Why did the American colonists declare independence in July 1776?

The American Colonies had been largely autonomous for the nearly 150 years preceding the "Declaration Of Independence": they raised their own taxes, built their own roads, had their own courts and had their own representative bodies. British actions in the late C18th sought to curtail this autonomy. Like any group of people who have enjoyed certain freedoms, when there is an attempt to take away these freedoms the colonists reacted in a vigorous and often violent manner. Despite their traditional loyalty to the British crown and their pride in being British, they became "Reluctant Revolutionaries", culminating in the "Declaration of Independence" being signed on the 4th of July 1776. This declaration set out the root causes of the colonists' frustration with the British government and monarch; with reasons such as taxes, the garrisoning of troops; restriction of trade being listed and even that war was being made on them by the King.

1763 saw the end of the Seven Years War between England and Spain on the one side and France on the other. The war had cost Britain a large amount of money, the national debt at the end standing at around £130m. Britain somehow had to raise money to pay of this debt. Under the leadership of George Grenville, several acts were brought in to force in order raise much needed revenue. The 1763 "Sugar Act" was one such act. It reduced the amount of duty on foreign molasses, but at the same time, created vice admiralty courts which could try smugglers without a jury, it was also accompanied by a clear intention to use them. Another of their solutions was the Stamp Act, a levy on all paper goods, which was brought in to force in 1765. This tax affect anything which came on paper, Lawyer's papers, playing cards, books, newspapers, etc. - the effect it ha don the American colonies was immediate, as was their response. The colonists, who were already unhappy about being taxed by the British Parliament whilst having no representation within it, became even more vocal in their opposition, raising the issue wherever possible and issuing pamphlets.

Another issue that faced the British was that of the Native American peoples who had aided the British during the Seven Years War against France. The Native Americans were apprehensive about the possible expansion westwards of the colonists in to what was traditionally their land. The British were aware of this problem and needed to placate the Native Americans so created the Proclamation Line in 1763, an imaginary line which ran North to South along the crest of the Appalachians. This line marked the western border of colonial expansion and the colonists were barred from going west of it. The Proclamation Line was of course never intended to be a permanent feature, just temporary to put off an uprising by the Native Americans; the colonists however were not happy with the idea of being penned in at all and frequently flouted the law, settling to the west of it anyway. The British tried to enforce the line by sending British troops, something the colonists also objected to, to patrol along it, but the sheer length of the line made this impossible. The strength of opposition to the Stamp Act resulted in it being repealed in March 1766, but was shortly followed by the Declaratory Act which asserted the British Parliament's right to tax the colonies.

Faced with growing opposition from American Colonists, Grenville instituted the Quartering Act in 1765 which required the colonists to supply barracks, bedding and beverages to the British troops stationed in the colonies. The colonists, who already hated the British troops found that this close proximity to them intensified their hatred still further, increasing tensions.

In 1767 Grenville's government was replaced by that of Charles Townshend. One of Townshend's first acts to effect the colonies was the introduction of the so called "Townshend Acts" which put a small duty on all goods imported from Britain into America. This resulted in the 1768 "Non-Importation Agreement" between the colonies, whereby they refused to unload goods from British merchant ships. Townshend also attempted to enforce the Quartering Act by suspending New York's assembly; the ensuing hostility towards Britain resulted in the alteration of the Quartering Act.

March 5th 1770 tensions between the colonists and their colonial masters came to a explosive head. Troops has been sent to Boston in September 1768 to quell the growing hostility amongst the colonists living there, of course as before with the Quartering Act this merely inflamed the tensions already present. On March 5th colonist throwing snowballs formed around stones at British troops were fired upon by the British troops, killing five of them. This so called "Boston Massacre" was immortalised by Paul Revere in his engraving "The Bloody Massacre perpetrated in King-Street Boston on March 5th 1770, by a party of the 19th Reg." Lord North replaces Townshend in 1770 and repealed the Townshend and Quartering Acts, which resulted in a down turn in colonial problems.

Relations with the colonies took a downturn once again in 1772 when the British announced that they would pay the officials in the colonies, who had previously been paid by the colonists themselves. The colonists recognised this as yet another attack on their autonomous authority: if the officials were paid by the British government then they would owe their allegiance to them and not the colonists, so would be more inclined to favour the British government.

