Great Britain In 1763 Research Paper

Many colonists were angered because of high taxes England chose to enforce on them. These taxes were a result of the British participation and victory in the French and Indian war. However, what made the colonists even more angry was the fact that they were being taxed without representation in England’s Parliament. The colonists thought that, in order to be taxed by the British, they should have representation in it. They saw it as unfair to be taxed by a government they had no say in. As Patrick Henry said in his speech made to the Virginia House of Burgesses, “We can under law be taxed only by our own representatives...The Stamp Act is against the law. We must not obey it…” (Doc. 1). Since many colonists thought this taxation broke the law, some of them chose to protest by going to the House of Burgesses, boycotting imports, or simply not paying it in response. This response is justified; if

Huge debts were owed to Great Britain for supplying the colonists with military support and supplies. To pay the dues, there was the establishment of the Stamp Act, the taxation on domestic goods and services. A tax on domestic merchandise brought even more anger to the colonists. The Sugar Act, the Townshed Duties and the Tea Act were also all introduced with the same fundamentals: applying tax on goods whether it be directly or indirectly, domestic or international. “British commercial regulations imposed a paltry economic burden on Americans, who enjoyed a rapid economic growth and a standard of living higher than their European counterparts” (McGaughy). Each act resulted in irritated colonists. Some even retaliated by tarring and feathering certain English tax enforcers living in the colonies.

After the victory towards French in the Seven Years War, the political and social relationship of the colonists and Great Britain had shifted to a different direction. The colonists began to think of themselves as Americans. At that time, The British government felt that the colonies had become quite independence, and they wanted their colonies to start paying tax in order to help England pay the national debt. Not only were Americans forced to pay direct taxes, but they were also obliged to involve in strict regulatory acts such as Sugar Act and Currency Act. Sugar Act (1764) strongly affected American’s trading in which their oceanic vessels and cargos could be inspected by the British Navy and might be confiscated if the paper and the goods that being transported were in disagreement. Currency Act (1764) restricted colonial governments to print their own paper money. These two acts put some colonists in anger but they were not enough to result in civil disorder until the Stamp Act was passed. The reason that the colonists resisted government authority with the passage of the Stamp Act (1765) was because the Stamp Act collected taxes in all type of papers including newspapers, playing cards, licenses, and stamps. This outraged many colonists especially the educated and

     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

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.

     The passing of the Stamp Act by Parliament in 1765 caused a rush of angry protests by the colonists in British America that perhaps "aroused and unified Americans as no previous political event ever had." It levied a tax on legal documents, almanacs, newspapers, and nearly every other form of paper used in the colonies. Adding to this hardship was the need for the tax to be paid in British sterling, not in colonial paper money. Although this duty had been in effect in England for over half a century and was already in effect in several colonies in the 1750?s, it called into question the authority of Parliament over the overseas colonies that had no representation therein.

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

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

The passing of a series of laws regulating trade and tax, most notably the Sugar Act (1764), the Stamp Act (1765), and the Tea Act (1773) increased tension between Great Britain and its colonies in the period 1763-1776. Near the end of the French and Indian War, Great Britain was in desperate need of money to pay for their war debts. The British Parliament believed that they had a right to tax their colonies. Their legislations placed duties on certain imports that had never been taxed before. By the end of 1764, tensions heightened between colonists and imperial officials as they were disagreeing more and more about how the colonies should be taxed and governed. These feelings of dissatisfaction would soon swell into rebellion, leading to the American Revolution.

Although England won the war, with the colonies’ help, they had to pay off the debt they borrowed from the Dutch and other overseas lenders. At that time, the only option they had was to impose taxes over the colonies. For instance, the Stamp Act was passed by the English Parliament in the year 1765. This new tax imposed over the North American colonies required them to pay a fee on every piece of printed paper they used such as newsletters, legal documents, licenses, other publications, etc. This new tax resulted in havoc among the colonists. They thought that this was a way to control their trade and it led to boycotts of English imported goods which eventually led to the repealing of the tax by the British Parliament. This peaceful opposition led to the Boston Massacre. Several colonists were killed by British troops and this was one of the events that led to the Revolutionary War. On the other hand, another tax that was imposed over the colonists was the Tea Act. The Tea Act was established in the year 1773 by the Parliament and this was another event

In early spring of 1765, Prime Minister Grenville introduced the Stamp Act. As a “direct tax” on the colonists, the Stamp Act stipulated that “anyone who used or purchased anything printed on paper had to buy a revenue stamp for it” and these included items such as newspapers, legal documents, and playing cards. In a sense, the Stamp Act affected every level of society; landowners, merchants, printers, and sailors were all required to pay taxes for the printed papers they used. The Stamp Act was not welcomed with open arms in the colonists because it raised constitutional issues that initiated the first serious protests against British imperial policy. The colonists felt, compared to their counterparts in Britain, the British Parliament wasn’t treating them fairly.

In the year 1765, the British Parliament passed an act on the American colonists for taxing the use of legal documents, newspapers, playing cards, and more. This was decided after the French and Indian War to help pay for the debt. The colonists were outraged at the acts standard. It seemed ridiculous to tax such minor things, however, what they did not understand is that the British Parliament almost had no choice. Of course anyone would be upset at such a tax like this, so the colonists had a right to be upset. According to George Grenville

To help pay off their debt, England scheduled the initiation of the Stamp Act, which placed a tax on fifty different documents, on November 1, 1765 (Gale Par. 2; Brindell 13). This act was to put a tax “upon every paper commonly called a pamphlet and upon every newspaper” (Copeland 193). Because the Stamp Act was an internal tax, which meant this tax law was only enforced in America, this made the colonists even

After the French and Indian War, Britain fell into great debt due to the costs of the war. Thus, in order to solve their financial issues, Britain imposed taxes on the colonists, such as the Stamp Act, Townshend Act, and the Tea Act. However, the colonists were appalled by these taxes as they felt that they were not responsible for the debt nor the war, therefore, claiming that the British did not have the right to tax them. As a response to these new policies, the colonists held various rebellions, including the Boston Tea Party. However, despite being taxed by the British without representation, the British policies in the colonies were completely justified as the colonists in America were still part of the British empire, and were entirely responsible for the financial crisis in Britain.

In 1763, the introduction of the Stamp Act was the first tax which created such an uproar, that the colonies began turmoil ensued within the colonies. White colonists did not believe that Parliament had the authority to impose direct taxes on the colonies and deemed it as unconstitutional. After Parliament realized the Stamp Act was