On the 4th of July, almost 240 years earlier, colonist declare their independence from Britain. This declaration of independence did not gain as easy as we flip our hands. It took several years, from 1763 struggled against Britain and finally declare its independence on 1776. There are several reasons which triggering the colonist to struggling and pursuing its independence. Moreover, there were several moments happened from 1763 up to 1776 and they’re generally concluded the triggered reasons. Those moments were started from Treaty of Paris, continue with Sugar Act and Stamp Act then Boston Tea Party, which led the Revolution War and concluded by the Continental Congress which resulted the Declaration of Independence. Along before the American …show more content…
Revolution, there was the French and Indian War. A war which well-known as “Seven Years War” fought over ownership of Ohio River Valley (171). The end of this war was concluded by the Treaty of Paris. Britain got a victory with two results, new territory, but, with a huge debt (178). Consequently, Britain needs to find a way to pay the debts. It then goes to the several moments of creating taxation act and beginning of “war” within them – Britain and American colonist. Sugar Act was the first act dimly made not to rule the commerce, but more on raising income to solve the Britain’s financial problem (180).
Made in 1764, this act was concerning the deduction of molasses tax yet levying the others import (AY). Unfortunately, this act was not successful, resulting in bigger debt and beginning of the colonist “new” thought about Britain. Still with the same purpose – gain more income, Parliament published the Stamp Act in 1765. The act which replaced the failure of Sugar Act. The act regulates all the printed documents should be in stamps including the playing cards (AY). Well, it’s the first tax not purposes for the export or import goods, but the insider goods (181). By releasing this act, the colony may see the parliament’s mission clearly, to gain more revenue, not to rule the trade. Famous refusal over Stamp Act was “No taxation without representation” (183). Colonist thought if there is no representative in parliament, they supposed to get no taxation. In fact, Britain had already burdened them by releasing Sugar Act and Stamp Act. At the beginning of November 1765, Stamp Act was repealed after several refusals (e.g. boycott and Stamp Act Congress). Unfortunately, at the same time, parliament also released the Declaratory Act, which allowing them to regulate the colonist by any law …show more content…
(183). Three years before the Declaration of Independence, 1773, there was a moment called as “Boston Tea Party”. Colonist has spread the tea in the harbor from the British ship after they took over the ship (190). The action did by colonist were not without any reason. Britain lead by Lord North would like to sell out the tea owned by East India Company yet imported without any duty (190). Having no importing tax would cut the price of the tea and it’s a danger sign for the other local tea seller. Moreover, Britain was actually applied this way to trick the colonist so they will not fool Britain any longer and accept the taxation. In deeper analysis, those moments were having triggered reasons that further lead the Revolution War and end up with the Declaration of Independence. Forced taxation, the decision without concerning the colonist and neglected colonist voice were the triggered reasons dimly found. First is the notion of forced taxation to the colony. Sugar Act and Stamp Act were the real forms of this forced taxation. Especially by Stamp Act where parliament obviously seen to made up some taxation with the insider goods. In fact, tax mostly charged to the imported or exported goods. Many obloquy arises regarding this unfair taxation. Colonist argued if they couldn’t be charged when they have no representative in the parliament (181). Even the rules stated clearly if the tax will be charged to all colonies under British by and only by the representative. Thus, appeared question in colonist’s mind about the reasons why they need to pay tax. The answer may be vary but concluded with one point, the rule made to gain more revenue, not to rule the trade itself. Second, the decision made without concerning the colonist. Start from 1763 till 1776 there were several decisions made by Britain to the colonist. Most of the decisions were made without asking the colonist. The first example is the Declaratory Act, which allowed the parliament to pass any regulation and law (183). Britain made the decision without asking the colony or even thought if their decision were fair nor unfair. Consequently, colonist made a congress which talked about “Declaration of the Rights and Grievances” (AY). Hence, they could get any attention by Britain before the decision was declared. Third, neglected colonist voice.
