Following the French and Indian War, Great Britain began to tighten control over the American colonies. Britain constricted the rights of the colonists by enacting numerous pieces of legislation. Some of these acts attempted to tax the colonists on products such as stamps, tea, and currency. After which, what legislature was passed by the British Parliament, resistance from the American colonists grew due to these policies of legislation. Changes in British policy in the 1770s, led to a revolution in colonial America evident in political, economic, and social issues. The Revolutionary War was caused by the British Parliament, one is because of the political issues. For example, on January 14, 1776, George Greenville explained that Britain had the supreme legislative power over America (Document 1). According to Greenville, Britain had this supreme legislative power because Parliament had provided the colonists with much of their needs (Document 1). Greenville continued that this was why British Parliament believed they had the power to impose taxes on the American colonies (Document 1). As a member of British Parliament, Greenville believed that America should obey Britain because of the protection the British provide to the colonies (Document 1). Some of the protection the British provided was military protection from the Indians (Document 1). Greenville’s statement proved that Britain believed they were politically superior of the American colonists. George Washington,
After the fall of Puritan rule in Massachusetts, Great Britain regained control over Massachusetts and expanded throughout North America, making it one of the greatest empires in the world. In order to maintain their power in the colonies they enacted rules and regulations regarding traded goods. However, most colonists resorted to smuggling and boycotting items. It was not until the French and Indian War did England begin to strictly enforce these restrictions due to a large war debt. The Sugar Act was one the first acts that had started a domino effect which led to the American Revolution.
The American Revolutionary war began in-part because of economic struggles England faced after securing safety for it’s colonies during the Seven Years War. England needed to increase their taxation on the colonists after the war to pay off its war debts. Prior to these taxes, the colonies were wholly content while under the wing of the British Empire. Not only because the protection the British provided, but also because of their deep reverence for the Motherland. Colonists were angered by with Parliament due to their lack of acknowledgement towards colonists rights and opinions. Colonists stood together in a defiant motion towards liberation from England’s tyrannous acts of lawless duplicity. Before British government was able to fully
The English Government had a big influence on American Colonists. When Colonists first settled in the new land they were free, but had no government to protect them. They got close to a government when England said they can make their own government to rule themselves. The English Government had influenced American Colonist in 3 ways, the right to make their own Government,English BIll of rights, and the Proclamation of 1763.
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
The American settlers were left at outlaws and out of sovereignty protection under King George III of England while still able to be charge for breaking British reforms and laws such as smuggling across the Trans-Atlantic trade routes after August 1775. These goods included tea, coffee and other raw goods that supplied England’s industry and production of goods causing a disruption in slave trade and income through transnational trade which vital to the upkeep of the colonies during times of financial difficulties such as the introduction of the Stamp Act of 1765 on all documentations and newspaper to finance Britain’s Seven Years' War between 1756 and 1763. Another significant event, The Boston Tea Party of 1773 due to the taxation under the Tea Act depicts the civil unrest of colonists against the British Parliament and to regain rights to trade without taxation. The need to sever ties with England not only signalled the transition from colonialists to become freed men but during the American Revolutionary War it allowed the equality of colonialists as equal men thus it is the liberal ideals and the post-colonial attitudes created by mistreatment of the government that highlight the outcome of this rebellious period.
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.
Great Britain and Parliament passed a variety of laws and did many things to cause the American Colonists’ want to revolt and fight for independence. Things definitely went from bad to worse when the British decided to heavily tax the Colonists’ daily used items, such as tea and stamps. British rule forced them to house, clothe, and feed British soldiers, without any Parliamentary representation. These actions ultimately led to the desire and need for independence, because the Colonists could no longer tolerate being under Britain’s rule. There were many things England did to turn the American Colonists away from the crown.
Beginning in 1763, the Americans had a long road of aggravation ahead of them as laws limiting their control were established by Britain. The French and Indian War caused a need for regulations due to the debt Britain accumulated and tensions between Indians and colonists. However, the colonies had no control over the regulations imposed on them. Britain restricted their territories, surrounded them with British soldiers, and continued to escalate the regulations. Eventually, the Americans rebelled in response to these actions. In the late 18th century, Britain’s unrelenting control over the American colonies was the primary cause of the American Revolution.
