After the French and Indian War, Britain fell into great debt due to the costs of the war. Thus, in order to solve their financial issues, Britain imposed taxes on the colonists, such as the Stamp Act, Townshend Act, and the Tea Act. However, the colonists were appalled by these taxes as they felt that they were not responsible for the debt nor the war, therefore, claiming that the British did not have the right to tax them. As a response to these new policies, the colonists held various rebellions, including the Boston Tea Party. However, despite being taxed by the British without representation, the British policies in the colonies were completely justified as the colonists in America were still part of the British empire, and were entirely responsible for the financial crisis in Britain. Upon discovery of the New World, many countries began colonizing the land, and Britain’s main goal in America was to start colonization, and expand their empire into the new world—not to send off their people away for good. Thus, despite being a different continent from England, the British colonies in America were still part of the British empire. If America were to be excluded from these policies, then the rest of Britain’s colonies would have to be excluded as well—dwindling Britain’s title as a world power. During the beginning of colonization in America, the British colonists occupied most of the east coast and looked to expanding more westward, into French territory, causing 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.
With that being said America felt that they cleared all their obligations when their colonial taxes were paid and they did not want to accept the fact that they were still being forced to pay taxes imposed by a Parliament wherein they were not embodied. Furthermore, the point of no return would have been the Boston Tea Party when this was a time when the state of affairs between the British and colonists became an outright uproar of irreconcilable chaos and disorder. Initially the Tea Party served as a means for a bail out for the East India Tea Company and British gains off tea products. Meanwhile, Americans were livid with the laws of the British and sought their rebellion. In which Samuel Adams and the Sons of Liberty embarked on British ships and took matters into their own hand by the discarding of massive amounts of tea goods. This act forced
After the French and Indian War, Britain went into debt. To pay off this debt they taxed the colonists. The colonists were not happy with these taxes because they didn’t have representation in Parliament. The Stamp Act and the Tea Act were two acts that Parliament passed. There were multiple actions of the British government after 1763 that caused anger in the colonies, leading to the Declaration of Independence.
There was another by-product of the war for Britain; her national debt more than doubled during the course of the conflict. At a time when Britain was starting to bend beneath the weight of the debt, it was only a matter of time before parliament looked to the colonies to help shoulder some of the price incurred in their defense. The Sugar and Stamp Acts were the first of many measures to tax the colonists. The Townshend Duties and the Tea Act would follow. While these measures outraged the colonists because of their monetary implications, it was the constitutional implications brought on by the Acts that were most offensive to the colonists. Until after the Seven Years War, the colonists had been left to essentially tax themselves. Now the colonists had a rallying cry, as they deplored the idea of no taxation without representation. In 1765 the Stamp Act Congress was held, and in a bid of utter defiance the representatives agreed that the colonial legislative assemblies alone had the right to tax the colonies. Parliament repealed the Stamp Act, but only after agreeing to pass the Declaratory Act, which informed the colonies that Britain did in fact have the right to legislate for the
There were several acts that were passed without the consideration of the colonists that would force them to pay a ridiculous amount of taxes to the British mainland. One of these acts was named the Stamp Act, which was enacted in 1765, forced the colonists to pay a tax on every piece of printed paper that they used. This would include legal documents, license, commercial contracts and newspapers in the tax. This tax mostly effected the wealthier and influential of the colonists and would force them to unite in opposition. There were several other acts that would be passed that would force the colonists to pay undue taxes to the British, such as the Quartering Act and the Tea
The French and Indian War caused tensions with Britain and the thirteen American colonies.The British claimed the land along the east coast of North America (“Charles E”).There
The colonists did not mind the taxes as much because some of the items that were taxed were unnecessary, however they did mind that the British were using their power as an excuse to tax the people for no reason (controlling them). The people’s money was not used in a useful matter, it was used for nothing, just extra money for the British to have. “The raising of revenue… was never intended… Never did the British parliament, (until the passing of the Stamp act) think of imposing duties in America for the purpose of raising a revenue. The Townshend Acts claim the authority to impose duties on these colonies, not for the regulation of trade… but for the single purpose of levying money upson us.” (Document 2). The British just decided one day to just tax the colonies for no reason and the people had no say in it. Also, the British soldiers would come to Boston and take the Boston colonists jobs. Men and women would lose their jobs because the British would take it away from them, they were stealing people’s jobs. The British were taking their money and now their jobs after all the colonists did for them in the French and Indian war. That is not fair for them to run the people like that and it had to be
