In attempting to describe the origins of the Revolution, American abolitionist Wendell Phillips once stated: “Revolutions always begin with the people, never with the leaders. They discuss, solve, organize; it is the people who, like the edge of the cloud, show the lightning first.” However, if you examine the foundations of the American Revolution, this was simply not the case. Yes, while it is true that the colonists organized themselves and discussed how to effectively communicate their grievances with Britain, the idea of ​​cutting their ties with Britain was the last thing that occurred to them. In this sense, it was the British parliament and king, not the people, who instigated the American Revolution. Parliament did this by ignoring the protests of the colonists by passing the Tea Act, which was seen by many in the colonies as a way to get people to boycott British goods, and the King did this by rejecting the olive branch proposal by John Dickinson - a proposed proposal that showed the last of the colonial attempts to solve the problem initiated by Parliament without entering into Revolution. The first way the British instigated the American Revolution was through Parliament's decision to pass the Tea Act of 1773 to end the non-drinking protests that began shortly after the passage of the Stamp Act eight years earlier. Before the Stamp Act, many colonists enjoyed the British goods provided to them. Because of the general prosperity that the colonists enjoyed at the time, British exports allowed people of all classes to enjoy the luxuries of the British elite, including tea and silk. As the Englishman Alexander Hamilton noted in a conversation he had with William Morrison, in... by way of paper... the reason for this was twofold: first, because Parliament ignored the colonists' petitions, passing the Tea Act, triggered the actions of the Boston Tea Party with all the tyrannical actions that preceded it, primarily the Boston Port Bill. Second, because the king chose to reject the colonists' request for assistance against Parliament's actions, they then chose to consider the independence options that Paine was capable of addressing. If either party had chosen to actually listen to the colonists' complaints, perhaps the Revolution would not have happened: Parliament could have understood why the colonists chose not to consume British goods, and the King could have resolved the animosity between Parliament and the colonies . However, because they chose not to listen, the people chose to react, and that reaction was the American Revolution.