How The Role Of The Colonists Changed Colonial Society

As the British colonies in North America achieved economic prosperity and an essential place in the empire, confident colonists assumed this importance would also transfer into the political sphere of their lives. However, Parliament and the British government did not see the colonists as political equals, but as political subjects. As British-imposed mandates unexpectedly changed colonial life, colonists revolted to create change that favored their vision for the colonies. However, as Parliament implemented more reforms and colonists’ revolts became more severe, their views of the colonists’ political identity and what the colonists’ rights were diverged to create a serious conflict and, eventually, a revolution.
Tensions between British Americans

and the British government began with the conclusion of the French and Indian War. After the British achieved victory in the French and Indian War in 1763, colonists believed their assistance to the British military earned them a prominent, respected place within the British empire. However, the British saw the colonial contribution to the war in a less impressive way. Instead of a military victory, the British government saw massive debt with insufficient means to repay it. Not having enough sources of income to settle what they owed, Parliament looked to tax the colonists who paid 1 shilling per capita every year compared to citizens in England who paid 26 shillings per capita. British Americans saw their contribution to the war effort as reason to be on the same level as other English citizens and expected to form a new partnership with the British government. The British government did not see the colonists’ contribution as a highly significant one. Instead, Parliament saw the colonies as an additional source for revenue that would help pay off the war debt. This instance of differing views of the colonies and their purpose in the empire began the gradual divergence of Parliament’s and the colonists’ respective views and planted the seeds of conflict in the colonies.
In late 1763, this early stage of conflict escalated with Pontiac’s Rebellion and the Royal Proclamation. Pontiac’s Rebellion created tensions between British Americans and Native Americans as the natives hoped the French would reclaim lands lost in the French and Indian War. While the actual rebellion did not worsen the growing conflict between British Americans and the British government, disagreement on views of the native peoples after the uprising deepened the increasing divide. The British felt more sympathetic towards natives while colonists felt aggressive towards Native Americans, and colonists also thought that the British restrained them from getting rid of the native tribes. Similarly, the Royal Proclamation, which stated that colonists could not move beyond the Appalachian Mountains, frustrated colonists because it ruined their plans to move west and conquer native tribes. These differing opinions of the colonists’ neighbors and who held more power over them showed a stark contrast between British and colonial beliefs of who retained and exercised control over land and “lesser people” in the colonies. Restrictive land policies also alarmed colonists because they felt it infringed on their right as British citizens to own property. British Americans still treasured their British liberties, so the loss of the ability to move west and own land started to cultivate a concern over whether the British government was protecting the rights of the people.
In March 1765, Parliament passed the Stamp Act, which placed levies on essential paper goods like newspapers and legal documents.

Although put into effect only a year after the less-contested Sugar and Currency Acts, Parliament received more significant pushback on the passage of this tax when colonists formed the Stamp Act Congress in October of the same year. At the Stamp Act Congress, delegates expressed frustration about another tax levied by Parliament and stated, “it is inseparably essential to the freedom of a people, and the undoubted right of Englishmen, that no taxes should be imposed on [the people], but with their own consent, given personally, or by their representatives.” This reaction to the tax was the most active resistance colonists expressed to Parliament, but this also showed the deepening divide between how colonists’ view of their rights and Parliament’s view of the colonists’ rights. Colonists started viewing Parliament’s taxes as an infringement upon the rights entitled to them as British subjects, yet the lack of revolt against the Sugar and Currency Acts showed Parliament could justify taxes levied against the colonists without their consent. To placate the colonists, Parliament repealed the Stamp Act in March of 1766 but reminded colonists of the sovereignty they held over and ability to tax them with the simultaneous passage of the Declaratory Act. Colonists felt elated and empowered because of their success in achieving the Stamp Act’s repeal. They believed they fought against taxation without their consent, yet the Declaratory Act quickly reminded colonists that they held little political power in the empire. The act was a turning point in the ever-growing division between Parliament and the British American colonies. Parliament saw a need to reassert their authority across the Atlantic where recent successes with rebellions planted political confidence and a colonial political identity began taking

shape.
Parliament passed the Townshend Duties in 1767 as another effort to assert power over the colonies through taxation on tea, glass, paper, and paints. Angered by yet another tax and still emboldened by their successful endeavor to repeal the Stamp Act, colonists quickly organized boycotts that targeted all British goods and hoped to elicit the same results. Although Parliament did not abolish the Townshend Duties as soon as they repealed the Stamp Act, the colonists’ unity and quick organization of a boycott showed the rapid growth of the colonists’ confidence and their early ability to organize as a united front against the government. Although total independence was not on the table, colonists continued to view the assertion of their British liberties as a basic political right. On the contrary, the colonists’ rebellion deepened Parliament’s belief that they needed to subjugate rebellious, unruly colonists and remind them of the government’s supreme sovereignty. These conflicting views of whether the colonists’ actions were justified contributed the brewing conflict between Parliament and the colonists.
Tired of growing rebellions from the colonies, Parliament deployed British soldiers into Boston in 1768, where most of the revolts originated. Stories of soldiers demonized these soldiers and their presence in Boston, and Patriot men often harassed the soldiers, both of which created tensions between civilians and the military. Sudden British military presence also quickly escalated tensions because it threatened colonists to have a standing army during a time of peace, which they also felt violated one of their essential British rights.