Britain had carelessly made any decision without concerning the colonist. As a response, colonist made several actions to make their voice be heard. One of the examples is Britain’s goods boycott by Boston because the Stamp Act (183). Factually, Stamp Act had a major and direct effect to a wide range of society, in contrary to Sugar Act (AY). Most of the seller was affected and decided to sign the agreement of nonimportation which about stop importing Mother country’s products (183). To end the boycott, the colonist was asked by House of Representative about Stamp Act and resulted the “Declaration of Rights ad Grievances” (184). Even though the colonist’s voice has already discussed and declared, Britain implicitly ignores their voices by created another act, the Declaratory Act. Moreover, somehow the Britain ignored the colonist's voice and directly jumped to the conclusion or decision without investigating it. It found from Boston Tea Party where the colonist protest and gave their voice with spread the tea out. Yet, the British government did not care with the reason and decided to release the Coercive Act, proposes to give the colonist penalty (191). Colonist has done a lot of things to refuse one act and another act made by Britain. Despite gained the obedience, the acts released were triggering a deeper thought of the colonist. Why did the colonist need to accept and obey all the acts given by Britain? What’s the Britain motives for releasing
all the acts? Is that for the prosperity of colony or Britain? They started to think about their future. Supported by those three triggered reasons, then the colonist decided to do two actions, the first is held the Continental Congress and the second is attacked the Britain army – Revolutionary War. The Continental Congress and Revolutionary War began. Lexington and Concord were becoming the place where the first attack of Revolutionary War begins (AY). The war took approximately 440 days. A lot of phases happened to the colonist army, started with the shortage of ammunitions, a smallpox epidemics until gain back all the sources and braveness (199 & 201). On the other places, several delegates held the Continental Congress with the purpose of retained their rights (193). All of them were struggling to get a better future by pursuing separated government from British Empire. The first talk of being Independence country was triggered by Paine with his Common Sense in January 1776 (200). According to Paine, “There is something absurd, in supposing a continent to be perpetually governed by an island.” (AY). Several triggered reasons supported by Paine’s Common sense were resulting a good combination of reshaping society paradigm for having their independence. Yet, it takes several months before they could officially declare their independence. There were several steps until Continental Congress could officially declare the colonist independence. Started with the 13 colonists agreed to unify as one new state, in May (201). Continue in June, Richard J. Lee created a notion of being independence nation and then 5 appointed people (e.g. Sherman, Jefferson) were assigned to create the declaration (202). On July, 2 the notion of being independence were agreed and Congress officially agreed on the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776 (AY). In conclusion, the notion of independence was built by triggered reasons and supported by Common Sense which shifting the society paradigm. The triggered reasons included forced taxation, the decision without concerning the colonist and neglected colonist voice. These reasons appear because the acts made by Britain itself and soon flamed up the Revolutionary War and Continental Congress. The willingness to pursue its independence itself have strongly happened in January 1776 because Common Sense made by Paine. It takes several months from January to create the independence motion and its legalized declaration. Exactly at July 1776, the Declaration of Independence being agreed and declared.
One of the British actions that angered the colonists was the Stamp Act. The Stamp Act was passed in response to colonist's complaints about the Sugar Act. The Stamp Act, according to the chart in document one, forced colonists to buy a stamp and place it on all of their paper products. Colonists boycotted the Stamp Act and and formed the Committees of Correspondence and the Sons of Liberty. The Sons of Liberty, according to document two, tarred and feathered British officials and tax collectors to protest the Stamp A...
When the British passed the Stamp Act, the colonists reacted in various ways. The Stamp Act, passed in 1765, put taxes on all printed goods in the colonies. Specifically, newspapers, legal documents, dice,
In July of 1776, the colonies declared their independence. The war wasn’t over, but the colonies considered themselves independent and therefor created their own government- The Articles of Confederation, to abolish British rule. The Articles of Confederation became the law in 1781. Meanwhile, the fighting in the war continued and the colonists managed to be successful in two major battles that led to their victory in the American Revolution- The Battle of Saratoga in 1777 and the Battle of Yorktown in 1781. The American Revolution finally came to an end in 1783 with the Treaty of Paris. Colonists were formally given their independence by
In the 1760s King George III enacted the Sugar Act and the Stamp act to gain extra revenue from his colonies. King George III decided to enact heavier taxes to put money back into the empire that had been lost after the French and Indian War. This act levied heavy taxes on sugar imported from the West Indies. The Stamp Act in 1765 required that many items have a stamp to prove that the owner had payed for the taxes on the item. The problem the colonists had with it was that it increased the presence of English troops in the Colonies and they felt it was unneeded and only meant to put more control into Great Britain's hands.
