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SESK: Stuff Everyone Should Know · sesk.info/civics-reasons-for-independence

Which is one reason the Americans declared independence from Britain?

Taxation without representation, one of several reasons USCIS accepts.

  1. The Louisiana Purchase
  2. Taxation without representation ✔
  3. The Emancipation Proclamation

Why: Colonists paid British taxes but had no vote in the British Parliament. The Louisiana Purchase and the Emancipation Proclamation happened decades after 1776.

Huh, didn't know that: At the Boston Tea Party on December 16, 1773, colonists dumped more than 340 chests of British tea into Boston Harbor.

The dad joke
What kind of tea did the colonists want? Liberty.
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Sources

  1. USCIS M-1778 (09/25), 128 Civics Questions and Answers (2025 version) https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/document/questions-and-answers/2025-Civics-Test-128-Questions-and-Answers.pdf
  2. Massachusetts Historical Society, The Boston Tea Party https://www.masshist.org/features/boston-tea-party

Test yourself in the game

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