United States › Questions › Colonial Period and Independence
Official question #77US Citizenship Test
Name one reason why the Americans declared independence from Britain.
Correct answer
Taxation without representation
Also accepted: 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
Why
Colonists objected to taxes passed by a British Parliament in which they had no representatives (“taxation without representation”), to British soldiers being quartered in their homes, and to laws such as the Stamp Act and the Intolerable Acts. Events like the Boston Massacre (1770) and the Boston Tea Party (1773) deepened the conflict.
Answer choices
- ABritain refused to sell them the Louisiana Territory
- BBritain would not let them build railroads
- CTaxation without representation
- DBritain wanted them to fight in World War I