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THE AMERICAN REVOLUTIONARY WAR

JAMES FOY, AN AMERICAN REVOLUTIONARY PATRIOT

he American Revolutionary War began officially early on the morning of
April 19, 1775 on a country road outside Boston but its causes lay further

Tin the past. Relations between England and the colonies in America had
been strained for years.

As in every other war in man’s existence there is no simple or single reason for
this war to have happened. The basic cause of the conflict was the role of the
colonies. Was their purpose for existence to benefit England by sending raw
materials to England and by purchasing manufactured goods made in England;
buying sugar and tea only from English sources; providing revenue to support
British regulars stationed in America, and helping to repay the debt incurred by
England during the French and Indian Wars? Or, were they their own people ?

The American colonies considered themselves to be on an equal footing with

England and particularly resented the taxes being constantly levied on them to
provide revenue for the King.

During the 1760's, England seemed to go out of its way to annoy and frustrate the
colonies, passing a series of revenue producing laws that included the Sugar Act
and the infamous Stamp Act. Because of these heavy taxes smuggling goods into
America became common, and the English Parliament soon issued writs of
assistance, allowing officials to enter and search any buildings in the colonies they
believed contained smuggled goods at will.

Tensions between the colonies and the Crown exploded into violence on March 5,
1770, when a Boston crowd pelted British soldiers with snowballs and rocks. The
soldiers fired into the crowd, leaving three wounded and three dead, including
CRISPUS ATTUCKS, an escaped slave and seaman. The Boston silversmith and
craftsman, PAUL REVERE, later made an engraving of the “Boston Massacre”,

which helped fan the flames of rebellion.

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