts—were a series of punitive measures passed by the British…
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The Proclamation of 1763
The Royal Proclamation of 1763, issued by King George III on October 7, 1763, was among the first imperial measures to provoke colonial…
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The Quartering Act
The Quartering Acts of 1765 and 1774 were parliamentary measures that addressed the housing and provisioning of British troops stationed in
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The Stamp Act Crisis
The Stamp Act of 1765 was the first direct tax imposed by Parliament on the American colonies, and the crisis it provoked marked a decisive
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The Sugar Act
The Sugar Act of 1764—formally the American Revenue Act—was the first parliamentary measure to explicitly tax the American colonies for the
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The Townshend Acts Explained
The Townshend Acts of 1767 were a series of parliamentary measures that imposed duties on imported goods in the American colonies and…
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