The colonists had many reasons to not obey the king. The reasons are, the colonists were able to govern themselves for years and now British wants control, even though they have taken care of themselves for a long time. Also the colonists weren’t equally represented. Lastly there was Salutary Neglect, which is the unofficial British Policy that enforced laws on american colonists. Additionally, the colonists were governing themselves for a while and now the british want control over them. They were able to make the laws and taxes for themselves.In the document ‘Government’ it states “a charter listing a number of rights that most colonist thought they should have.” For example, the King passed The Stamp Act and The Quartering Act, which taxed the colonists on stamps and imported item. Also the proclamation of 1763 angered the colonist. This was a line which the colonists and indians couldn’t cross. This area is also known as the Appalachian Mountains. …show more content…
“No ‘scutage’ or ‘aid’ may be levied in our kingdom without its general consent.” They weren’t being represented fairly, this is also referred as “no taxation without representation”. Britain needed more money, because the French and Indian war caused debt so they took it from the colonists by by-passing them and going directly to parliament to tax them. This angered the colonists which led them to rebel against the king. The colonists were being taxed on tea, so in 1773 the colonists dumped gallons of tea into the Boston Harbor. This was their way of rebelling against the
As generations grew up in America, nationalism within the colonies grew towards their new country. These settlers slowly lost their patriotic tie to Great Britain and it’s ruler, King George III. So when the French and Indian War ended in America, and the indebted England needed some compensation from American settlers in the form of taxes, the colonists questioned the authority of England and their ability to rule them. British imperial policies such as the Sugar Act of 1764 and the Townshend Tea Tax caused uproar within the colonies against British rule without
And in order to collect the taxes, the Bratians raisen the Sugar Act and Stamp Act to put more restrictions on colonial trade and forced colonists to buy special stamped paper. That makes conlonist getting angry and to against the "Taxation without representation", the only thing they want to do is to elect their own colonial legislatures. Also the Proclamation of 1763, bans them from crossing and going to the settlement of the west. So the colonial rebellion is reasonable, they just deserved to have much more control over their own government. For the resistance, colonies coordinate to boycott the British goods. And the matter was worsened when the British government enforced the Townshend Acts through force, it imposed taxes on imported goods from Britain, which really hurt many colonial merchants. And colonies respond that with more boycott. Although the Tea Party removed taxes on tea sold by British, but American tea still taxed. So on the December 16th, 1776 the Boston Tea Party dump 90,000 pounds of tea into the ocean to resist. But after that, British soldiers flooded into Boston, and colonists had to feed and lodge them. The Continental Congress was formed to reason the King George, in the attempt to keep the peace between Britaish and colonies, but he refused the negotiation, and sent troops to
There was another by-product of the war for Britain; her national debt more than doubled during the course of the conflict. At a time when Britain was starting to bend beneath the weight of the debt, it was only a matter of time before parliament looked to the colonies to help shoulder some of the price incurred in their defense. The Sugar and Stamp Acts were the first of many measures to tax the colonists. The Townshend Duties and the Tea Act would follow. While these measures outraged the colonists because of their monetary implications, it was the constitutional implications brought on by the Acts that were most offensive to the colonists. Until after the Seven Years War, the colonists had been left to essentially tax themselves. Now the colonists had a rallying cry, as they deplored the idea of no taxation without representation. In 1765 the Stamp Act Congress was held, and in a bid of utter defiance the representatives agreed that the colonial legislative assemblies alone had the right to tax the colonies. Parliament repealed the Stamp Act, but only after agreeing to pass the Declaratory Act, which informed the colonies that Britain did in fact have the right to legislate for the
Many people have the misconception that the American Revolution occurred because British colonists did not want to be British citizens any longer. This may have been the case for a select few, but many British colonists desired to maintain their status as British colonists and citizens. The foremost reason that the colonists began protests, boycotts, and petitions against the British was because they believed their innate rights as British citizens were being violated. The American Revolution occurred due to a chain of events and a complex set of intertwined reasons.
There were several reasons colonists wanted to break away from the English. A large reason the colonists wanted to break away from English rule was the amount of high taxes that they had to pay for almost everything, because they essentially had to foot the bill for a war. The colonists also had no say on the laws that were passed by a government that was across an ocean, thus the phrase “No Taxation without Representation.” Paying high taxes and having no say in what laws were passed obviously made the colonists angry with the British government, but another factor was the British would not let the colonists trade with anyone else besides them. This means that all trades going in or out could only be done with Britain. Forcing the colonists to pay whatever the British merchants wanted to set their price at because there was no major competition. All of these things as well as not letting the colonists expand past the Mississippi River, would calumniate into a revolution in which the colonists would form their own government and finally fulfill their wish of breaking away from British rule.
