Representation In The American Colonies

In the period from 1756 to 1765 England was fighting the French in the Seven Years War in Europe. The English also fought the French in North America. The English won both at home and abroad, but at a high financial cost. The English government decided to make the American colonists pay for their protection against the French and help subsidise the costs of the Seven Years War. The American colonists, on the other hand, did not agree that they were vulnerable and believed they could protect themselves as they had done for the past one hundred years. So the British

The British were in debt because of its war, the king and the parliament believed that hey had the right to tax the colonies. They put several kinds of taxes to the colonies for they to help pay the debt of the war. Some

Three of these reasons include the French and Indian War and the after-effects, the Proclamation of 1763, and all of the taxes that were made during this time. According to Source 1G, “The war was expensive for the British government to fight. In order to pay for it, they issued taxes on the colonies. The colonies, however, felt that they should not be taxed unless they had representation in the British government.” These conflicting opinions led to an argument evidently.

King George took a stance with the government to improve their economic status to gain more power, harming his own people in the long run. He imposed and put resistance in his set of laws but the colonists objected his sudden orders due to the unjust taxation on random products. The Sugar Act, Declaratory Act, Tea Act, Townshend act, and Intolerable Act repress the colonist’s freedom. These acts guaranteed the rights of Parliament and taxed many important items such as tea, sugar and wine. “No Taxation without representation,” (a term the patriots adapted to their revolutionary movement) refers to a situation that involves the government imposing taxes, in this case the British, on a particular group of citizens (American colonists.) The colonies in America were forced to pay a large amount of money without having representation in the British Parliament. This whole situation backfired on the Parliament with rebellions and violent acts such as the Boston Tea Party and the Boston

After the French and Indian War, there was a period of change in the British colonies in North America. After receiving much support from the British during the French and Indian War, the people of the colonies began to feel oppressed by the postwar actions of the British. As the British put heavy taxes and restrictions on the colonies, the attitude of the population of these colonies began to shift. Over the next two decades, with more taxes and a larger British military presence, the colonists slowly progressed closer and closer to revolution. The people of the American colonies were justified in eventually taking up arms against the British crown after various attempts to reach a peaceful resolution of their grievances because several pieces

Although the reputation of being a land of the free, the American colonies were quite often filled with people who were not treated as free citizens or as equals. There was an often misunderstanding that the American colonists no longer wanted to British citizens anymore, and although that wasn’t the case, they still got treated fairly bad by the British Parliament. The American colonists still wanted to be viewed as loyal citizens, and seen as equals. Because the British Parliament treated the American colonies unfairly, the American colonists declared their independence to be freed from the British Parliament to be treated as equals.

When colonists were required to actually start paying their taxes to Britain, they became outraged causing Parliament to repeal the Sugar Act. Additionally, the Stamp Act was the first direct tax on the colonists. By requiring a tax to be paid on nearly every colonial document, colonists could not bear the oppressive Stamp Act. This act was also het with heavy opposition and it would set the volatile scene for Britain’s next laws and acts that would ignite “The Boston Massacre.” The most prominent taxes that were placed on the colonists right before “The Boston Massacre” were the Townshend Duties. This law taxed paper, lead, paint glass and tea. Colonists were furious with Britain’s various taxes, provoking boycotts and high tensions. (Arrison) With opposition increasing in the colonies, the British Parliament felt it was necessary to place British soldiers on watch in the colonies under the Quartering Act. However, the soldiers’ presence was not the only annoyance the colonists would have to suffer. The colonists were responsible for providing for the soldiers’ necessities. This included providing shelter that in most cases was shared between the colonists and the soldiers. Most notably, the soldiers were often unruly, drunk, and pugnacious and treated as low-paid civilian servants. (Gilje) Personally, if I was a colonist forced to surrender my own space for disrespectful

Evidence states “To help pay for this army, Prime Minister George Grenville asked Parliament to tax the colonists. In 1764 Parliament passed the Sugar Act, which set duties on molasses and sugar imported by colonists. This was the first act passed specifically to raise money in the colonies.” This means that the colonies wanted freedom from British laws that were unsensible for them to obey. It left them poorer and they couldn’t even buy simple goods without having to pay extra. At the same time, they housed british soldiers, which meant that they took their food, space and privacy. The only people who benefitted from this was the British. The colonists deserved to be able to have their own government and make their own

Britain really just wanted the colonists to pay the taxes that they put on the colonies because British citizens were paying more than American citizens. Britain thought it was unfair. They also wanted the money from the colonies because they had a strong economy after the French and Indian War and needed help paying for it.

After having years of benign British neglect, and after capably governing themselves, the people in the American colonies were not pleased when the British Parliament decided after the end of the successful end of the French Indian War in 1763 to become more engaged in the American colonists’ affairs. The British government wanted to protect the American colonies from future Indian and other attacks.

War debt from the Seven Years War caused the British to impose taxes on colonists. The Sugar act caused the colonies to protest “Taxation without representation!” This eventually led to boycotting British goods hurting the war weakened Britain. Once news of the American Revolution had spread, France gladly chose to help America in hopes to severely cripple Britain.

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

From a British economic standpoint, the French and Indian War, in addition to the Seven Years War, plunged them further and further into a seemingly endless mountain of debt. Profits and taxes were insufficient to keep the country afloat: “[the] revenue…is small and inconsiderable…” (Document F). This caused Britain to heavily tax its own citizens. The British citizens saw no justice in this, as they centered on the fact that their tax money was paying for American wars and military. The military

From 1607 to 1754, people’s views on governing themselves changed greatly. It began in 1607, with the settlement of Jamestown. They were a corporate colony, working for the Virginia Company, they were whole-heartedly British. The Great Awakening, the Enlightenment, and the Tradition of Neglect all introduced new ways for the American colonies to think of themselves as more independent. Although they still considered themselves part of the British Empire, by the end of this era they had discovered that they could make their own laws and constitutions that fit the way that their world worked as opposed to Great Britain.

The colonists believed they had a right to be represented in Parliament before being taxed or at least vote for the taxing officials. The phrase “no taxation without representation” began to become popular within the colonies.