Imagine living in a country where no citizen has a say in the government’s actions. Envision a nation where the ruler can tax people without permission and the common people are forced to obey without question. That was life in The Colonies before the year of 1776, when the Declaration of Independence was created. Great Britain passed laws whether it benefited the people or not. Before the Declaration of Independence was composed, a plethora of unnecessary taxes were approved. These taxes sent many colonists into debt. According to “The Declaration of Independence, 1776,” published on Office of the Historian, a famous tax called the Stamp Act was passed by Parliament. This tax forced colonists to purchase stamps for every paper product
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.
The colonists felt as if they were being strangled by Britain’s rule, the British passing a series of policies that the common man, as well as the elite, didn’t agree with. This ranged from the Stamp Act to the Sugar Act to even
The American colonists’ disagreements with British policymakers lead to the colonist’s belief that the policies imposed on them violated of their constitutional rights and their colonial charters. These policies that were imposed on the colonist came with outcome like established new boundaries, new internal and external taxes, unnecessary and cruel punishment, and taxation without representation. British policymakers enforcing Acts of Parliament, or policies, that ultimately lead in the colonist civil unrest, outbreak of hostilities, and the colonist prepared to declare their independence.
Even though the colonists resisted the Sugar Act, Britain issued another tax, the Stamp Act in March of 1765. The Stamp Act placed taxes on all legal documents from newspapers, pamphlets, licenses, legal documents and even playing...
Overall, the imperial policy of the British Empire urged the colonists into a state of total rebellion. The colonial economy, geography, and politics had all been subjected to unfair consequences. The acts that were passed served as a way for England to push the responsibility its debt and issues on the colonists. If the colonists’ grievances were appealed to, the colonists may have never rebelled against their mother country.
The Intolerable Acts of 1774 greatly fueled the First Continental Congress. In response to the Boston Tea party, the British Parliament decided that a series of laws were needed to calm the rising resistance in America. “One law closed Boston Harbor until Bostonians paid for the destroyed tea. Another law restricted the activities of the Massachusetts legislature and gave added powers to the post of governor of Massachusetts.” As one can imagine, the American colonist viewed this as the British attempt to curtail their quest for independence.
The war had been enormously expensive, and the British government’s attempts to impose taxes on colonists to help cover these expenses resulted in chaos. English leaders, were not satisfied with the financial and military help they had received from the colonists during the war. In a desperate attempt to gain control over the colonies as well as the additional revenue to pay off the war debt, Britain began to force taxes on the colonies. Which resulted in The Stamp Act, passed by parliament and signed by the king in March 1765. The Stamp Act created an excise tax on legal documents, custom papers, newspapers, almanacs, college diplomas, playing cards, and even dice. Obviously the colonist resented the Stamp Act and the assumption that parliament could tax them whenever and however they could without their direct representation in parliament. Most colonials believed that taxation without their consent was a violation of their constitutional rights as Englishmen. Which is where the slogan “No Taxation without Representation” comes
It was the 4th of July in 1776 when delegates from all thirteen colonies assembled at Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Not knowing the full significance of what was about to take place that day,the delegates would do something that would forever change the course of the American people.
There are many important factors in the Declaration of Independence, which enable the foundation of a new government. These range from describing grievances with England, to how government should be run differently, to the first statement of separation. The first step to the foundation of a new government is the uniting of a people in a common goal. Since all people were feeling violated by English soldiers, it was necessary to state these grievances in order to make people aware that they are not alone. When people learned that others felt the same as them emotion was stirred. The Declaration of Independence listed the grievances such as, “He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.” The next important step to the foundation of a new government was to gain peoples ambition by showing how the government would be run if a new party took over. This goal was achieved by stating the rights of man. “We hold these truths to be self evident: That all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” This statement made people hopeful and feel kindly toward this new government. The final step in the preparation for a new government was separation from the old government. This was declared twice in the Declaration of Independence. In the beginning, “That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, driving their just powers from the consent of the governed,” and in the end, “that these united colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British crown, and that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved. In conclusion, the Declaration of Independence was able to motivate people, give them ambition, and made it simple for Americans to take action.
They became empowered and confident in this idea of breaking free from their mother country. Now, able to express their grievances and frustrations, the Colonies were able to essentially “stick it to the man” against Britain. Thomas Jefferson writes how Great Britain’s king had “impos[ed] taxes on [them] without [their] consent,” and “depriv[ed] [them] of the benefits of trial by jury. “ He goes on to say that the king had abolish[ed] [their] most valuable laws; and alter[ed] fundamentally the forms of [their] governments.”