Thesis The Intolerable Acts had a more negative impact on the colonists than the Stamp Act, because they were what ultimately led to the Revolutionary war. Question 1 The British Parliament passed The Stamp Act on March 22, 1765. It was a new tax forced on all American Colonists, and it demanded that they pay a tax on every piece of paper they used. “The actual cost of the Stamp Act was relatively small. What made the law so offensive to the colonists was not so much its immediate cost but the standard it seemed to set” (History.org). “The total amount intended to be raised by the new tax was £60,000 per year, this is not even 20% of the total amount of £350,000 per year required to maintain the troops” (Stampacthistory.com). The colonists …show more content…
“[The British] saw the destruction of 342 chests of tea belonging to the British East India Company as wanton destruction of property by Boston thugs who did not even have the courage to admit responsibility. Someone was going to pay”. (ushistory.org). The Intolerable Acts were a series of laws sponsored by British Prime Minister Lord North and passed in 1774. There were four different laws. The Impartial Administration of Justice Act allowed the trials of the British officers, who were accused of murder of the colonists to be moved to another colony. The Massachusetts Government Act gave the British full rule over the colony, which limited the powers of the colonists. Boston Port Act closed the Boston Harbor until the British were paid back for the destroyed tea. The Quartering Act required certain colonists to house and provide food for British troops. Each act had its own effects but overall they all had great effects on the American Colonists primarily in Boston. The acts also brought the colonies together and it led to the formation of the First Continental Congress in Philadelphia. Basically, the Intolerable Acts just made things worse and eventually led to the first Revolutionary …show more content…
“Colonial leaders agreed to send representatives to Philadelphia in September to discuss and adopt just such a unified response. The 1st Continental Congress formally convened on September 5th” (allthingsliberty.com). The purpose of the group was not to get independence from Britain, though. They wanted to fight for their rights with the British government. After discussing things, the Congress created a Declaration of Rights, stating its loyalty to the British Crown but challenging the British Parliament’s right to tax it. They also passed the Articles of Association, which had the colonies stop bringing in goods from the British starting on December 1,
Leading up to the time of the Revolutionary War, seven policies were passed by Britain in hopes of controlling the colonies. These acts culminated in the Quebec Act which persuaded many Americans into supporting the revolutionary effort. The Proclamation of 1763 was the first policy passed by the British. This forbid any settlement west of Appalachia because the British feared conflicts over territory in this region. The proclamation, however, infuriated the colonists who planned on expanding westward. The Sugar Act was passed shortly after in 1764. This act sought harsher punishment for smugglers. The next act to be passed was possibly the most controversial act passed by Britain. The Stamp Act passed in 1765 affected every colonist because it required all printed documents to have a stamp purchased from the British authority. The colonist boycotted British goods until the Stamp Act was repealed but quickly replaced by the Declaratory Act in 1766. The British still held onto the conviction that they had the right to tax the Americans in any way they deemed necessary. The Declaratory Act was followed by the Townshend Acts of 1767. This imposed taxes on all imported goods from Britain, which caused the colonies to refuse trading with Britain. Six years passed before another upsetting act was passed. In 1773, the Tea Act placed taxes on tea, threatening the power of the colonies. The colonies, however, fought back by pouring expensive tea into the Boston harbor in an event now known as the Boston Tea Party. The enraged Parliament quickly passed the Intolerable Acts, shutting down the port of Boston and taking control over the colonies.
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,
Parliamentary taxes on the colonial peoples started with the Navigation Acts in 1660, but they were not an issue to the colonial people because they were too difficult to enforce. Then in 1764 the Stamp Act was passed, this was the first direct tax on the colonists. The Navigations Acts and the Sugar Acts of 1764, which was a tax placed on imported molasses and sugar, had not directly affected colonists, it affected the merchants. The merchants in hand would just raise prices. The stamp act was completely different. It said that any document or printed item would need to have a stamp placed on it purchased from the British government. The Stamp Act upset the colonist...