There were many events that led up to the American Revolution. After the British defeated France and the Treaty of Paris was signed in 1763, Parliament began enforcing colonists to help pay for debts that were accrued during the war. George Grenville, Britain’s chief minister, constructed laws such as the Stamp Act, Sugar Act and Quartering Act. These new policies that set in place tariffs on imports, exports, and regulations on trade, infuriated colonists (Tindall & Shi, pg. 121). Colonist did not want to allow such imposed taxes because the people themselves were not represented as equal British subjects. “The issue of taxation became a question of the colonist’ place in the imperial system” (Calloway, pg. 14). Also, after the British victory in the Seven Year war settlers were eager to expand west. British government wanted the colonist to stay east where trade was a major profit, and to navigate to the north or south. The Royal Proclamation of 1763 establishes the Appalachian Mountains as the boundary line between British and Indian lands. This was in part to keep Indian alliances and to keep control on the settler’s expansion. Henry Ellis, Governor of Georgia, spoke of
They thought that there was not good enough reason for the new taxes. England on the other hand stated that they taxed the colonist more because they were nearly bankrupt after the French and Indian War. That felt someone had to help compensate and since the American colonies benefited more. They need to bear most of the cost for England’s’ protection and administration. (Pg.536). Between 1763 and 1774, the government passed a new series of laws; placing the colonies under strict restrictions and making them pay higher taxes.
Neither citizens were given any sort of power in government. The king and Parliament of Britain were running rampant without power. The British Constitution stated that there was to be a House of Commons along with a Parliament (Document #1). This was to allow citizens to have power and a say in government. Sir William Meredith, a British politician, referred to Britain as a republic. Thomas Paine, the author of Common Sense, laughed and stated that the government was not worth of that title (Document #1). Thomas Paine understand the entire extent of the king’s overwhelming power. If the House of Commons (the people) was listened to, then the king’s power would have been lessened. The king wanted to be the most powerful and have the last and most important say in all matters. Because of this, the king made sure his power was taken seriously in all spaces of the realm (Document #1). Thomas Paine states that the reason colonists are not retaliating is because they think they have power because they have the House of Commons (Document #1). But what they don’t realize is that their opinion is not listened to. Thomas Paine wanted to pursue the ideas of important figures that were fighting for independence. He attempted to persuade other Americans that were hesitant to join the dream for freedom. He wanted everyone to follow the new nation and its goal to institute a new superior government that will allow them to have more power in say in the
The American colonies were originally loyal to Britain. Early on, however, King George called for some actions that sparked feelings of revolution. The French-Indian War had left severe consequences for Britain such as debt. The colonists were angered by the taxes and unjust treatment they were given so they decided to declare war on the British to become independent. Although some argue that King George’s power protected them, the American colonies were justified in breaking away from their British forefather because of the tyrannical acts of King George and his levying of taxes on goods in the American colonies.
For many years, the American colonists have tried to fight for their independence from Britain. The British needed financial support because of the debt of the French-Indian war and looked towards the colonists. The British taxed in various acts including the Stamp Act and the Townshend Act, which taxed daily goods and all stamps. At the same time, the Boston Massacre and propaganda news was being spread causing even more uproar. All of this uproar, would have never happened if the British were justified for their actions.
The colonists didn’t like taxation without representation because it meant they couldn’t vote on laws. King George III taxed thing like sugar and paper on the colonies. So if they didn’t follow the rules the British army would arrest them. The king also ignored letters sent to him to restore rights. The British king and army were very violent in the colonies.
The colonists claimed that “[they] have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over [them]... They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity.” and in the end the British sided with the monarchy. The colonists felt betrayed by this and decided that there was no point in trying to comply with the monarchy no
The decision of British ruler to tax the colonists was not a decision that the settlers approved and they demonstrate it in many occasions. Starting in 1764 with the sugar act, where products like coffee, tea, sugar wine were taxed, all through the stamp act and many others the British reign reaches its culmination with the tea act which was a last attempt by the parliament to assert its supremacy over the colonists. The tea act was an attempt by the English parliament to save the India Company from bankruptcy. They gave them the right to sell tea directly to the Americans and they reduced some duties. A move that the parliament thought to be winning and flawless was in fact one of the triggering reasons of the revolution. In fact, as the tax
Second, the king had a right to be mad at the colonists! When the New York Assembly met in 1766, they REFUSED to follow the Quartering Act the king out in place. It was as if you were directly insulting the king. And yet the colonist still got mad about the Declaratory Act. The king is tired of the colonist disregarding his authority.
Consequently, the British Parliament imposed taxation on the colonists in the 1760’s. The colonists resented this intrusion, for they felt they were not truly represented in the British government. Taxation without representation became the rallying cry of the colonists.