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The causes of the American revolution
The causes of the American revolution
The causes of the American revolution
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While the Brazilian Revolution emerged largely from the influence of the American Revolution, some variation remains between those two revolutions in exactly how those revolutions were executed and what the reasons for them were.
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...
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...ideas, however, including individual rights that were similar to what was in the U.S. Constitution. Slavery still remained legal though. Since Europeans had discovered Brazil, slavery had been its history. “The inability or unwillingness of Brazil to abolish this traffic… involved the empire in a bitter and protracted diplomatic controversy with Great Britain.” It was not until 1888 that slavery was abolished in Brazil and it was met with some opposition from major landowners and the military. In addition, Brazil outlawed slavery 25 years after the United States did in the Emancipation Proclamation.
In conclusion, the American Revolution played a role in influencing the Brazilian Revolution, but there still remain vast differences in the primary reasons for resorting to having a revolution as well as what direction the nation turned to after the revolutions.
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.
Without colonial consent, the British started their bid to raise revenue with the Sugar Act of 1764 which increased duties colonists would have to pay on imports into America. When the Sugar Act failed, the Stamp Act of 1765 which required a stamp to be purchased with colonial products was enacted. This act angered the colonists to no limit and with these acts, the British Empire poked at the up to now very civil colonists. The passing of the oppressive Intolerable Acts that took away the colonists’ right to elected officials and Townshend Acts which taxed imports and allowed British troops without warrants to search colonist ships received a more aggravated response from the colonist that would end in a Revolution.
Larry Rohter was a journalist in Brazil for 14 years and from his experiences he offers in this book some unique insights into Brazilian history, politics, culture and more. In 10 topical chapters Rohter’s easy-to-read book provides a look at Brazilian history and the extraordinary changes the country has undergone -- and is still undergoing. Rother covers many significant issues, but several stand out more than others. Namely: the country’s history, culture, politics, and finally its economy/natural wealth.
The American and the French revolutions had many similarities and differences. One similarity being is that they both wanted to escape the rule of their King. Second, they both started by an uprising of people against unfair taxation by the monarchy. The French peasants were not represented by the Parliament. It was mainly composed of middle and upper class people. Now, the American colonists were not represented in England because of their lack of presence. Both wanted to set up a Republic, which provided liberty and justice to all classes of citizens. Just like France, the American colonists were composed up mainly middle and lower class citizens. The American Revolution started out by not wanting bloodshed and violence. France started out with violence and bloodshed. (American Revolution)
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...
The American Revolution began due to problems within the British economy. The most prevalent issue of the time was "taxation without representation". Unlike the leaders of America, the leaders of the French did not turn out to be as positive for the country. In fact, some of these leaders have caused much more harm than good.
Brazil achieved independence from Portugal in 1822, although not recognized as a sovereign by Portugal and the United States until 1824. Since the country’s independence, Brazil has drafted eight constitutions. Today, Brazil is a federal republic divided into twenty-six states and one federal district. The constitutional framework of Brazil is based on its newest document, created in 1988, following the period of military dictatorship from 1964-1985. Upon the rebirth of democracy in Brazil, the new constitution set up a system of checks and balances similar to that of the United States, where there exists the legislative, executive, and judiciary branches of government. The new constitution expands civil rights and universal suffrage while restricting the president’s power to legislate, condemning the use of torture, and prohibiting extradition for military crimes. It expands the role of government to intervene in state and local affairs and allows individuals as young as sixteen to vote in national elections.
The most fundamental reason for the American Revolution was the colonist’s outrage over taxation which led to a tax revolt launched by people who were tired of the burden of paying unfair taxes. The king placed taxes known as Townsend Acts, on the colonist’s tea, paper, paint, lead, glass, and many other items that were used daily and the colonists were against this taxing. The purpose of the Townsend Acts was to help pay the cost of government in America. Lawyer James Otis and other colonist rebels referred to King George as a tyrant. As stated by James Otis in The Rights of the British Colonies Asserted and Proved (1763), . . . “The very act of taxing exercised over those who are not represented appears to me to be depriving them of one of their most essential rights as freemen, and if continued seems to be in effect and entire
Brazil and the United States were both discovered and colonized by Europeans even though their population cultural patterns differ. The way that Brazilians and Americans relate to their families differ. While Americans are raised to be individualists, Brazilians are known to have a close-knit family; Consequently, supporting your family members in Brazil is considered an imperative value. As a result, young Americans achieve their independence much earlier than young Brazilians.
