AMERICAN REVOLUTION

American Revolution

American Revolution

Answer A)

The Sugar Act, also known as the American Revenue Act of 1764, was one of a series of causes leading up to the American Revolutionary War. The British government passed a series of acts over the course of thirty years or so that made the American colonists increasingly angry. The Molasses Act, the Sugar Act, the Currency Act, the Stamp Act and others caused the Americans to believe that Parliament intended to use them for profit only and not recognize their rights as British citizens. All of these events together led the colonists to revolt and form the United States of America (Wolf, 2009).

The Sugar Act of 1764, also known as the American Revenue Act or the American Duties Act, was a modification of the already existing Molasses Act which was passed in 1733 and renewed every five years afterwards. The Molasses Act was hated by the colonists because it placed a tax of six pence per gallon on molasses imported from any country outside the British empire. Had this act ever been enforced it would have created havoc in the colonial economy because the distilling of rum, which is created from molasses, was one of the largest industries in the colonies.

Answer B)

African Americans joined the revolutionary war, because the principles underlying the revolution implied the end of slavery and granting of rights for them. American historian Benjamin Quarles, understood the African American community's need for equality and freedom, when he summed it up in the following words, "realizing that loyalty was not to a place or a people, but to a principle". Around 5,000 African Americans served as soldiers in the Continental Army and about 20,000 in the British Army. African Americans served as soldiers, guides, messengers and spies for both, the Continental Army and the ...