A cause that historians might label as one of the tips of the iceberg was all the regulations being implemented by the British. Regulations like the Sugar Act, the Currency Act, the Quartering Act, and the Stamp Act. The Sugar Act, passed in 1764, added taxes on goods like wine, sugar, coffee, and spices that were imported into America. This regulation angered many American colonists because it taxed them without consent and because they had no elected representative to represent them in parliament. They did not want taxation without representation which was a famous saying that we will get into when discussing another reason that led to the revolution which was, the Boston Tea Party.
Throughout the colonies, financial burdens were definitely felt. Americans tried printing their own money to accommodate for these burdens. The money being printed by these colonies could not be used in other colonies. Due to the colonies shortage of money, Britain expected that any debt Americans had was to be paid in gold, silver, or tobacco for that reason. That is how the Currency Act came about, fear of British creditors in the fluctuating value of the new currency introduced within the colonies.
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The Quartering Act was a bill passed by Parliament that required Americans to house and feed the British troops that were there to protect Americans from the harm that Indians were causing. This bill left many Americans questioning the positions that the troops were supposed to stay. Americans thought that if the troops were stationed to protect them, then why were they not located at more frontier locations? However, colonists were forced to house troops despite whatever conditions. Americans were upset by this, because they had no say in the matter and it disrupted a lot of their everyday lives. If that was not enough to anger Americans, the British proceeded to anger them by passing the Stamp Act.
The Stamp Act put a fee on any paper that had an official government stamp on it. Government stamped documents included newspapers, college diplomas, licenses, bonds, insurances, and many other common documents. Americans were very frustrated, because it felt like every piece of paper was required to have a government stamp on it, which would come with a required fee. To make them even more upset, when the bill was implemented, Americans had no voice in the passing or structure of the bill. The Stamp Act was enforced involuntarily. However, it did make its way through Britain, as Benjamin Franklin’s daughter, Sally, who wrote a letter to her father explaining how upset Americans were and how confused she was in how her father could support a bill that went against what Americans wanted.
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