The Intolerable Acts were known as the Coercive Acts to the British. Passed in 1774, these acts were designed to punish the colonies for the Boston Tea Party. The Coercive Acts blockaded the Boston harbor. The Royal Governor also had the authority to ban town meetings, stripping the colonists of their right to self government. British officials accused of crimes would also have their trial in England instead of Massachusetts. A new Quartering was enacted, which forced the people of Boston to shelter soldiers in their homes. One of the more impacting reactions to the Intolerable Acts was the 1st Continental Congress. All of the colonies except for Georgia sent representatives to this congress. At this congress, Patrick Henry said that it was time to take action (Doc. 5). This congress decided to boycott all british good and stop exporting goods to Britain. They also sent the Declaration of Resolves to King George III, which outlined their complaints. The 1st Continental Congress urged each colony to set up its own militia. The events eventually led to the 2nd Continental Congress and the formation of the United States of
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.
That is, until the spring of 1765 when the British Parliament passed the Stamp Act. The Stamp Act requires a tax to be put on all paper goods. This includes all shipping papers, legal documents, licenses, and newspapers. It was considered a small tax on cost, but the reaction of the colonists was nothing but offended. All the things that the colonists used to develop and have their daily lives separate from the British government are now being taxed.
In 1765 the news was bad. England had enacted the Stamp Act, imposing taxes on Americans in 55 different ways. Americans, who had always managed their money in their own assemblies, considered, the act was unconstitutional.
...this incident the Intolerable Acts were passed and the Americans were fed up, they agreed to send delegates to Philadelphia to attend the Continental Congress. The Continental Congress was the governing body for the Colonists during the American Revolution.1
Instead they passed new acts which were worse than the ones passed before. As a result of the Tea Act, all the taxes except the tax on tea was repealed in order to keep Parliament’s right to tax the colonies, and the colonists did not like this act. As a result of their anger towards the British, the Boston Tea Party occurred: Samuel Adams and the Sons of Liberty boarded three ships in the Boston Harbor and empty 342 chests of tea to the Boston. Still, the British kept on trying to control the Americans, but this time, they passed 4 acts, the Intolerable Acts, in order to punish and control people; The Boston Harbor would be closed, the people of Boston would have a curfew, Massachusetts would lose its self-government/town meetings, royal officers would be allowed to be tried in Britain, and the British troops would use empty buildings. Instead of giving Americans the freedom they wanted, the British punished them. Yet, this did not stop Americans. Instead, they were even angrier to the British for the strict rules the British was passing in order to control the colonists. They knew they had to do something, which resulted in continental congresses, the Articles of Confederation, and the American Revolution. The British was not going to stop trying to hold power over the colonies, and as Patrick Henry started off by saying “Caesar had his Brutus — Charles the first, his Cromwell — and George the third — ” and finished “may profit by their example. If this be treason, make the most of it”(Wolverton, Joe, II). This was no longer of a fight against the British, but a fight to be
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 of the Exchequer. He was determined to pay off the debt by 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 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. A year later, Grenville imposed the Quartering Act which forced the colonists to house and accommodate the British military stationed in their area. It was a slap in the face to have to pay for those who stood for everything the colonists despised. 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.
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...
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...
To pay off their debt, England scheduled the initiation of the Stamp Act, which placed a tax on 50 different documents, on November 1, 1765 (Gale ¶ 2; Brindell 13). This act was to put a tax “upon every paper commonly called a pamphlet and upon every newspaper” (Copeland 193). Because the Stamp Act was an internal tax, which meant this tax law was only enforced in America, this made the colonists even angrier (Burgan 23).
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
...he Intolerable Act there were two things that fell under this. The first one being, Massachusetts Government Act; the king choose the delegates that where in the upper house. Upsetting the colonists for they were able to vote for the delegates but now they weren’t being represented properly. The second one is the Administration of Justice Act which protected British officers from colonial courts. This was seen as unjust for that allowed the officers to get away with crimes that would have major or even minor punishment.