American Revolution Dbq

After the Seven Years War, the Britain gained massive amounts of debt. As a result, they turned to the colonies as a source of money. The colonists were taxed, yet unallowed to move onto Britain’s newly acquired land in the West. For these reasons, along with some others, the colonists decided to break away from Britain, resulting in war. This war became known as the American Revolution. The word “revolutionary” is described as a change. By this definition, the American Revolution was surely revolutionary -- but in a negative sense.
Before the Revolutionary War, there were three different groups of colonists: patriots, Loyalists, and those who were unsure about where they stood. The Patriots were those who wanted the colonies to govern themselves, without the King and the rest of the British government. However, they were opposed by the Loyalists who were content with living under British rule. During the Revolution, Loyalists were …show more content…
Just like the colonists, some were Patriots and others were Loyalists. Many tried to stay neutral. However, most were treated harshly by those in the Patriot group. Patriot William Henry Drayton order his troops to “cut up every Indian cornfield [and] burn every Indian town.” Even though the colonists had always tried to steal, and sometimes succeeded in stealing, Native American lands, after the Seven Years War they were barred from doing so by Britain. This was because Britain had created the Proclamation Line of 1763, which stopped colonists from moving West of the Appalachian mountains. Since Britain lost the war, the colonists were free to do as they pleased, which included moving onto Indian lands. The Native Americans were forced to give up their lands and driven into parts of the land which were foreign to them in order to regroup and recreate their homes. They felt so oppressed that the word “freedom” became a part of Native American languages, where it hadn’t been