The French and Indian war caused debts among the British. The British realized that during the war the income from the colonies was insufficient (document F). After the war, the British needed certain ways in which to gain revenue. They imposed taxes on the Colonists. These taxes, in turn, caused a stir among Americans. The Stamp Act was a tax imposed on the colonists without representation (document H). Their liberties as English citizens were being denied. Radical Whigs would go as far to say it
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
They formed many groups and executed riots to protest against this serious disregard of human rights and pride. One way they combated this crude injustice was The Boston Tea Party. At this time, Britain was taxing America’s tea heavily, an imposition that the colonists did not agree to. Rebels involved were members of The Sons of Liberty, colonists vying for freedom and individual rights. The rebels dressed as Native Americans and stormed an incoming boat carrying a fresh load of tea. They dumped the tea into the Boston Harbor as a form of protest; a refusal to pay Britain’s taxes. John Adam, in The Boston Tea Party (Doc. 2) concludes that Britain’s actions have created a much larger and public form of protest. More rebels were coming out into the open as the revolution gains momentum. This proves that the taxation aggravated the colonists as the abuse accumulated, urging them towards rebellion. Colonists also took up tarring as a form of discipline as a response to taxes created during the Stamp Acts. Angry Americans poured hot tar over tax collectors and covered them in feathers to express their displeasure at the imposed taxes. Those fortunate enough to avoid this public humiliation fled or became too scared to go about their collecting duties. In a letter from John Hancock regarding the Stamp Act (Doc. 4), he stresses that these taxes wrongly pressed upon them didn’t have to be
When the British fought in the French and Indian War it put them in great debt. In order to get out of the enormous debt they taxed the colonies. The reactions of the colonists were sometimes harsh. They argued they had no representation in Parliament so they tarred and feathered, burned effigies, raided tax collectors, and boycotted British goods. Some of the acts they passed were the Sugar and Coercive Acts. They both angered the colonists tremendously. The Acts passed by the British caused tensions and many reactions from the colonists.
This regulation caused stresses between colonists and imperial representatives, who made it clear that the British Parliament would not discourse American protests that the new laws were onerous. British refusal to act to American requests for adjustment endorsed colonists to debate that they were part of a progressively dishonest and overbearing empire in which their traditional rights were endangered. This situation ultimately acted as the base for the colonial Declaration of Independence. Boston Tea Party in 1763, the British government developed from the Seven Years’ War loaded by heavy debts. This led British Prime Minister George Grenville to cut duties on sugar and molasses but also to urge the law more firmly. Since enforcement of these duties had formerly been negligent, this eventually increased income for the British Government and assisted to raise the taxes funded by the colonists. The colonial governments of New York and Massachusetts sent strict letters of dissent to Parliament. The end of the war had additionally carried about a postwar recession, and British traders began to appeal expense for debts that colonists had gained buying
The French and Indian War resulted in a number of acts which angered the colonists. A couple of the major acts used as payment for the war debt were the Sugar Act and the Stamp Act.t The Sugar Act was not as heavily enforced and had a three pence tax it did not affect the occupational life aspect of the colonists as much as the Stamp Act. The Teapot was produced in England between the time of 1766 and 1770 during the time of the Declaratory Acts and the Boston Massacre (Doc 1). Based by the writing inscribed on the teapot it responded to the repeal of the Stamp Act. In addition to the wish for less taxes and British personnel dispatched on the colonies. For many of the colonists the Stamp Act was an annoyance for the basic tools of the paper editors, lawyers, printers and other occupants that relied on documentation for a living to have them taxed. Many acts and tariffs were placed repealed after the repeal of the Stamp Act. Due to the perseverance of the colonists desire for no more taxes, the bond between the
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.
After the end of the French and Indian War in 1763 the American people had taxes placed on them by the British. The British Parliament claimed that by placing the taxes they were defending the colonies for the Americans. During the twelve years following the war, the British enacted a numerous amount of taxes that allowed them to raise revenue from the American economy. This taxing of the American people hurt the American economy and started to push the American colonists toward an independence movement so they could have a free economy. Over the course of the twelve-year period there were six acts enacted to take money from the American economy.