John Adams identified the years between 1760 and 1775 as the era of the true American Revolution.

Though not all historians would agree with his interpretation, none would deny that the events of those years were crucial for an ever widening split between Anglo American colonies and Great Britain, which led the former to develop a theory of political independence. It all started with the British victory of the Seven Years War - the last of a series of wars between the British and the French over their colonial possessions in America - and the signature of the Peace of Paris in 1763, by which France was ousted from the Continent, and Spain from Florida. In the aftermath of the war it became clear that the interests of Great Britain and those of the colonies did not coincide: the colonies wished to retain the degree of political independence they had enjoyed ever since their foundations and, unfettered by the French, began to think expansively about their future; whereas the Crown, in great need of money to reduce a huge war debt and to support its growing empire, was determined to tighten the reins of provincial governments and impose on the colonies revenue raising taxes. Several were the measures adopted by the Crown to that aim. The first one was the Royal Proclamation of 1763, which declared the Appalachian Mountains to be the Western boundary for colonial settlements and forbade American settlers to move beyond it. A year later followed the Sugar Act, which banned the importation of foreign rum, put a duty on molasses from all sources, levied duties on a number of luxury items and also established a vice-admiralty court; and the Currency Act, which outlawed colonial issues of paper money. Eight colonial legislatures sent separate petitions to Parliament requesting the Sugar Acts repeal, they complained that the colonies had not consented to its passage, but the law remained in force. The following year Parliament passed the Stamp Act, a turning point in Anglo American relations, which would spark organized resistance and intense ideological debates over the rights and liberties of the colonists, centered on the question of political representation. American colonists claimed that as they did not elect members to the House of Commons, Parliament did not represent them and, therefore, had no more rights to pass laws for the colonies than any colonial legislature had the right to pass laws for England. The idea conflicted with the English principle of virtual representation, according to which each Member of Parliament represented the interests of the whole empire. As the Stamp Act affected nearly every colonist by requiring tax stamps on most printed materials, opposition to it came from various fronts. A Stamp Act Congress was organized, with representatives from nine colonies, which adopted the position that colonists could be taxed only by their colonial legislatures. In Boston, artisans and laborers demonstrated against the Stamp Act and forced the provinces stamp distributor to resign. In New York, an intercolonial association of prominent men was created, the Sons of Liberty, to link protest leaders from all the colonies. As well, nonimportation associations were organized to pressure British exporters. Such determination and unity finally earned colonists a victory in March 1766, when Parliament repealed the Stamp Act. However, on the same day, Parliament passed the Declaratory Act, in which it asserted its authority to tax and legislate for British Americanspossessions in all cases whatsoever. Thus, the following year the Townshed Acts were passed, which levied duties on paper, glass, lead and tea imported from Britain, which were to be used in part to support colonial officials. The Acts also created an American Board of Customs Commission and three viceadmiralty courts. This time not only the imposition of taxes angered Americans, they also felt their power to control royal officials, through payment of salaries, was being threatened, and so were their profits by more vigorous customs control. The colonials went up in arms again. By then, colonial legislatures had become aware of the effectiveness of collective action, so the Massachusetts assembly drafted a letter to be circulated among other colonial legislatures calling for unity and suggesting a joint position of protest. The British government responded to that letter by dissolving

the assemblies where the letter was debated, which further incited colonists union. In March 1770 a violent incident took place in Boston when a crowd of laborers began throwing hard-packed snow balls at British soldiers who were guarding the Customs House. The sentries opened fire killing five Bostonians and wounding eight. Dubbed the Boston Massacre, the event was a clear manifestation of colonial discontent with what they perceived as British heartlessness and tyranny. A month later Parliament repealed the Townshed duties. The Boston Massacre was followed by a three year interval of calm, but questions remained concerning the rights of the colonists and their need of independence from parliamentary authority. Thus, Committees of Correspondence were set up throughout the colonies to state the rights and grievances of the colonists. The committees statements declared that Americans had absolute rights to life, liberty and property, and complained of taxation without representation, the presence of British troops and customs offices on American soil, the use of imperial revenues to pay colonial officials and the expanded jurisdiction of vice-admiralty courts. Out of these committees a base of effective revolutionary organization emerged. The next crisis would constitute the beginning of the end of colonial bondage to Britain. It originated in Parliaments passage of the Tea Act, which granted the East India Company monopoly on all tea exported to the colonies. The colonists responded by returning the shipments of tea to England. In Boston, however, as the Company agents were determined to land their cargo, a band of men disguised as Mohawk Indians dumped the tea into Boston harbor. When the news of the so-called Boston Tea Party reached London, Parliament passed the Coercive or Intolerable Acts, as they became known, to bring the insurgent colonists into line: the port of Boston was closed until the tea was paid; the Massachusetts charter was changed, substituting an appointed council for the elected one, most assemblies were forbidden; if necessary military commanders should be housed in private homes. To make matters worse, at about the same time, Parliament extended the boundaries of Quebec, and allowed French inhabitants greater religious freedom and their own legal customs. The Acts punished not only Boston but the whole province and was meant to alert other colonies not to oppose British authority. Yet, they had the opposite effect: the colonies rallied behind Massachusetts. In September, 1774, colonial representatives met at the First Continental Congress and decided that no obedience was due to the Coercive Acts. A Continental Association was created, with Committees of Observation in every American locality. These Committees collected taxes and military supplies, trained the militia and soon became de facto governments. Great Britain, failing to see the real nature of the resistance and how far radical ideas had spread, had no intention of making concessions. To nip the rebellion in the bud, in April 1775, London ordered British troops to confiscate the munitions the colonists kept at Concord. War then broke out and a year later, on July 4 1776, Americans declared their Independence. From 1763 to 1776 American colonies and the British government were involved in a series of clashes of ever increasing violence which revolved around a single issue: the desire of the colonists to control their internal affairs, especially taxation. In that struggle, Americans gradually developed a sense of their own identity, confidence in their capacity to rule themselves, and a new conception of politics which, strongly influenced by the Enlightenment thinkers, affirmed that only governments based on popular consent could secure natural rights to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. Colonial resistance to British encroachment on traditional rights transformed throughout those years into fight for independence and the establishment of a republican democracy.