The American Revolution was not caused by any one act of the British, instead it was a culmination of many things. From the colonies being exploited economically by the British Empire to pay off its war debts, the British imposing more and more regulations on the colonies, to the ever diminishing, self-governance of the colonies. Over time, these factors pushed the colonies to declare themselves independent from Great Britain, and to fight for their freedom from them.
The road to revolution began with the ending of the French and Indian war. After the war, the British Empire had incurred massive debts and saw the colonies as a perfect way to pay them off. The first tax to come was the sugar act. This placed a tax on non-British molasses. While there had been previous taxes in place on such goods, this is the first one the British enforced, which undermined the lucrative smuggling business into the colonies. While this did upset the colonies, this was far from war starting. Many saw it as just a tax on trade, and as such did not create a big fuss over it. .
The Stamp Act of 1765 however, made the colonies very upset. The stamp act taxed most printed literature, legal and commercial documents, as well as newspapers. This was the first direct tax on the colonies, and as such, people were not happy. Because of this tax, the cry "No taxation without representation," " became common throughout the colonies. This also led more colonists to complain about "The Rights of Englishmen saying that only they had the power to tax themselves, not the British parliament. The British however, argued that the colonies had "virtual representation ", saying that they vast majority of white men could not even vote for parliament. .
Even with the colonies raising a stink about the taxes, the British continued to impose them, only angering the colonies further. The next such tax was the quartering act. This forced the colonies to pay for barracks and provisions for the British soldiers.