Rachel Leppke
Dr. Adamiak
History CRN 15047
25 October 2016
Was the American Revolution Largely a Product of Market-Driven Consumer Forces
Professor Breen’s essay argues “that colonist’s shared experience as consumers provided the cultural resources needed to develop a new form of political protest” (Breen 87). Political acts were seen as what people were buying and selling. If you bought/sold British goods you were loyal to the crown. Goods became the foundation on which trust was based. (Breen 87)
“Before this, massive political movement had not organized itself around the denial of imported goods” (Breen 87). The colonists made trade speak for them (Breen 87). They would boycott British goods to protest taxes placed upon them and gain attention
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In 1765 it had become an American staple for resistance (Breen 89). The taxes on tea made many people boycott British teas and outrage occurred when British tea came on ships to America. In New York City, Charlestown, and Philadelphia last-minute negotiations helped prevent violence and the tea was sent back to London or was stored but not sold. In Boston there were three tea ships and on December 16 of 1773 Boston’s “Mohawks” threw the tea overboard into the ocean. The consequences of this shocked the colonies to further resistance against Britain and heightened tension. (Breen …show more content…
Fear of what Britain could possibly do became the leading fervor to rise up against a government that would only harm their people. This type of thinking came from British confusion and shifts of power overseas which permitted more united colonists to take leadership. (Degler 94) The mercantile system put into place lead the colonists to break the British limitations it put on them and revolt. The progression of moving west was also not a major event for rebelling against the crown Degler argues because the Proclamation Line was already in the process of being moved west. The taxes and acts in 1773 was less of a burden per capita for colonists than in 1698, it is estimated to be about five times greater in 1698. (Degler 95)
The American Revolution was not based on the taxes themselves but on the concept of British government interfering in colonial government. Before the seven years’ war the colonies were essentially left to rule themselves and they did not have to actually pay any taxes to Britain. After the war colonists expected the British to let them go back to the old way of doing things. However this did not happen and Britain started to have more control of the government. (Degler
The parliamentary taxes were primarily the main reason for colonial rebellion; the colonies if being taxed very simply wanted representation in parliament. The British military measures and restriction of civil liberties are next because they are really tied together. Without one there could not be the other, and then last comes the legacy of colonial religion and political ideas. The sudden end to salutary neglect would impact the colonists in ways that the British could not have imagined, and would eventually be a main cause for the American Revolution, and forming of a new independent nation.
Breen suggests that the trust that developed during the 1760s and 1770s allowed for the rapid growth of the boycott movement against British goods to pressure Parliament into rescinding taxes imposed without colonial consent. During this period, colonists began to see themselves more in the context of Americans due to the printed materials that were becoming more widespread and abundant, as well as by their participation in the expanding colonial marketplace. According to Breen, consumer goods provided the essential and "powerful link between everyday life and political mobilization" (p.19).
By this point, the colonists were beginning to question Britain’s motives towards them. They believed they were being treated like slaves and being used solely for the economic growth of Britain. One night, in 1773, the colonists rebelled against these taxes on their tea. A group of men dressed as Native Americans boarded a ship at Boston Harbor and unloaded three vessels of taxed tea (Boston Tea Party). This event, known a...
In concern to the American Revolution, there are two sides debating its primary cause. One set of historians believe the cause to be ideals and principles. The other set of historians and scholars credit economic and social interests as the primary cause of the Revolutionary War. Historians Jesse Lemisch and Dirk Hoerder used the mobs in colonial cities as evidence of the social concerns of Americans at that time. Another Historian, Arthur M. Schlesinger argued in a 1917 study “that it was the colonial merchants who were chiefly responsible for arousing American resistance to the British; and that although they spoke of principles and ideals, their real motives were economic self-interest: freedom from the restrictive policies of British mercantilism.” This argument is very concrete and is supported by the different legislation that the British Parliament passed after the Seven Years’ War. In fact, an act was passed in 1764 by the Parliament that was instrumental in specifically angering the merchants that played a major role in leading the Americans to independence. That piece of legislation was the Sugar Act which placed a tax on sugar being brought into the colonies. This tax was a significantly less than the one that was logged in the book previously; however, that tax had been ignored for years. The initial response of the merchants to this piece of legislation was anger because this new law cut off their highly profitable smuggling organizations which greatly affected their earnings. Soon after tha...
