Patrick Henry In The Spring Of 1765

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After much protest to this act, the British Parliament put in place the Declaratory Act of 1766, which repealed the Stamp Act but also gave Parliament the full power to tax colonists in the future. After these acts came the Townshend Acts which imposed further taxes on goods like glass, paper, and tea; all products, the British knew, that would bring in considerable revenue because they were staples of colonial life. Then there was the issue of a privacy breach under the writs of assistance which allowed British

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 Finally in March 1766, after a long debate, Parliament repealed the Stamp Act only to pass the Declaration Act, which stated that Parliament could enact laws for the colonies in all cases.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

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.

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

While there were many controls, regulations, and taxes placed on the colonists from Britain without representation of the mainstream society, Britain did provide the larger cities with an opportunity to voice concern to various Representatives and Governors appointed by the Crown (Tindall & Shi, 2010). The Stamp Act was different in that not only did it have the largest affect on day to day life of the businessmen, who were the most vocal and influential colonists, it was imposed without any opportunity to voice alternative solutions from the colonists or the appointed officials present in the colonies (Tindall & Shi, 2010). The famous quote, “No taxation without representation” displays the outrage this selfish British act caused among the colonists. This was the first move made by King George III that showed that he intended to use Britain’s new land for revenue building during his reign and this patronizing and disrespectful act ignited a series of events that became the American Revolution (Tindall & Shi, 2010).

The Stamp Act and the Sugar Act were both attempts at raising money to minimize the debt but colonists saw it as direct challenge to their freedoms, eventually boycotting the items under taxation. This sense of frustration was clearly exemplified in the commonly used slogan “No taxation without representation”. Also, Britain wanted to go back to mercantilism so that they would benefit from trade with the colonies and foreign entities would not. The Navigation Acts, for example, closed the colonial ports to all other nations besides England and the colonies were not allowed to trade with other nations so that England would be the singular benefiting market to colonial resources. The colonists found ways around this act and it only succeeded in escalating bitterness for British mandates. Through boycotts and homespun movements the colonists tried to avoid the taxes but in the end of the day there was only one solution to ridding themselves of unfair duties, tariffs, levies - independence (Document G, H,

    Due to the Colonists not having a say in this tax, they would proclaim “No taxation without representation.” Colonists infinitely wanted to be able to vocalize their opposition to the taxing. As a result, most Colonists decided to boycott buying British goods. Some even organized attacks at placed like the Custom House, and homes of the tax collectors. With all of these protests in the Colonies, Parliament decided to repeal the Stamp Act in March, 1776.

In 1763 Britain was deeply in debt from protecting the colonies from war with France. Since Britain was protecting the American people from the french and indians they expected the American people to help pay for the high expense from war. Thinking the American people would surely agree they passed the first of many taxes in 1763, the stamp act. This tax imposed by British Parliament required Colonists to pay fees on many printed documents such as legal documents, diplomas, and even playing cards. The Colonists were outraged by these taxes. John adams said that the taxes were unconstitutional because the people did not consent to the taxes. Colonists protested by boycotting British goods and threatened violence on anyone who tried to collect

First, one principal was the stamp act: a method for antagonizing and unifying the colonies. On the one hand, British men were collecting more than ten times as much revenue in America than they had been before in 1763. In a petition to the British government, the Congress denied that the colonies could rightfully be taxed except through their own provincial assemblies. Many New Englanders had stopped buying English goods to protect the sugar act of 1764 and the Stamp Act, causing the boycott to spread. Meanwhile, Townshend

Concord was loyal to the King and did not push for independence during most of its existence under the Crown. However, in 1765 when the Stamp Act, which set a bizarre direct tax on virtually every piece of public paper, was passed it outraged the American colonists. They protested and boycotted British imports until Parliament repealed the stamp duty. Parliament then announced the Declaratory Act (1766) that stated its power to legislate for the colonies “in all cases whatsoever” (43). In 1767, Parliament enacted Chancellor of the the Exchequer Charles Townshend’s duties on all lead, glass, paper, paint and tea improvident the colonies (43-44). This once again upset the Americans, their hostility grew not only towards the taxes, but to the intended use of the money to strengthen British influence over provincial governments. This started another intercolonial boycott of British goods. In 1768, Britain stationed troops in the town which led to the Boston Massacre two years later. Parliament

The Colonists reacted by creating the non-importation agreement which led to the Stamp Act being repealed in 1766. King George also passed the Tea Act in 1773, which gave the British East India Company a monopoly on tea trade in America. This lead to the Boston Tea Party, which was essentially the colonists disguised as Indians throwing millions of dollars’ worth of tea into the Boston Harbor. It was a short act of defiance for the British but the British ended up passing the Intolerable Acts in 1774. The Intolerable Acts were a set of acts including the Boston port Act which closed the Boston Harbor, the Quaternary Act which allowed British Soldiers to stay in colonist’s homes and the colonists

The first major American opposition to British policy came in 1765 after Parliament passed the Stamp Act, a taxation measure designed to raise revenues for a standing British army in America. After months of protest in the colonies, Parliament finally voted to repeal the Stamp Act in March 1766. Most colonists continued to quietly accept British rule until Parliament’s enactment of the Tea Act in 1773, a bill designed to save the faltering British East India Company by greatly lowering its tea tax and granting it a monopoly on the American tea trade (American colonist , n.d.)

When its greatest asset, the british pound, went into a deficit exceeding 140 million, Parliament, in an effort to begin earning money once more, passed the Sugar Act and Currency Act on the American colonies in 1764. Neither act was especially lucrative as it affected a small portion of the population or was almost entirely ignored. Consequently Parliament passed the Stamp Act in 1765, a tax on all paper goods in the American colonies. This act was the right move for Britain, it served as a potential source of unending and reliable income that could pay dividends for the future of maintaining solid defenses and economics throughout the British empire. Even the move to station 10,000 British regulars in the American colonies at the closing of the Seven Years’ War was reasonable, it served as the British affirmation of loyalty to the American colonists’ defense and well-being. Yet, the colonists resented both the stationing of the soldiers and the Stamp Act as violations of their English rights as desire for home rule. With widespread boycotts, symbolic violence, the formation of the Sons of Liberty, and argumentative pamphlets published in response, Parliament recognized that the colonists had rendered the Stamp Act ineffective by 1766. In a bold move, Parliament repealed the Stamp Act in the same