How Did Parliament Have The Right To Tax The Colonies

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 Act of 1764, also known as The Sugar Act, lowered the taxes on molasses but also it had more ways to enforce the tax. In addition to the tax on molasses they taxed things such as silks, wines, and potash. The Americans were outraged with this new law. The colonists did whatever they could to ignore this new law. The British passed the Quartering Act which basically said that the American colonists have to house and feed British forces who were serving in North America. This inflamed the

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.

Protests broke out all across the colonies, with revolts, boycotts, and even fights. British Parliament established the acts to raise revenue through trade taxes on the American colonies. The Sugar Act was established in 1764 to increase controls on non-British trading and taxed not only sugar but other materials such as; coffee, coconuts and different animals parts. The Stamp Act was established in 1765 to tax people for a royal stamp, it also taxed paper, shipping and legal documents, pamphlets, and many more. The act was not as large as other taxes, but it changed the way of Parliament authority, from trade to direct taxes on the colonies. The famous saying “no taxation without representation”,

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.

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. An ongoing controversial topic that is the subject of many debates and historians’ studies. A war that some say was all to blame on the colonists. On the contrary to this belief, this war was to blame on the British. This is because of their irrational acts, laws, and taxes passed. These enacted rules angered many colonists as the acts, in turn, caused bankruptcy for many citizens. These unfair ordinances resulted in a series of bloodshed battles, beginning in 1765 and ending in 1783. Many of these laws provoked angry colonists leading to the war declaration. Three specific events in which the British are contributing to tensions that led to the revolution were, the Proclamation of 1763 and the stationing of British troops, the Sugar act, as well as the Stamp act.

     Many events crucial the Revolutionary War took place in the 1760’s, such as the Sugar Act, Stamp Act, and Declaratory Act. The Sugar Act of 1764 set an import tax on foreign sugar, molasses, and rum entering Britain’s American colonies. Colonial merchants, ship owners, and rum distillers who profited from foreign trade angrily protested the law, but that did little of anything. The Sugar Act was the answer to the British’s question of how to

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.

The first event was the Stamp Act. The Stamp Act is when King George decided he needed to tax the colonies over in America because he needed to pay for the wars they fought (uniforms, weapons, food, shelter, supplies, etc.). So when he passed the Stamp Act, all the colonists had to pay a tax on paper like newspapers, playing cards, and regular paper. The colonists rejected the tax. They protested until King George repealed it.

As the dispute between America and Britain grew more severe many types of events started happening. The Stamp Act that enforced tax on print paper. Declaratory Act made sure that the Stamp Act was repealed and enforced taxation because the parliament was supposed to be the same in Britain. Next came the Townshend Acts that pretty much increase tax on more goods. Then came other events that lead to the Boston Massacre, in 1770, such as Circular Act and the Liberty Riot. Although, these events were a horrific time period for both sides; each side had their own thoughts for the acts that were passed.

The first missteps that started the revolutionary wheels turning happened when parliament enacted the Sugar Act in 1764 followed by the Stamp Act in 1765. In the wake of the French and Indian War, Britain had amassed a massive wartime debt. Parliament thought it only fair and reasonable the colonies chip in to help pay some of the war debt, considering the war was fought in their defense. Almost immediately the colonists pushed back. The colonists felt without a colonial representative in Parliament the taxes were illegal.

A second example of a British action that sparked the Revolutionary War was when Prime Minister George Grenville passed both the Quartering Act and Stamp Act in 1765 (125). These taxation acts forced unwilling colonists to pay and contribute

The American Revolution was not the consequence of any single event or any single legislation. It was a result of some combined factors playing against the wellbeing of the colonists and imposed upon the colonists by the British government. But a series of laws related to taxation which were passed between 1763 and 1775 can be considered as one of the most important factors which instigated the American Revolution. It was in respect of responding to such legislations that debate began on what should be the appropriate nature of such response. For opined that the response to such impractical and overburdening legislations must be vent through proper ways of discussions and deliberations while some others

The sugar act nobody really cared about and was passive about. When the stamp act was passed the colonist became enraged. Many colonist boycotted the items with the new tax soon after the law was passed. The colonist repealed this event about a week later. This lead to the townshend act. The stamp act lead to the American Revolution by leading to the Declaratory Act soon after the Stamp Act was repealed by the British Parliament in 1775.