The most important issue prompting Americans to rebel in 1776 is clearly parliamentary taxation. The first time a Parliamentary imposed tax threatened the livelihood of the colonies was in 1733 with the Molasses Act, stemmed from the loss of profit for the British West Indies under the Navigation Act. However, this act was avoidable and rarely paid. Following the long and harrowing French and Indian War, Britain was deep in debt and George Grenville was appointed British Chancellor. He was determined to pay off the debt by brutally taxing the colonies. He not only reinforced the ignored Navigation Acts, but he placed the new Sugar Act which was similar to the Molasses Act which put a tax on rum and molasses imported from West Indies, but this Act would be enforced. Needless to say, the colonists were not used to this intrusion of Parliament and felt that it was wrong because there were no members in Parliament to represent the colonies. They felt it was a direct violation of their civil liberties and the first whiff of resentment was beginning to spawn. Next was the Currency Act which disregarded the colonies paper money, forcing the colonist to pay in only silver and sending their economy into chaos. Perhaps the most important and controversial acts were the Stamps Acts that placed a tax on legal documents, almanacs, newspaper, pamphlets, playing cards and dice.
In the mid eighteenth century colonist of the new world started to rebel against Britain. Living in the colonies cost Britain a great deal of money Colonist did not like that they were being taxed. There were several acts passed that angered the colonists. For example, the Stamp Act, the Stamp Act was passed in 1765 taxed all legal documents including newspapers and other printed materials. The Stamp Act affected all that bought printed materials and it did not affect the poor because it was not too expensive. The colonist started to rebel and boycotted “No taxation without representation.” The colonists rebelled in many ways one of them was the Boston Tea Party. The Boston Tea Party occurred in 1773 as an act of revolt colonists threw tea cargo of a ship to the ocean. These acts of Britain towards the new colonies caused colonist to revolve and declare war to separate from Britain. The colonists were not justified to going to war to break away from Britain because England was paying more taxes and the mother country deserved absolute respect; however, the colonists were justified to break away from Britain because they were taxed without representation.
As a prelude before the Revolution itself, there were already preliminary symptoms of unrest within America that followed the first step in the general pattern of revolutions. Prior to the first shots at Lexington and Concord in 1775, growing discontent with the British Government passing certain acts that the Americans perceived as unfair had already risen to a substantial degree. With the majority of acts incurring economic and financial costs, by 1767, the Townshend Acts had been passed, putting further taxes on paper, glass and tea. Upon the taxes that the Stamp Act of 1965 incurred on such items as newspapers, official documents and almanacs, the American people became highly agitated and a feeling of resentment quickly spilled over the masses, ‘several person were for dying rather than submitting to it...’ [pg52 Maier, P.] Additionally, the Colonialist became increasingly violent, ‘Almost immediately after the Acts [implementation], outbreak of mob activity...’[pg54 Maier, P.] By 1970, the preliminary symptom of unrest displayed through protest and discontent was evident. The Colonialist did not feel that they were obligated to be subject to these taxes without representation in British Parliament. Additionally, the psychological pre-condition associated with the cause of war was present in the Colonialist discontent regarding the numerous Acts bearing economic consequences. Not only had the events up till 1770 displayed active protests and early mob activity, it also hinted at the potential oncoming violence the growing mob could inflict which was the next step in the general broad pattern of revolutions.
According to the theory of mercantilism, the colonies only existed to serve the interests of Britain. But it seemed as if Britain was abusing their right over the colonies. They enforced many policies such as the Stamp Act, the Townshed Duties, and the Tea Act which caused many problems for the colonists. One problem that the colonists faced was the Stamp Act of 1765. This act imposed a new tax on legal documents, newspapers, playing cards and dice. The Americans did not agree with it. It was not the cost of the stamp that angered them, it was the principle. They had no say in what the British Parliament did. The tax provoked a fire storm of protests, and the boycotting of British goods began. Some colonists did not limit their protests to words. In several cities, groups of people attacked officials who defended British policy. The Stamp Act was not a good idea, and one year later it was repealed. But that wasn't the end. The Townshed Duties posed as another difficulty. These duties required the colonists to pay minor import duties on tea, lead, oil, papers and painter's colors. Since Britain had imposed unnecessary taxes on the colonies before, this was not new. John Dickinson encouraged protesters to join in the battle by writing the first twelve "Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania". Protests began once again and cut British trade in half. Britain sent troops to be stationed in Boston to enforce the Townshed Duties, and the colonists refused to quarter the troops. The Townshed Duties were repealed in 1770, three years after it began. And three years after that, a new act arose. Parliament passed the Tea Act in an attempt to save the East India Company from bankruptcy and reassert its right to tax. A group of Boston patriots destroyed a shipment of tea in a protest known as the
“John Hancock organized a boycott of tea provided by the East India Company, which was subject to an import tax, and helped to enforce the boycott by smuggling tea in so that the colonists would not go without their favored beverage.” This is what resulted in the Tea Act. "The trade in tea with China that was the most viable in the 18th century. Tea accounted for more than 60% of the Company’s total trade in the late 1700's. Customs duty on tea was providing 10% of the British government's annual revenues.” The Tea Act being passed was not aimed to make the American colonists angry, but it made many mad. American colonists could buy no tea unless it came from the company. American colonists saw this law as yet another meaning of “taxation without representation” because it meant that they could not buy tea from anyone else without spending a lot more money. There was a bad reaction to the Tea Act.