The Tea Act which followed was an attack on many of the American merchants who took part in the tea trade - by taking them out of the trade the British hoped to compete with the much cheaper Dutch tea by sending a shipment of excess tea to Boston and selling it at a much reduced rate, figuring that the colonists couldn't possibly object to cheap tea. The Boston Tea Party in December 1773 was the colonists reaction to this new act, where, dressed poorly as Native Americans, they threw a consignment of Tea overboard into the harbour. Lord North reacted to this by passing the Coercive Acts, which closed Boston's port with a blockade by the Royal Navy; revoked the colony's charter, closed the courts, stopped town meetings and placed the entire colony under military rule. The hated Quartering Act was also re-introduced. Lord North also introduced the Quebec Act which was designed to win the loyalty of the French-Canadian colonists by expanding the Canadian border and allowing the Canadians to freely practice Catholicism. The American colonists saw this as yet another attempt to block their westward expansion, just as the Proclamation Line had done. These acts combined became known as the Intolerable Acts.

Shortly after this first battle of what was to become the war of independence, the first Continental Congress was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania between September 5th and October 26th 1774, approximately one year after Benjamin Franklin initially suggested such a meeting. Present at the congress were several of the future United States of America's Presidents, including George Washington, who was also to be instrument during the war. The congress was created as the colonies combined response to the Intolerable Acts, spurred on by the closing of the port of Boston. They called on the British to reverse the acts in the "Declaration of Rights and Grievances"addressed to George III. They also also created the Continental Association, which agreed to boycott British trade by means of a "non-importation agreement" unless its demands were met. It is important to note that at this point in time the colonists were still loyal to the British crown and had no intention of declaring independence or becoming revolutionaries; they still believed that their grievances could be resolved through reasoned appeals to the King. The congress also agreed to meet again in the spring if their grievances hadn't been resolved.

From this point on the situation in the American Colonies began to deteriorate rapidly, with the British government successfully alienating the colonists. In the April of 1775, the skirmish between the British and American colonists at Lexington marked the beginning of the end for British rule in the American colonies. The skirmish itself was brief and for the most by decisive. British troops were sent from Boston to look for an arms cache near Concord. The American "minutemen" militia at Lexington, alerted by Paul Revere, came out to meet the British troops. The town's militia, who were vastly outnumbered and out trained by the British troops, started to retreat when challenged to do so by the British commander. At that point a single shot was fired, by who no-one knows but the outcome was a convincing victory for the British troops who opened fire on the militia, the militia fell back into the woods to escape the attack. The British then continued on to look for the arms cache in Concord, which they never found. The American colonists were however rallied by the battle and harrowed the British troops on their return journey, all the way back to Boston, with the British suffering heavy losses.

On the 10th of May 1775, the Second Continental Congress was convened, again in Philadelphia, as had been agreed at the first congress. The second congress was convened partly as a response to the battles at Lexington and Concord. New additions to the congress included Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin. One of the first acts of the new congress was to adopt the large volunteer army that had assembled as its own and, with much effort by John Adams, George Washington was placed at its head and left for Boston to take command of his army. The congress also laid the foundation for future independence by opening diplomatic channels with France and passing resolutions which allowed them to ask for money, supplies and men for the war from the colonies. While the congress was in progress, the American army under George Washington fought The Battle of Bunker Hill in June 1775. The battle, which was a pyric victory for the British, can be seen as the first major battle of the war. Although the British managed to defeat the American colonists holding Breed's Hill and Bunker Hill, they did so at great cost. Despite this battle, however, there were those who were determined to try and heal the rift between the mother country, Britain and her children, the colonies. Dickinson's Olive Branch Petition, signed in July 1775 and again addressed to King George III, was the colonists last ditch effort to avoid all out war with Britain, it affirmed the colonist loyalty to the crown, but was critical of their treatment by parliament and the government. George III's response to this petition was to state that "blows must decide", he had decided that the colonists had rebelled against his rule and were no longer under his protection.

In June 1776, Richard Henry Lee brought a resolution to the congress to declare independence. Jefferson, Franklin and Adams were amongst those assigned to the task of debating it. The task of writing the declaration was given to Thomas Jefferson by John Adams. On July 2nd 1776 the congress resolved to declare independence from Britain and on July 4th, the final draft of Thomas Jefferson's "Declaration Of Independence" was approved, though it would not be until 1781 that all the signatories had signed it. Copies of the declaration were sent to all states on July 5th and Washington ordered that it be read out to his army on July 9th.

By the act of signing the declaration of independence the American colonists severed their ties with their mother country, compelled to do so by their perceived by the harsh treatment of the parent. The repeated acts against them had forced them to take a stand and dissolved what had started out as a strong loyalty to Britain and the Crown.