Government Control In Robert Gross's The Minuteman And Their World

This Act placed taxes on glass, tea, lead, paper and paint. The tax from these materials was used to pay for the British troops. During this time Benjamin Franklin argued the position of internal and external taxes. Franklin claimed the Act internal, but Townshend disagreed. At this point the Massachusetts Assembly wrote a letter to the colonial government ordering them to stand against all the Townshend Acts. Philadelphia and New York and some colonies from the South agreed to boycott the British. Once the boycott took place the colonies had to find a way to create some of their own clothes because they couldn’t buy them from the British any more. This situation lead to homespun groups and other domestic obligations and trends. In 1770 the Townshend Act was no longer used except for the tax on tea and this lead to the development of the Tea

Passed in 1767, the Townshend Acts was a series of taxes intended to not only raise revenue but to also establish a method for Parliament to enforce trade regulations ("Townshend Acts (1767)"). The earlier taxes such as the Sugar and Stamp Acts had resulted in violent protests and riots ("Townshend Acts (1767)"). Therefore, Charles Townshend proposed the Townshend Acts which other than tea, taxed luxury goods such as lead, glass, and paint that only wealthy colonists could afford, so they did not expect many protests ("Townshend Acts (1767)"); “Boston Tea Party: December 16, 1773”; Crompton 3). But the smuggling of tea continued to be at an all-time high ("The Boston Tea Party: December 16, 1773"). Soon enough “tensions came to a head”, on

Boston has been the center of many acts of resistance to the taxation acts. In 1768, the Townshend Acts were unveiled and were met with immediate protests stating that it was against the colonist constitutional rights. This led the Massachusetts House of Representatives to fight the Townshend Acts. They sent a petition to King George III asking to remove the acts. They also sent a letter to other colonial representative assemblies, asking them to help them and join the protests, and called for a boycott of imported goods.

The colonists were not thrilled about the Townshend duties. However, when the redcoats were marching down the streets even though their facial expressions showed dislike they kept it down. The other 12 colonies thought that they restrained because they were scared. On, March 5, 1770, it was a turning point for the colonist because Townshend Act was repealed except for tax on tea. On this day the 60 people of Boston gathered in front of the custom house and attacked the Redcoats with rocks and snowballs. The redcoats replied by firing back at the Bostonians without Captain Thomas’ permission. It resulted in the death of 5 people which lit up their desire for independence.

After the stamp act was repealed, the Declaratory Act of 1766 was put into action, which was Britain’s attempt to save face. It essentially said that Parliament had the power to impose laws in the colonies in any case. Part of this act was the Townshend acts that came a year later; the acts introduced taxes on paper, tea, etc. that were imported to the colonies. Americans viewed this as abuse of power and they took in fewer imports as a result.

The colonists were at first frustrated by the commands of the British and would simply ignore the Proclamations of the Privy Council who found it hard to enforce it orders (Schultz, 2010). The Sugar Act, and Quartering Act, were very unpopular among the colonist, but only had a mild effect on the colonist. Moreover, the Stamp Act had a substantial effect throughout the colonists that actually started resistance groups. The Sons of Liberty and Daughters of Liberty formed in protest of the Stamp Act. The Sons and Daughter of Liberty would intimate the British officials, boycott, and make their own clothing to protest the Stamp Act.

Refusing to use the stamps, riots break out in New York City, mob burns the royal governor, harasses British troops, and then loots houses. In 1767 Parliament passes the Townshend act that imposes more taxes on the colonists. Theses taxes are used to cover the cost of protecting the American colonies. These taxes taxed items such as tea, paper, glass, paint, and

Conflicts between Great Britain and the thirteen colonies created a feud, unknown to last decades long. Motives to pay back British debt came from the French-Indian War. Outcomes of the British victory over the war were bitter-sweet, as it aided British expansion in North America, though creating a giant debt due to war costs. The Jamestown settlement that started the thirteen colonies, funded by King James of England, spurred a new generation of American Natives. Though the British expected power and success of the idea of expanding English land to the colonies, the separation geographically, caused the by products of self-governing ideas and nationalistic beliefs among the colonists, overall weakening the influence Great Britain had on their

After about 4 years the Townshend acts were passed. The Townshend acts were originated by Charles Townshend. They were meant to add even more taxes on all imported goods, which makes everything almost double the original price. Great Britain needed to pass this act because they still had so much of the debt to pay ofF. This was a huge financial burden for the colonists. There were many violent protests.This act eventually led to the Boston tea

