Colonists were tired of the unendurable acts placed upon them from a country so many miles away. They were so displeased with their position in the empire and the infringement of their rights that they needed to declare their independence (Nash 123).
The revolution began because the results of the French and Indian War stroke Britain economy hard as the national debt doubled because of how expensive the war turned out to be. The British thought of ways of getting their money back by enacting several taxations and other acts among American colonies. Their purposes were to "regulate settlement and trade and to increase the tax burden of the colonists" (Hoffman). The first of these were the Proclamation of 1763, Sugar Act of 1764, and the Stamp Act of 1765, which placed direct taxes on things such as newspapers and other legal documents. The Stamp Act was the first of many direct taxations placed on the colonists, and the colonists saw these as British efforts to hold back the economic prosperity of America. Almost anyone who had commercial businesses or read newspapers was effected as well as mostly merchants and lawyers. .
Colonists resolves, protests, boycotts of British goods and riots put pressure on British merchants. It also resulted in alliances between political and colonial leaders, and eventually a repeal of the Stamp Act. This also led to the passing of the Declaratory Act which said that Parliament could do whatever it wanted in the colonies. This act put colonists at fear that American was forever going to be ruled by a future tyranny of Britain. They were afraid of the king getting too strong, and they wished to maintain local control. .
In The Stamp Act Congress Condemns the Stamp Act, 1765, members of Congress wrote to Parliament the reasons why there should be a repeal of the Stamp Act and why it was unjust for colonists. The first reason being "inherent rights and liberties of his natural born subjects within the kingdom of Great Britain" meaning that the people of America shall be granted the same rights of those in the country ruling them.
