Evil In Brave New World

"The British had the right to tax the colonists because the French and Indian War happend in the colonies." was one of the arguements propsed at a debate I had in class once. That might have been true if the colonists had representation in the Parliment because they would have some say in what the taxes should be. Since they weren't represented, then the taxation was not fair. Another point that came up in that debate is the quartering act that the British had placed on the colonists. Some of the class mates said that it didn't matter if Britain wasn't at war because they need to be ready and have places to stay if they did go to war. A friend of mine said that our country couldn't survive, that's why the British came back in 1812 and declared war on the US.

Within the colonies, economic elements influenced the British to generate taxes on the colonists in order to bring in additional revenue to cover their war debt. Some of these taxes that were put in place include the Sugar Act, the Stamp Act, the Tea Act. All three of these acts forced the Americans to pay a tax on everyday goods. Whereas Americans viewed the new tax on sugar and other imports as a burden and violation of their rights, for the British, the taxes were a modest imposition necessary to pay for the cost of eliminating the French from North America and administering the colonies (Keene, 101-102). As a result of their two different views on the taxes, the Americans and the British were set up to have conflicts. Because of their

“No Taxation without Representation” cried colonists all over the 13 colonies in the 1760s. Many of whom who only saw the taxes as a dent in their income rather than a necessity for a nation to survive. In the pamphlet (“Considerations…” by Thomas Whately), the author who is an advisor to the British Chancellor of the Exchequer references to the French and Indian war and states “We are not yet received from a war undertaken solely for their Protection ( the colonies)...”. Evidently wars depend upon tremendous amounts of money win or lose, fortunately with the support of its mother country, the colonies prevailed and won the French and Indian war. In order to replenish its

     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

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 several acts that were passed without the consideration of the colonists that would force them to pay a ridiculous amount of taxes to the British mainland. One of these acts was named the Stamp Act, which was enacted in 1765, forced the colonists to pay a tax on every piece of printed paper that they used. This would include legal documents, license, commercial contracts and newspapers in the tax. This tax mostly effected the wealthier and influential of the colonists and would force them to unite in opposition. There were several other acts that would be passed that would force the colonists to pay undue taxes to the British, such as the Quartering Act and the Tea

Britain’s tactics to control the Americas had been causing various troubles and irritations to the colonists. The colonists had to deal with taxation without representation, also known as virtual representation such as the Stamp Act or Tea Act and also other unpleasant laws passed by the British such as the Quartering Acts. A significant event that is notable for altering the political, economic and ideological relations between the colonies and Britain is the French and Indian War. This was fundamentally the cause of the American Revolution. The relationship between the colonists and the British was already weak but after this war the ties became even weaker than imaginable.

The colonists did not mind the taxes as much because some of the items that were taxed were unnecessary, however they did mind that the British were using their power as an excuse to tax the people for no reason (controlling them). The people’s money was not used in a useful matter, it was used for nothing, just extra money for the British to have. “The raising of revenue… was never intended… Never did the British parliament, (until the passing of the Stamp act) think of imposing duties in America for the purpose of raising a revenue. The Townshend Acts claim the authority to impose duties on these colonies, not for the regulation of trade… but for the single purpose of levying money upson us.” (Document 2). The British just decided one day to just tax the colonies for no reason and the people had no say in it. Also, the British soldiers would come to Boston and take the Boston colonists jobs. Men and women would lose their jobs because the British would take it away from them, they were stealing people’s jobs. The British were taking their money and now their jobs after all the colonists did for them in the French and Indian war. That is not fair for them to run the people like that and it had to be

Between 1754 and 1763, Britain and French were involved in the French and Indian War, which was a territorial dispute between Britain and France. With the help of the British-American colonists, Britain was able to maintain and increase its borders in America, but the funds needed to support the war caused Britain to go into debt (“French and Indian War/Seven Years' War 1754-1763” 1). Not willing to tax its own citizens any further, Britain decided to tax the American colonies more in order to generate revenue. Before the war, American colonists were paying a fraction of the taxes than those living in Britain, and even after the imposed taxes, the average American would pay less taxes than the average Englishman (“British Acts on Colonial America” 1).

The level of resentment between the 13 Colonies and the British was enough to spark a revolutionary war and it did. The outrage over taxation without representation was only intensified when the town of Concord got word that the British were coming to confiscate their weapons and their gunpowder. According to Forsht (2011) author of the Boston Tea Party the British fought several costly war of which they wanted the American Colonies to pay by stamping them for printed materials such as newspaper, magazines and playing cards. Forsht (2011), stated that the American colonies had no representation in parliament yet they were being taxed by a government in which they had no voice. This was all going to change on the night of 19 April 1775.

The French and Indian war caused debts among the British. The British realized that during the war the income from the colonies was insufficient (document F). After the war, the British needed certain ways in which to gain revenue. They imposed taxes on the Colonists. These taxes, in turn, caused a stir among Americans. The Stamp Act was a tax imposed on the colonists without representation (document H). Their liberties as English citizens were being denied. Radical Whigs would go as far to say it

Great Britain thought that the American colonies would obey them just like the rest of their establishments, but they would soon find out the hard way that they were wrong. The French and Indian War, or the Seven Years War, was a very costly British war. The British spent a lot of money trying to get land in the North America from the French, and ended up with a huge debt to pay for the war. To pay off this colossal debt, King George III decided to tax the American colonies. Two major tax laws were the Intolerable Acts and the Stamp Act. The Intolerable Acts, The Stamp Act, and the other laws being made in Parliament angered the colonists immensely. The colonists very understandably were furious at the British Parliament for making laws without

The colonists were needed to pay the taxes in order to help the British pay for the war.  Most of their riots and protests forced Parliament make more law to the colonies and made their problem worse.   In addition, this would affect their economy.   Because the British helped the colonists for the French and Indian War, they would need to tax the colonists in order to pay for it.

The British had control of the thirteen colonies for many years prior to the French and Indian War. After the war Britain took sole possession of the thirteen colonies. The French and Indian War had put Britain in debt so they began taxing the colonists. Britain also began to enforce laws made by the King of England. This led to the phrase "no taxation without representation". The colonists had no other choices but to try and settle their differences with Britain or attempt to break away.

Furthermore, Great Britain had commanded new payment methods which created a ruckus with the Americans causeing great anger. Rebellion and discontent were rampant. The colonies started rebelling against ‘Mother England’ because of taxes issued to the colonies, in as much, England’s power did not allow them to have representation. The Revenue Act of 1764 made the Constitutional issue of whether or not the king had the right to tax the people who are living in his kingdom or the thirteen colonies. Eventually, this "became an entering wedge in the great dispute that was finally to wrest the American colonies from England" (Carey 48). "It was the phrase "taxation without representation" (Montgomery 138) that was to draw many to the cause of the American patriots against the mother country. That has royal authority to be able to term public opinions into a revolutionary battle.