The document discusses the causes of the Revolutionary War from the perspective that internal greed was a main factor. It outlines several acts passed by the British Parliament between 1764-1774 that imposed new taxes on the colonies to raise revenue, which angered colonists and limited their economic growth. This included the Sugar Act, Stamp Act, Townshend Acts, and Intolerable Acts. Events like the Boston Massacre and Boston Tea Party further escalated tensions between Britain and its American colonies over taxation without representation, contributing to the start of the Revolutionary War.

1. McKenzie Hamlin
Take home essay #1
Hour: 11-11:50
I believe that the main cause of the revolutionary war was a natural emotion
from the people…greed. The colonies were getting treated differently by Great
Britain vs. the way they thought they should be treated. I will be discussing about the
internal greed of the people.
In 1764 when the British imposed new taxes, they had 10,000 troops stationed
in North America. The British found themselves into the war about 140 million
pounds. They made steps in the direction to decrease violence between the colonists
and the Indians, therefore would decrease the need for troops. The British also
decided to up the taxes on the colonists as well as bring upon new ones. They did this
to cover the costs of the troops in North America.
(www.historycentral.com/revolt/sugart.html)
http://americanhistory.about.com/od/revolutionarywar/a/amer_revolution.htm
In 1763 the British issued the proclamation which was intended to protect the
Indians from future confliction by the settlers. This proclamation put laws against the
trade of land from the Indians, unless the land was in the name of the British. The
colonists reaction to the proclamation was just the very opposite of positive. They felt

2. as if the government was limiting their economic growth; which I believe is exactly
the truth. This goes along with all the greed that was internalized within the acts.
(www.historycentral/revolt/sugart.html)
I can completely understand why the American colonists felt distraught and
maddened. A year or so later the British passed the “Sugar act”, this put strong
enforcement on the tax of molasses, silk, potash and wines. These were key imports
of the colonies. The American colonists rebelled very quickly, they smuggled the
goods in without paying the taxes. (www.historycentral/revolt/sugart.html)
It looks like to me that all the British are doing is causing confliction and war
with their own selfishness involved.
It turns out the sugar act did not bring enough money to support the troops, we
knew this if you recall, the colonists smuggled the goods. This just wasn’t enough so
therefore a new act was put in place, the stamp tax. This put tax on every document
and newspaper, pretty much everything used in the colonies was now taxed.
I believe this brings taxation without representation; the tax was approved
with no debate whatsoever. The colonists stated that this was illegal mostly because
they had not been consulted with this tax.(www.historycentral/revolt/sugart.html)
In 1767 the “ongoing need to raise revenue”, as well as show the colonies they
had “the right to impose taxes.” (www.historycentral/revolt/sugart.html)

3. The Townshend act was then passed, this act was to place tax on glass, paint,
quality paper, wine, these items were not made in the colonies and the British were
aware of this, so it would be difficult for the colonists to smuggle and avoid paying
tax. This enraged the colonists as well, that they were pretty much being forced to
pay for things they felt they had earned. This is where, as I previously stated that the
colonists were not being treated the way they thought they
deserved.(www.historycentral.com./revolt/townshend.html.)
In 1770 there was an event that led up to the revolutionary war; we call this
the Boston Massacre. The British fired and killed three Americans and wounded a
few more. This massacre only grew the peoples more enraged and worsened the
Americans opinion on the British. (www.historycentral/revolt/sugart.html)
In 1773 just three years after the Boston Massacre the relationship between the
colonists and the British was just recovering. This year introduced the Boston Tea
Party. Fifty men ran for the ship and threw 90,000 pounds of Tea into the ocean at
the harbor. (www.historycentral/revolt/sugart.html)
These men were enraged because the British had not removed tariffs on the
tea when they repealed the Townshend act. It seems like to me that all of this did,
was cause more confliction and greed leaded in the direction of the revolutionary
war.

4. In 1774 the British parliament put the “intolerable acts” into play. This was
defiantly a reaction to the Boston Tea Party. These “Intolerable acts” consisted of
closing the port of Boston until they received fair exchanges for the tea that was
dumped. Meetings after meetings took place and the British were not willing to
budge. The British were just full of mistakes they then passed the Quebec act, this
lengthened Quebec along the western side of the colonies. This was meant to keep
them from growing off of western growth. (www.historycentral/revolt/sugart.html)
Once again out of greed the British did this in hopes that this would force
Boston and the areas near to back down. Obviously this was not the case, these acts
built up to eventually bring the American Revolution; the Revolutionary war.
(www.historycentral/revolt/sugart.html)
This concludes that the internal greed of the people caused them to make
decisions over the series of years that eventually caused the Revolutionary War.