Unlike the colonizing philosophy of the Spanish, the Portuguese in Brazil were much less focused at first on conquering, controlling, and developing the country. Most were sailors, who were far more interested in profitable trade and subsistence agriculture than in territorial expansion.
In the 1500s Pedro Alvares Cabral landed on Brazil, previously a inhabited by tribal nations, and claimed the land in the name of Portugal. Brazil remained a Portuguese colony until September 7, 1822 when it declared its independence becoming the Empire of Brazil making the nation a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system. In early 1964, a Military junta took control of the nation until it fell in 1985 further changing the structure of the nation, and finally in 1988 a formal constitution was created enacting 26 states encompassing its boarders. Throughout the history of Brazil, the nation was never able to fully immerse itself in the international market and expand its economy, until today. Latin America has not had the best of luck when it comes to economic development and many nations in Latin America have similar issues when it comes to economic and societal development, and many of these issues are cause by the same things. For example, before the military coup in 1964 Brazil was in massive amounts of debt to international partners, however, during the military rule the payment of this debt was halted so the trust and economic backing of countries stopped with the payments. Many plans have been enacted after the fall of the military control to reverse the economic downfall that occurred in the country and continent in the 20th century and especially in the 1980s, the lost decade. In Brazil alone, there have been at least seven economic plans to reverse the economic hardships of the country, from the Cruzado Plan to the Real Plan, none seemed to work. However, in the past decade the Brazilian economy has seen an amazing increase and the condition of life of the people in the nation has increased with it. The quest...
Instead authoritarian rule has played a major role in the countries development, and in rejecting the nations diverse cultural history. Brazil was under the rule of the armed forces for 21 years. In order to gain power, the commanders attempted to purge the country of communism, and to take action to obtain economic development. The military dictatorship increased its power and modified the constitution and laws by means of a series of institutional Acts. The Afro-Brazilians’ were effected negatively by this because the president was given greater powers, especially powers like purging congress. It wasn’t until 1968 that the Brazilian government began to see the rise of staged protest by students and civilians. This led to the government cracking down, and regaining the power they desired, by suspending congress indeterminately. This included music and media censorship, as well as the inserting armed forces into the police force. The downfall of congress negatively affected the Afro-Brazilians’ by stripping them of their political rights. In 1937, President Vargas overthrew the constitutional government. The government canceled the election originally scheduled for 1938. This led to a coup and created a new autocratic government, entitled "New State". The coup was greeted quietly, with no resistance (Reid, 78). The Estado Novo was the only unbridled personal dictatorship in Brazilian history. The
In 1822, Brazil became a nation independent from Portugal. By far the largest and most populous country in South America, Brazil has overcome more than half a century of military government to pursue industrial and agricultural growth and development. With an abundance of natural resources and a large labor pool, Brazil became Latin America's leading economic power by the 1970’s.
During the mid to late 1900s, the working class people of Latin America became frustrated by the amount of injustice in their society, and responded with a series of revolutions and insurgencies. Many of these revolutions failed because of lack of organization and support of revolutionary groups as well as backlash from counterinsurgency forces led by authoritarian dictators and supported by U.S. military intervention. However, amidst the backdrop of failed revolutions, two revolutions that stand out as the most successful were the Cuban revolution and the Nicaraguan revolution, which were the only two that completely overthrew their dictators. The Cuban revolution preceding the
Brazil was first “discovered” on April 22nd, 1500 by a fleet of portuguese settlers, on a ship commanded by Portuguese diplomat Pedro Cabral that was making its journey to India. When Pedro first set eyes on the land he first assumed it was a small size island. However, they came to find it was quite large, and inhabited with native people. Brazil was attractive for many Europeans such as the French, the Dutch, and the Spanish due to its resources such as red-dye wood, gold and silver, sugar, and precious stones. On December 7th, 1822, the country declared its independence from portugal and became its own country.