However, the colonists were used to the policy of Salutary Neglect which meant that the colonists didn’t have to pay taxes to Britain. When Britain’s policies changed, it took the colonists by shock because there was no warning, and they believed that they had no right to be taxed. Britain’s reason for taxing the colonists was to make up for the debt they got into from defending them in the French and Indian War (Seven Years’ War). Not only did their tax policies change, but they also tried to control the colonist’s trading routes as well. Britain established acts such as the stamp act, sugar act, and tea act to overall get more money and resources from the
Britain control led to a revolution in colonial america. This happened when Britain launched the stamp act and started taxing the colonies without their consent. Also when the quartering act started and if there wasn't sufficient room for the soldiers they had to stay in the homes of other people.
The four major events during the period of 1763-17751 led to the conflict between colonial America and Great Britain are the Stamp Act, Townshend Acts, Tea Act, Continental Congress. First of all, in February 1765, Grenville escalated his revenue program with the stamp act, precipitating a major conflict between Britain and the colonies over Parliament’s right to tax. The Stamp Act imposed a tax on all paper used for official documents —newspapers, pamphlets, court documents, licenses, wills, ships’ cargo lists — and required an affixed stamp as proof that the tax had been paid. The Act intensified the conflict between the colonial and Parliament Colonists’ believed that Parliament had no right to tax the colonies. Sons of Liberty stopped stamped papers from being unloaded at docks. Merchants organized a boycott of British goods. They demanded Parliament repeal the Act. In 1766 Parliament repeal the Act. Secondly, Townshend proposed new taxes in the old form of a navigation act. Officially called the Revenue Act of 1767, it established new duties on tea, glass, lead, paper, and painters’ colors imported into the colonies, to be paid by the importer but passed on to consumers in the retail price. Dozens of towns begin to boycott of all British-made goods. British Imports fell by more than 40 percent. In 1770 The Townshend Duties are Repealed Under financial pressure from the colonists ' non-importation policy, Parliament
The colonists were prevented from being well economically.This increased the Colonists will to fight because the Colonists felt like they were being cheated by the British because the British were taking advantage of Colonial America’s natural resources in order to make Britain richer. The colonists started to rebel and started using the phrase “taxation without representation.” Another Act was the Royal Proclamation Act of 1763. This act created a barrier as to where the Colonists could not expand out towards in order to normalize the relations between the Indians and the British( Document 8). This enrages the Colonists because they wanted to expand out past the Appalachian Mountains in order to obtain more natural resources. These natural resources would be helpful in improving the economic stability of the Colonies. However, the British limited them from expanding out West because of the terms that were met after the French and indian war. These all increase the tensions between the Colonists and the British which leads to the American Revolution. In addition to the economic complications, the social problems such as the neglection of Colonial America caused the American Revolution.
The colonist’s rebellious reaction to the British King and Parliaments actions led to their American Revolution. Did the colonists rebel in a justice form or was Great Britain taking advantage of them? Did the methods they used like the Boston Tea Party and Boston Massacre proper? Was Great Britain right not to include colonists to represent in Parliament? Was it right for Great Britain to tax the colonists or were the colonists right to revolt? The leading events toward the American Revolution started when the colonist objected paying taxes to Great Britain. They felt it violated their rights as British people because the acts were passed in England without a colonial representative. Not only did the British taxation cause their revolution, but it was also a unifying force in the colonies. After gaining France’s North American territory in the Seven Years war, Britain faced huge debt and the responsibility of a massive land. The purpose for this land was to gather the resources and make extra profit to benefit England. Before Great Britain started enforcing taxes and acts, the colonists lived a life of prosperity and governed themselves. Great Britain showed salutary neglect towards them, and due to this, the colonists were not willing to be “tied down” with their governing. They argued The French and Indian War wasn’t their responsibility and the British shouldn’t tax them without representation, while the British
“In 1770, as it had done in 1765, Parliament retreated from violent confrontation, repealing all of the obnoxious duties except that on tea…” The various taxes enacted by the British Parliament had the effect of slowly disgruntling the colonial populace by infringing on their right to buy whatever luxury goods were on the market. Added to that effect, the way the various colonies were not able to represent themselves or send out any type of grievance to Parliament. With that in mind it is important to note the colonial American consumer need for imported goods provided an overwhelming desire for readily made goods and that consumer element made a transition to the political and public sphere. That resentment and being ignored by the royal government steadily escalated the colonists into action and against Great Britain. This was no more apparent than in newspapers, many colonists used aliases when responding to public discourse in newspapers and see their writings everywhere in the colonies. Therefore, those colonists that could read can also make their own thoughts about what to do in the colonies with their relationship to Great Britain. In time, that resentment boiled over into conflict over ideas of liberty and independence, economic