Disputes Before the American Revolution

Before the American Revolution, there was about one-hundred years of disputes between the American colonies and the British government that happened in the latter half of the 17th century.

The term Revolution is almost a false title, since the American colonists fought really to just keep the old way of government rule in place instead of replacing it with the new British government innovations which the colonies saw as oppressive. The American Revolution could actually be considered more of a conservative defense against change. The tension between the American colonies and the British Government originates from the disagreements and unfair/unrepresented enactment of taxes upon colonists. To the British, the liberty to self govern was only given temporarily to the colonists. However, for generations it was normal for the colonies to govern themselves. From this fact, you can tell when the British government started exercising harsher authority over the colonies, why it was met with devout resistance. Intolerable Acts such as the Sugar Act and the 1765 Stamp Act would impose negative effects on colonists daily/economical lives. The Sugar Act of 1764 put tariffs on sugar in the colonies which lowered the tax on sugar, but heavily tightened smuggling laws. This had negative impact on the colonists due to that fact everyone in the colonies smuggled resources. The tax would also produce money for the British government. More intolerable acts would be imposed by the British, causing famously renown revolts such as the Boston Tea Party. The Intolerable Acts was one of the main reasons the American Colonies started to negatively view the British.