Following the war debt acquired from the French and Indian War, England attempted to repay their debt by taking money from the colonists they were attempting to protect. Parliament began to tax the colonists with the goal of paying for their assistance in their fight against the Indians. Colonists felt that parliament was attacking their way of life. Colonists began to protest after the addition of the Stamp Act. This act united ardent spirits to come together and violently protest, one group, the Sons of Liberty enforced the nonimportation agreements and refused the use of stamps. Follow the Stamp Act, the Townshend Acts were introduced. The acts presented an import tax on practical items within the colonies. After the British saw the loopholes colonists took to bypass this tax, Britain sent over two regiments of troops. Colonists, angered by the presence of the troops, took to a protest. The protest escalated while nervous troops fired into the crowd killing and wounding eleven citizens. This event went down as the Boston Massacre. Still angered by the tax on tea brought from the Townshend Acts, and the monopolization of the colonial tea business by the East India Company, the Sons of Liberty took matters into their own hands. Angry colonists boarded the docked tea ships and threw 342 chests worth of tea into the Atlantic. Parliament, in response to the Boston Tea Party introduced the Intolerable Acts. These acts limited Massachusetts’s chartered rights. Thrown right into the start of a rebellion and revolution the colonists saw a problem at hand. Trying to save the colonists from more bloodshed, the Second Continental Congress sent the Olive Branch Petition over to King George III. The petition professed American loyalty to the crown and begged for an end to hostilities. George, still enraged by the many insults brought from the colonies, proclaimed the colonies were in rebellion and denied the petition. The Revolutionary War brought new ideologies and ways of thinking to our culture, and promoted Republican Motherhood, or the belief that women, as moms, were responsible for sharing the republican ideals, and being educated enough to do so. 

Radical whigs advised colonists to be on guard against any threat to their rights. Subsequent to the French and Indian War, Great Britain past several acts including the following: the Sugar Act of 1764, an internal revenue tax on sugar imports, the Quartering Act of 1765, a law requiring colonies to provide food and quarters to British soldiers, and the Stamp Act, an external tax on anything made of paper. These acts concerned the colonists about their rights and thus started colonial protests and riots. Britain responded to the colonists’s protesting and rioting by placing the Declaratory Act and the Townshend Program which specifically established their control over the colonists. Livid and feeling betrayed, the colonists concluded that they lacked virtual representation and were taxed without proper representation; therefore furthered their ambitions to claim independence. 

 When Parliament began passing tax after tax to gain enough revenue from colonies to pay debts from the French and Indian War debts, a notable group of men (and women) began to toy with the idea of rebelling. The Sons of Liberty, as they were called, were a minority group in this belief; however after the Boston Massacre and the Boston Tea Party colonists really began to play around with the rebellious ideas. Colonists began to fully understand and realize the brashness of their mother country as The Intolerable Acts were passed to punish Boston for their rebellious nature. The idea of republican motherhood spread its way across the colonies and the colonies began to unite themselves together, creating the Second Continental Congress and drafting the Olive Branch Petition. Although the events in Boston helped unite the men under the branches of rebellious ideas, the women also began to get united underneath these same branches with their fortress of republican motherhood leading the way into the unknown waters of revolution.  

Colonists were upset with their freedom being taken away, which led to the emergence of groups like the Sons of Liberty, to fight this new control by Britain. They protested the taxation, in the form of the Boston Massacre and the Boston Tea Party, which ultimately led to more tension, as this caused the Intolerable Acts to be passed by Britain. After this, many colonists were against Great Britain, as they believed they were being treated unfairly, but as a last effort to avoid war with England, they created the Olive Branch Petition, in which they pledged their loyalty to the King, and asked for their colonial rights to be protected. However, this was not accepted by the Crown, which started the Revolutionary War. With this came many emerging ideas that would begin to shape the United States, such as Republican Motherhood, which gave women an increased role in education, by having them be the idea of republican virtue, and leading this idea in the family, which ultimately helped the survival of the United States, as it spread throughout the new nation. 

Following the French and Indian War, Britain was drowning in debt, and Parliament's solution to refinance its country would be an end to Britain’s world-dominance. A series of taxes were published on the colonies in an attempt for Britain to dig their way out of debt. These acts included the Sugar Act of 1764 taxing molasses, the Quartering Act of 1765 forcing colonists to share their homes with British soldiers in the colonies, and the Stamp Act of 1765 which taxed stamps that were needed on any published papers. The Radical Whigs encouraged the colonists to be stubborn and boycott these taxes because of the unfairness of them. Colonists felt they were being treated inferior to Britain and clearly displayed their anger. The colonists proceeded to boycott goods, form revolts, and create groups determined to resolve these acts such as the Boston Tea Party. Britain repealed these acts, so the colonists felt like they were successful from their stubbornness. However, the Declaratory Acts were published soon after, establishing that the King can pass and acts or taxes he pleases. The Townshend Program was then published, taxing necessities for survival in the colonies such as glass, lead, paper, paint, and tea. The Townshend Program forced the colonies to buy these goods that were taxed because they needed these goods to survive, and they were brought in British ports, so there was no way around them. Though there were formal documents written by colonists asking King George III for less taxes, such as the Olive Branch Petition, they were rejected insincerely by the King. The colonists felt there were no other option than to fight for independence.