How Did Parliament Have The Right To Tax The Colonies

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 new colonies were heavily taxed and watched over by the British Empire. The British were placing acts such as The Sugar Act of 1764, and The Stamp Act of 1765. (Williams,

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.

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 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.

Following its war with France, Britain decided that to generate income to pay off its war debt, it would levy taxes on the American Colonies. To raise revenue for the crown many taxes were imposed on the American colonies. The Sugar, Stamp, and the Townshend Acts, were imposed on the colonies in 1763. These taxes or Tariffs would contribute greatly to the American Revolution.

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 British impose taxes onto the American colonists to pay of their debt from the war. When the British force these taxes onto the colonists, it makes them feel as if all their efforts towards freedom were for nothing. Colonists left Britain to hopefully escape British control but the British wouldn’t let them have their freedom.

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 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 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

One cause was for the American colonist to be completely free from the British rule. The affect that the Indian and French war made a heavy impact on Britain economically and forced American to pay new and more expensive taxes. The Sugar Act of 1764 raised taxes on sugar and molasses. The Stamp Act (1765), decided that colonial business would have an official stamp on transactions. The Townshend Act (1777) was to apply taxes to all imported glass, lead, paint, paper and tea. The colonists felt like it was an unjust and unfair practice to have “No taxation without representation” and that they were not represented by the British Parliament. King George II sent troops the America because of the boycotts of British goods. After the Boston Tea Party came the Battles of Lexington and Concord, where the colonist took up arms and prepared for battle. The Boston Massacre in 1770 was the turning point the America to gain its independence from the British. The major goal of the American Revolution was accomplished on July 4, 1776 when the Declaration of Independence, written by Thomas Jefferson, was accepted and America became independent from the British