The Road to Independence

US History

Chapter 3 · The Road to Independence

Chapter 2 left the causes of the Revolution unexplained. This chapter takes them up: the taxes Parliament imposed after 1763, the colonial response, and the sequence from the Stamp Act to the Declaration of Independence. The military campaigns themselves belong to Military History: The War of US Independence, which this chapter names but does not repeat. The sources are three reference articles, on the American Revolution, the Boston Tea Party and the Stamp Act. Two of them correct a popular story, and the chapter keeps both corrections.

Why Parliament Taxed the Colonies

Britain faced enormous debt from the Seven Years' War, and Parliament decided to tax the colonies to help fund the 10,000 troops stationed in America afterward. Grenville's ministry judged that "stamp duties" were "the easiest, the most equal and the most certain" revenue method, since they had worked in Britain itself.

A Link to Chapter 2 Chapter 2 gave the colonies' rapid growth and their 40 percent share of the empire's output by 1770, from one source. Neither this chapter's sources nor Chapter 2's own connect that growth to the decision to tax the colonies, so I do not claim a cause here. I note only that the timing overlaps.

The Stamp Act, 1765

The Stamp Act imposed a direct tax on printed materials, requiring stamped paper from London with an embossed revenue stamp, covering legal papers, newspapers, magazines and playing cards. Tax had to be paid in hard currency, not colonial paper money.

ResponseWhat the source says
ArgumentColonists argued taxation required representation. Parliament countered with "virtual representation," that MPs represented all British subjects regardless of voting rights.
CongressThe Stamp Act Congress (October 1765) brought 27 delegates from nine colonies, and its Declaration of Rights and Grievances asserted that "no taxes be imposed on them, but with their own consent."
Street actionSons of Liberty groups organised demonstrations, effigy hangings, and forced stamp distributors to resign.
Boycott"200 merchants...agreed to import nothing from Great Britain until the Stamp Act...was repealed."

Parliament repealed the act on 18 March 1766, effective from 1 May, partly because of merchant pressure. On the same day it passed the Declaratory Act, affirming Parliament's power to legislate for the colonies "in all cases whatsoever."

A Repeal That Changed Nothing in Principle Parliament gave up the tax and kept the claim to authority. The source does not say how colonists reacted to the Declaratory Act specifically, and I did not find whether it was noticed at the time as much as the repeal was celebrated. I do not assume it was.

Escalation, 1767 to 1770

The American Revolution article says tensions increased again after Parliament passed the Townshend Acts in 1767. British troops were deployed to Massachusetts to quell unrest, and a clash with colonists became the Boston Massacre in 1770. I did not find what the Townshend Acts taxed or how the Massacre unfolded, so the chapter states only that these events are named as part of the sequence.

The Boston Tea Party, 16 December 1773

The Tea Act of 1773 let the East India Company export tea directly to the colonies while keeping a three-pence Townshend duty. Colonists objected on the "no taxation without representation" principle, and merchants also feared the government-created monopoly might extend to other goods and that legitimate importers would be undercut.

DetailWhat the source says
What happenedMembers of the Sons of Liberty boarded the merchantman Dartmouth on the night of 16 December, after it had docked in Boston, and dumped the tea into the harbour.
AmountMost sources cite 342 chests destroyed, though the UK National Archives gives 340. The tea weighed about 92,616 pounds and was reported by the East India Company to be worth £9,659, roughly £1.3 million in 2025 currency.
DisguiseParticipants dressed as Mohawk warriors to obscure their identities, symbolically identifying "with America, over their official status as subjects of Great Britain."
A Myth the Source Corrects A popular story says Samuel Adams gave a prearranged signal to begin the destruction. The source says eyewitness accounts show "people did not leave the meeting until ten to fifteen minutes after Adams's alleged 'signal,'" and that Adams actually tried to stop people from leaving. I use the source's account and drop the signal story.

Parliament responded with the Coercive Acts (also called the Intolerable Acts in 1774), which closed Boston's port and "ended local self-government in Massachusetts." The Revolution article says these laws "were intended to end self-government in Massachusetts but instead increased American support for revolution."

A Pattern the Sources Repeat The Stamp Act was repealed and answered with the Declaratory Act; the Coercive Acts, by the article's own account, provoked more support for revolution than they suppressed. Twice, a British response to protest is described as backfiring. That is a pattern I notice across two of today's sources, and neither article states it as a general rule, so I do not claim it holds beyond these two cases.

Organising Resistance

The First Continental Congress met in 1774 and coordinated resistance through "underground networks of committees." I did not find what it resolved, beyond that coordination, so the chapter does not describe its decisions.

Fighting Begins

Fighting began with the Battles of Lexington and Concord, triggered when "the British attempted to disarm the colonists." The Declaration of Independence was adopted on 4 July 1776, based on "protecting and guaranteeing inalienable rights."

The War Itself Is Not Here This chapter stops at the Declaration. The military history of the war, including Lexington and Concord in more detail, belongs to Military History: The War of US Independence, and I do not repeat that course's chapters here. The Revolution article itself cautions that "throughout most of the war, the outcome appeared uncertain," which I note without expanding on, since the war is out of this chapter's scope.
What I Did Not Verify I did not find the Townshend Acts' provisions, the Boston Massacre's details, the First Continental Congress's actual resolutions, the drafting of the Declaration, or colonial opinion for and against independence. I also did not check the 342-versus-340 chest figures against a primary source. The chapter follows one narrow line from tax to Declaration.

Hands-On Exercises

Exercise 1

Build a timeline from the Stamp Act to the Declaration of Independence using only the chapter, and mark which dates are exact and which are years only.

→ Solution
Exercise 2

A student writes "Samuel Adams gave the signal that started the Boston Tea Party." Use the chapter to correct it.

→ Solution
Exercise 3

Explain the pattern the chapter notices in the Stamp Act's and the Coercive Acts' aftermaths, and say what evidence would be needed to call it a real pattern rather than two similar cases.

→ Solution

Quick Reference

  • Stamp Act: 1765; Stamp Act Congress, October 1765; repealed 18 March 1766; Declaratory Act same day
  • Escalation: Townshend Acts 1767; Boston Massacre 1770
  • Tea Party: 16 December 1773; 342 (or 340) chests; disguised as Mohawks; Adams did not signal it
  • Coercive Acts: 1774; closed Boston's port; increased support for revolution
  • 1774 to 1776: First Continental Congress; Lexington and Concord; Declaration of Independence, 4 July 1776
  • Not covered: the war itself (see Military History: The War of US Independence); the Congress's resolutions