Economic Restraints And The American Revolution

The colonists were being heavily taxed, and treated very unfairly. With acts such as the

War never truly has one person or side at fault; each front brings something to the table. Nevertheless, the American Revolution is a conflict that raises major debate over who to blame. The American colonies were at a standstill. How could a new nation grow with such a controlling mother country always on its back? As a result of the French Indian War, the British had to pay for their colonies war debts. For England to pay for these debts, Parliament imposed multiple harsh taxes and acts on colonists. Millions of British pounds used to fund the war were expected to be returned to Great Britain. Why does a British colony have to pay England for a war that the British were fighting in the first place? After some consideration, the

The massive debt of the French and Indian war was a very big struggle for Great Britain and the massive debt will start the revolutionary war. The massive debt happened right after the French and Indian war. Great Britain was 122 million pounds in debt. That is why they tried to tax the colonies. The taxes were called acts. This payed off part of the debt but the taxing didn't come to a pleasant end for Great Britain.

From a British economic standpoint, the French and Indian War, in addition to the Seven Years War, plunged them further and further into a seemingly endless mountain of debt. Profits and taxes were insufficient to keep the country afloat: “[the] revenue…is small and inconsiderable…” (Document F). This caused Britain to heavily tax its own citizens. The British citizens saw no justice in this, as they centered on the fact that their tax money was paying for American wars and military. The military

The biggest reason that colonists were becoming disgruntled with their mother country, Britain, was Britain’s heavy debts that Britain had accumulated while fighting wars with France which needed to be alleviated. As with all governments, Britain had to tax its people to procure the funds needed to pay these debts. Britain saw their colonies as thousands of British citizens that they had not taxed satisfactorily. After realizing this, Britain imposed several new taxes on goods imported and exported to and from the colonies. The colonists were livid over the new taxes. After all, Britain had practiced salutary neglect for almost 100 years. Salutary neglect is the practice of leaving one’s foreign acquisitions to their own devices with little to no interference of their government, social, or economic aspects. The colonists immediately began to petition these new taxes. Their logic: “No taxation without representation.”

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

The American Revolution modeled the path taken by a social and economic movement in many more aspects than that of a political and intellectual movement. Even though political reasons existed for the cause the Revolution, the revolution should be considered an economic movement based on the idea of “no taxation without representation.” The colonists believed that the British rule in the colonies was extremely unfair, but these intellectual causes are greatly outnumbered by economic causes such as taxes and trade.

The American colonies were justified in their response to the taxes King George III and Parliament applied on the colonist as Britain allowed this new world to form its own reality and sense of independence by refusing to financially support the colonies and ignoring the large gap that developed over time between the colonies and Britain.

The impact of the French and Indian War on the British government was a positive move toward the dominance of Europe after the defeat of the French in terms of the colonization of North America. During this time, the British had incurred a massive military debt, which had to be paid over the long-term. To ensure that the British government did not take full responsibility for the debt, the British colonists were expected to pay back the debt burden through extremely high taxes. This policy was a major impact on the British because it defined a new era of colonial exploitation that was to be used against the colonists. During this time, the British government harbored resentment over the uncooperative attitude of some colonists that supported the French and refused to pay taxes to relieve the war debt:

Around 1763, Britain was in immense debt from funding the 7 Years War (French and Indian War). Britain was lacking revenue and they decided that the colonists were responsible to help them since they took part in the war as well.. Britain started taxing the colonists by enacting many different acts until 1776. Colonists did not think very highly of these taxations and believed it was an infringement of their rights to tax them without their consent. Eventually, Colonists became so resistant to British Rule, that the Independence Movement was started. Colonists were upset acts were being imposed on them without consent . Their resentment from trade regulations grew thus leading to rebellion. Colonists attempted reconciling

The Revolutionary period has often been categorized by the hardships that the Americans faced. The colonists were forced to abide by British rule without their consent, which pushed the realities of tyranny further into light as the colonists were unable to receive proper representation while they were taxed. While many Americans enjoyed the period of Salutary Neglect from 1696-1763, the period that followed left many colonists fearing their rights were not being upheld as a part of the British empire. In the eyes of the Americans, the unjust legislation was an unforgivable offence, which forced them to ultimately declare their independence in 1776. The main factors of unjust taxation that lead to the political supremacy imposed by Great Britain

After the end of the French and Indian War in 1763 the American people had taxes placed on them by the British. The British Parliament claimed that by placing the taxes they were defending the colonies for the Americans. During the twelve years following the war, the British enacted a numerous amount of taxes that allowed them to raise revenue from the American economy. This taxing of the American people hurt the American economy and started to push the American colonists toward an independence movement so they could have a free economy. Over the course of the twelve-year period there were six acts enacted to take money from the American economy.

After the French and Indian war everything seemed to work exactly as the colonist wanted and were grateful for the help provided by Mother England. France had now evacuated the land, the British had come to their rescue, and now they could really turn this land into what they envisioned it to be…so they thought. Then you have the British, they had another notch in the belt by winning a battle that seemed impossible; and now that the battle is over they looked around and saw all this “opportunity”. Then there was the issue of money because now England was in debt some 140 million! England was not impressed with the contributions the colonist were able to mustard up for the battle financially nor military wise; and to help recoup some of their losses they took a decisive step in attempting to force the colonies to pay off the war debt.

The American and French Revolutions were profoundly motivated by economics. Prior to the Revolution, British colonies in America were thriving. Colonists paid fairly few taxes and were permitted to participate in domestic economic activity, granted they adhere to the Navigation Act, an act requiring, “that all trade within the empire be conducted on ships which were constructed, owned and largely manned by British citizens. Certain enumerated goods whether exported or imported by the colonies had to be shipped through England regardless of the final port of destination.” (Baack) Its mother country however, was not analogous. England’s debt had nearly doubled due to their victory over France during the 7 Year War and was frantically

It is easy to interpret the American Revolution simply as a struggle for freedom. The magnanimous phrases of the Declaration of Independence have embedded in our hearts and minds glorious images of the Founding Fathers fighting for the natural rights of man. The American Revolution, however, also had a darker side to it, the side of self-interest and profit. The signers of the Declaration represented various classes – the working class, the wealthy land owners and merchants, the intellectuals, and the social elite. Each of these strata had its own set of expectations and fears, which lent a new dimension to the cause of the Revolution. The pressure of these internal, and often overlapping groups, combined with the oppressive external