The imperial tactics of the British Empire were exercised on the colonists through heavy taxes trade restrictions because of their mercantilist economy. The Stamp Act taxed the colonists directly on paper goods ranging from legal documents to newspapers. Colonists were perturbed because they did not receive representation in Parliament to prevent these acts from being passed or to decide where the tax money was spent. The colonists did not support taxation without representation. The Tea Act was also passed by Parliament to help lower the surplus of tea that was created by the financially troubled British East India Company. The colonists responded to this act by executing the Boston Tea Party which tossed all of the tea that was imported into the port of Boston. This precipitated the Boston Port Act which did not permit the colonists to import goods through this port. The colonists protested and refused all of these acts which helped stir the feelings of rebellion among the colonists. The British Mercantilist economy prevented the colonists from coin...
One of the most famous events of the colonies efforts to severe ties and rebel against the British government was the Boston Tea Party. The British government enacted the tea act of 1773, in an effort to revive a failing East India Company. The Tea act would not enforce higher taxes or prices on the tea for the consumers, it was established to create a monopoly for the East India Company. The taxes for the faltering tea company would be lowered in an effort to lowball other providers of tea to the colonies. Even though colonists would be getting tea for a better value, they saw this act by the British Government as another example of unjust taxation (History.com, 2009).
Due to the redundant acts in the 1760s, the American Colonies demanded to revolt from Great Britain. The colonies would either fight or resist the actions , or taxes placed upon them by the British. They revolted due to the Boston Tea Party of 1773, and the Boston Massacre of 1770. All of these taxes were placed upon the colonies to help Great Britain pay off the debt of the French and Indian War. The colonist were resentful towards the British because they did not have a say in the British Parliament, which led to the saying “no taxation without representation” in approximately 1761 by James Otis. The British Parliament was the Congress of Britain, which passed the laws and taxes on the colonies. Overall, the colonies would either fight or resist the taxes passed on them, which would then lead to the American Revolution.
According to the article, some Boston citizens disagreed and decided to protest the British tax on the tea that was being imported to the colonies. Most acts to tax the colonies fell through, but this one was successful to demonstrate the power of parliament to tax the colonies. Even though the price of British tea was cheaper, the colonists did not want to pay the taxes on it. This information supports the reason why the colonists wanted to act upon the British.
Overall, the colonists did not respond well to the sanctions imposed by the British. What began as general disdain for the orders given evolved later to acts of violence against the British. In the case of The Stamp Act, colonies convened in a congress to argue the fact that they were being taxed without adequate representation from Parliament (Schultz, 2013). After making such declarations, merchants responded by refusing the import of British goods. Instead, Colonists used their internal resources to make their own goods, thus exports declined. A result of this was that the Stamp Act was repealed; however, the revolts did not stop there. Riots were organized by “The Sons of Liberty,” a small group of Colonists that’s purpose was to taunt
The British spent a lot of money in the French-Indian war, leaving them in a great deal of debt. Since the British were in this large amount of debt, they decided to implement taxes on most of the products that the colonists used to get tax-free. For example, Britain started taxing tea. The British government sent a large shipment of taxed tea for the colonists. The colonists did not want to pay taxes on tea, so they refused to take the tea off the ship. Then at night, a group of colonists dressed as American Indians boarded the ship and threw the tea overboard. What was interesting was that they didn’t hurt the ship at all. Instead, they destroyed all the tea and left. This is just one example of the colonists revolting against the new taxes, but there were several