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Essay on Economics of the Revolutionary War

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Economics of the Revolutionary War 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. The Sugar Act of 1764 was the first act used …show more content…

The trade of one item of commerce being stopped caused problems. A person who depended on it could no longer sell it after they imported it. This still happens in our economy today. An example of this today would be something like Pratt and Whitney closing down a plant; it hurts the rest of the community that once benefited from it. The biggest problem for America was trade with the French. The economy of fishermen started to suffer when "the French stopped permitting fish to be carried by foreigners to any of their islands unless it be bartered of exchanged for molasses" (King, Peter. Petition from the Massachusetts). Not being able to exchange fish for molasses caused the economy to suffer. The British stated that the colonies could only obtain molasses from British sources, which makes this suffering economy evident. The British not allowing fish to be traded with the colonies put the fishermen who depended on this as a livelihood out of business. This started to drive the colonists toward opposition against British involvement in North American affairs. The cause of this opposition was taxation, which was starting to hurt the economy. Another problem plaguing the economy of Britain was that the Americans continued to issue a large amount of paper bills. The British felt the effective way to halt the issuing of the bills was to put in place a Currency Act. They saw the paper money as "greatly depreciating

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