The Revolutionary War started in 1775 and ended in 1783. It was also known as the United States War of Independence, was an uprising by which 13 of Britain's colonies gained political independence. By the middle 18th century, differences in life, thought, and economic interests began to grow between the colonies and Britain, the mother country. This was followed by many acts and events that violated the colonists' rights.
The Seven Years' War was from 1756 to 1763. It left Great Britain with the expensive responsibility of managing newly obtained territory in North America. The British Parliament passed the Stamp Act in 1765 to raise revenue to pay a share of the country's defense costs. The Stamp Act required the colonists to use specially stamped paper for all official documents, newspapers, and pamphlets. It provoked almost united opposition among the colonists, who believed it was a violation of the English citizen's rights. They thought it to be taxation without representation. Riots broke out in colonial cities and American merchants promised not to buy British goods.One month before the act was to go into effect, riots
organized by the Sons of Liberty broke out and prevented British-appointed stamp vendors from assuming their posts. Parliament repealed the Stamp Act in March of 1766, yielding to the demand of economically unhappy British merchants.
In 1767, Parliament passed the Townshend Acts, which imposed taxes on lead, glass, tea, paint, and paper imported by Americans from Britain. Once again, the colonists protested and boycotted British goods. In 1770, a riot broke out between British troops and the citizens of Boston. The troops fired, killing five people in the Boston Massacre.
Parliament repealed the Townshend Acts, but engaged in the tax on tea. In 1773, Parliament passed the Tea Act, reducing the tax on tea in attempt to rescue the English East India Company from bankruptcy. The colonists refused to buy English tea...