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Question 77 of 128 · American History · Colonial Period and Independence

Name one reason why the Americans declared independence from Britain.

Accepted answers

  • High taxes
  • Taxation without representation
  • British soldiers stayed in Americans’ houses (boarding, quartering)
  • They did not have self-government
  • Boston Massacre
  • Boston Tea Party (Tea Act)
  • Stamp Act
  • Sugar Act
  • Townshend Acts
  • Intolerable (Coercive) Acts

Any one of these is accepted, unless the question asks for more than one.

Why this is the answer

The colonists' complaints had been building for years. Great Britain raised their taxes to pay for its wars, but the colonies had no representatives voting on those taxes: taxation without representation. The official list also names the Sugar Act, the Stamp Act, the Townshend Acts, the Boston Massacre and the Boston Tea Party. Britain answered with laws to punish the colonists, the Intolerable Acts, made the colonial congresses illegal and kept soldiers quartered in people's homes. Underneath it all was one problem: the colonists had no self-government. Name any one reason. Memory hook: taxes, troops in the house, and no voice.