The role of a government is to control a state or community using just values which benefit the general population. There are a multitude of perspectives one could take as to what extent the government is justified in its ruling of a people. Both John Steinbeck and David Thoreau write on the American government and where it falls short of it’s duty as a governing force. Steinbeck in Chapter 17 of The Grapes of Wrath focuses on the families which have taken the role of government into their own hands, forming communities which abide by their own rules. Thoreau in On The Duty of Civil Disobedience writes on the injustices of the American government at the time and expresses his belief that people should primarily adhere to their own morals and

Beginning in 1764, Great Britain began passing acts to exert greater control over the American colonies. The Sugar Act was passed to increase duties on foreign sugar imported from the West Indies. A Currency Act was also passed to ban the colonies from issuing paper bills or bills of credit because of the belief that the colonial currency had devalued the British money. Further, in order to continue to support the British soldiers left in America after the war, Great Britain passed the Quartering Act in 1765. This ordered colonists to house and feed British soldiers if there was not enough room for them in the colonist’s homes. An important piece of legislation that really upset the colonists was the Stamp Act passed in 1765. This required stamps to be purchased or included on many different items and documents such as playing cards, legal papers, newspapers, and more. This was the first direct tax that Britain had imposed on the colonists. Events began to escalate with passage of the Townshend Acts in 1767. These taxes were created to help colonial officials become independent of the colonists by providing them with a source of income. This act led to clashes between British troops and colonists, causing the infamous Boston Massacre. These unjust requests and increasing tensions all led up to the colonist’s declaration as well as the Revolutionary War.

     In Parliament some members saw how the boycotts endured by the colonists were affecting the British merchants. One member in Parliament saw how the colonists had grown and had united. For whatever reason the British Parliament repealed the Stamp Act, however this did not stop the disagreements about taxation and lack of representation.      In 1774, the Coercive or Intolerable Acts were passed. these were meant to punish the colonists for the evil they had committed, especially to punish the city of Boston for their acts at the Boston Tea Party.

Soon the Quartering Act was passed, directing the colonies to provide quarters for British soldiers. Americans found this oppressive because it meant that soldiers were placed in colonial homes. In 1764 Parliament passed the Stamp Act, putting a duty on most printed materials. This was a normal tax for the British as it had been going on in Britain for a long time, and it made sense that the rest of their empire would pay the same tax. This placed a burden on merchants and the colonial elite who did most legal transactions and read the newspapers. Also passed in the same year was the Declaratory Act, which stated that the colonies were subject to the will of Parliament. This made a lot of sense to the British, as Parliament was their ruling body, but, to the colonies who had become used to their own government during the years of salutory neglect, this was a direct threat to their way of life.

The Stamp Act further increased the duties on almost any printed material. The amount of mass defiance and rioting, especially in the major cities, that followed shocked the British government, they have never seen this amount or scale of discontent before with their subjects in America. As time went on, so did the riots, mostly in New York, Boston, and Newport, Rhode Island. Finally in March 1766, after a long debate, Parliament repealed the Stamp Act only to pass the Declaration Act, which stated that Parliament could enact laws for the colonies in all cases. Only now most Americans began to realize the power parliament had over controlling their basic rights. England further angered the colonists in June of 1772, when they announced that instead of having a legislature put into place by them, England would pay the governors and judges. Even though it would save the colonists money, they had the mindset of if the judges were paid by England, then they would obey them and what they said. In response, Boston created a Committee of Correspondence to win the sympathy of other colonies, by the end of 1773, all but 3 colonies had Committees of Correspondence. The final step before revolution started was taken in 1773 when the Parliament passed the Tea Act, which allowed the East India Company to ship tea directly to North America with a tax to the colonists, but the merchants who competed with the company announced this as

By 1765, at a Stamp Act Congress, all but four colonies were represented as the “Declaration of Rights and Grievances” was passed. They were determined to let Parliament know that they were equal to British citizens, that there would be no “taxation without representation,” and all efforts to stop tax on colonists would continue (Kennedy, etal 2011.) Although Lord Rockingham, the predecessor of Grenville, sought to repeal of the Stamp Act, this in no way meant Parliament was conceding their control. In fact, while the Stamp Act was repealed, another called the “Declaratory Act of 1766,” gave Parliament the authority to make laws binding the American Colonies, “in all cases whatsoever.” In 1767, George III passed the Townshend Acts to collect tax on glass, lead, paints, paper and, tea. Recognizing that tea was a favorite among the Americans, it ensured greater revenue the British government. Again, the colonists’ rights for representation were ignored and they started to boycott British goods and ultimately, smuggle tea. When the Quartering Act was passed, which specified that colonists were to give room and board to British troops, tension began to rise. For two years, the colonists tolerated British troops on their soil and their dissatisfaction with the British Parliament and King George III became evident through many violent riots, abusiveness of tax collectors and destruction of property. According to Kennedy, etal (2011), Parliament, continually met with