By the 1770’s, Great Britain had established a number of
colonies in North America. The American colonists thought of
themselves as citizens of Great Britain and subjects of King
George III. They were tied to Britain through trade and by the
way they were governed. Trade was restricted so the colonies
had to rely on Britain for imported goods and supplies. There
were no banks and very little money, so colonists used barter and
credit to get the things they needed.
Following the French and Indian War, Britain wanted to
control expansion into the western territories. The King issued
the Proclamation of 1763 prohibiting settlements beyond the
Appalachian Mountains. Colonists who had already settled on
these lands were ordered to return east of the mountains.
In 1765 Parliament passed the Quartering Act that said the
colonists needed to find or pay for lodging for British soldiers
stationed in America. With the French and Indian War over,
many colonists saw no need for soldiers to be stationed in the
colonies.
Britain also needed money to pay for its war debts. The
King and Parliament believed they had the right to tax the
colonies. They decided to require several kinds of taxes from the
colonists to help pay for the French and Indian War. These taxes
included the Stamp Act, passed in 1765, which required the use
of special paper bearing an embossed tax stamp for all legal
documents. Other laws, such as the Townsend Acts, passed in
1767, required the colonists to pay taxes on imported goods like
tea.
Many colonists felt that they should not pay these taxes,
because they were passed in England by Parliament, not by their
own colonial governments. They protested, saying that these
taxes violated their rights as British citizens.
The colonists started to resist by boycotting, or not buying,
British goods. In 1773 some colonists in Boston, Massachusetts
demonstrated their frustration by dressing up like Indians,
sneaking onto ships in the harbor, and dumping imported tea into
the water. This was called the Boston Tea Party. The British
took action by closing the Boston port. A similar but smaller tea
party took place in Yorktown, Virginia in 1774.
The First Continental Congress met in 1774 to make a list of
complaints about the way Britain was treating the colonies. Many
people in America felt their concerns were not being heard, and
this caused more unhappiness in the colonies.
In April of 1775, a group of colonists fought against the
British army in the Battles of Lexington and Concord. In 1775,
the Second Continental Congress decided to form a Continental
Army, which consisted of citizens from 13 colonies. George
Washington was selected to be the Commander-in-Chief of the
Army. The colonies were ready to fight for their rights.