What led the American colonists to revolt against the British?

There were many factors that led the American colonists to revolt against the British. One factor was that the British were passing laws the colonists didn’t want or like. The Proclamation of 1763 prevented the colonists from moving west of the Appalachian Mountains. The colonists wanted to go there to acquire land. The British were concerned the colonists wouldn’t be safe in this area. When the British passed the Quartering Act, the colonists had to provide housing for soldiers to enforce the unpopular Proclamation of 1763.

Other unpopular laws were the tax laws. The colonists were unhappy with the Stamp Act and the Townshend Acts. These laws placed taxes on various items. The colonists believed these laws violated their rights as British citizens because the colonists didn’t have representatives in Parliament who could vote on these proposed taxes before they became law. This is a basic right British citizens have. This was another factor leading to the Revolutionary War.

As the tensions increased, more serious actions occurred. The Boston Massacre was the first time blood had been shed. After the Boston Tea Party, the British passed the Intolerable Acts. The Intolerable Acts punished the colonists, mainly those in Massachusetts, for the Boston Tea Party. Then fighting occurred at Lexington and Concord. People realized war was near. Eventually the Declaration of Independence was written and adopted. The Revolutionary War began after the Declaration of Independence was issued.

Why did the American colonies rebel against England?

Basically, the American colonies rebelled against Great Britain because they felt that changes in the imperial relationship that took place after the French and Indian War represented an attack on their liberties. After the war, which was very expensive (if also very successful) for the British, they attempted several measures that angered the colonists. The Proclamation of 1763, for examples, outraged both ordinary farmers and large land speculators by forbidding settlement in lands west of the Appalachian Mountains. The Stamp Act, which placed a small tax on legal documents, outraged colonists who argued that direct taxes on individuals were a violation of the principle of representative government. A series of duties on imported goods were equally unpopular, and the British government angered Bostonians in particular by stationing a large body of troops there. The Tea Act, which granted a monopoly on tea to the British East India Company, angered colonial merchants, and the "Boston Tea Party" in response led to the "Intolerable Acts" that were viewed throughout the colonies as a measure worthy of serious resistance. Overall, the colonists viewed each of these events as a "long train of abuses," to quote the Declaration of Independence, and they worried that without colonial resistance, they would become second-class subjects within the British Empire. Their efforts at resistance, and British responses, led to the outbreak of armed conflict by the spring of 1775.

Why did the colonies revolt against the British?

It had been building for some time when 1775 rolled around and the first shots were fired.  Let's look at a few of the reasons I think were most important:

1) Cultural differences - most of the Americans had never seen England, and never would.  They were born here, amidst various religions and ethnicities, and mixed over time to form a new culture.  The British, on the other hand, tended to look down at the Colonials, as they called them.

2)  Taxation without Representation - In order to pay for the French and Indian War, (to the tune of $15 million) Britain had to tax the colonies, pure and simple.  But the colonies had no say in their own taxation, and Britain would only promise "virtual representation" saying that they would look out for the colonies therefore they didn't need members of Parliament.

3)  Violence against Americans - The Boston Massacre was essentially a riot where a few British soldiers got nervous and fired on the crowd, but that's not how much of the country saw it.  British subjects had been gunned down in a British colony by the King's Army.  By the time of this event in 1770, eventual rebellion may have been inevitable.

4)  The Sons of Liberty - A group that wanted indepedence for a long time, and used propaganda, newspapers and revolutionary acts like the Tea Party to try and get other Americans to join in a revolutionary effort.

5) British stubbornness and vindictiveness - by overreacting to the Tea Party and closing the Port of Boston to trade, the King united the northeastern colonies in sympathy with Massachusetts, and spread revolutionary sentiment.  Then when colonists in Massachusetts sent the Olive Branch Petition after Lexington and Concord to try and repair the damaged relationship, they were turned down flat.  Britain threw gas on the fire.