The American Revolution should never have happened. The British were not tyrannical, oppressive rulers although the American colonies perceived them to be so. The American colonists misperceptions led to revolution and independence. Although Great Britain emerged victorious in the Seven Years War, it left Great Britain with significant debt. The British looked to America to help it. First the British began enforcing existing laws like the Navigation Acts, which put limits on colonial imports and exports. To enforce these laws better, the British passed the "Writs of Assistance" that gave officials warrants to search anything or anyone suspected of smuggling, anywhere or anytime. British warships would even patrol American harbors to catch potential smugglers. These smugglers, if caught, would be tried in the newly established Admiralty courts. In these courts, the accused had no right to trial by jury, and the judges pocketed a percentage of the fines. The British viewed these courts as insurance to make sure smuggling stopped, juries composed of Americans might be biased, so they were done away with. The British also implemented new taxes. The Sugar act of 1764 sought to reduce smuggling, which occurred partly as a result of the earlier Molasses Act. This gave British possessions in the Caribbean the upper hand in sugar trade, which in the British view helped the empire as a whole, but to Americans, and especially the merchants, this put limits on their opportunities. The Currency Act, passed about this time forbade the printing of colonial currency. British merchants benefited because they didn't have to deal with inflated American currencies. The Americans felt they were at an economic disadvantage as very little sterli... ... middle of paper ... ... Bobrick, Benson. Fight for Freedom: The American Revolutionary War. New York: Atheneum, 2004. Print. Brennan, Linda Crotta. The Birth of the United States. Ann Arbor: Cherry Lake, 2011. Print.
After the Seven Years Way England was broke for she had spent more money needed to win the war. Also winning the war gave the colonist a “we can do it spirit”. However because England now was facing debt she decided to tax the colonies. One the first acts passed was the sugar act passed in 1764. This Act was the raise revenue in American colonies. What it did was lowered the tax from six penses to three penses per gallon on foreign molasses. Molasses is a product made by refining sugarcane, grapes or sugar beets into sugar. This upset the colonist because before the sugar act they didn’t have to pay the tax so even if it was lowered that meant nothing for they now had to pay for it. A year later, in 1765, the Britain’s passed another act known as the Stamp Act. The Stamp Act put a tax on stamped paper, publications, playing cards, etc. Because it was on all paper products in a way it affected everyone; from the papers for the upper class such as lawyers, publications such as newspapers for the middle class, and playing cards for the lower class for entertainment. Next, the Townshend Act passed by Charles Townshend. This came in 1767, which imposed taxes on colonial tea, lead, paint, paper, and glass which just like the Stamp Act affected all of the classes in the colonist in the Americas. Though this act was removed three years later in 1770, it still left colonists with a warning that conditions may become worse. Around 1773, parliament passed the Intolerable Acts one of those acts which affected taxation was the Bost...
Morison, Samuel E. The Oxford History of the American People, vol 1. New York: Penguin Books USA, Inc. 1994.
Eibling, Harold H., et al., eds. History of Our United States. 2nd edition. River Forest, Ill: Laidlaw Brothers, 1968.
Evaluate the relative importance of two of the following as factors prompting Americans to rebel in 1776.
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.
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.
After the Seven Year War, Britain now needed to find ways to generate money, and felt that since the war was fought on American land that they should help pay for its cost, and they decided to issue new taxes on the colonies trying to offset some of the cost of the war. One of the first acts they presented was the Sugar act in 1764, lowering the duties on molasses but taxed sugar and other items that could be exported to Britain. It also enforced stronger laws for smuggling, where if prosecuted, it would be a British type trial without a jury of their peers. Some Americans were upset about the Sugar Act because it violated two strong American feelings, first that they couldn't be tried without a jury of their peers, and the second that they couldn't be taxed without their consent.
The colonies would grow and produce products that were needed in England, and in turn would buy manufactured goods made in England. Some producers were granted bounties, tobacco planters had a guaranteed monopoly of the British market, and the colonists enjoyed the rights of Englishmen and were protected by England, one of the strongest and most powerful countries in the world. (Merits and Menaces of Mercantilism) However, despite all these benefits, the mercantile system was an enormous burden on the colonies. Many traders and manufacturers became indebted to England, because they traded primarily on credit. Virginia tobacco planters received the worst end of it because overproduction caused prices to fall, causing many planters to plummet into debt. Trade among other countries was heavily regulated; in certain cases it was even prohibited. In 1651, Parliament passed the Navigation Acts, which required British crews to run the now British-made ships and created a long list of “enumerated goods” that had to be shipped to England before going anywhere else. (faculty.polytechnic.org) For a while these laws were laxly enforced and colonial traders continued to smuggle goods to avoid paying heavy taxes. Prime Minister George Grenville ordered strict enforcement of the Navigation Acts in 1763, and British officials began to crack down on smugglers. It then became even harder for American traders to buy, sell, and manufacture their goods without British intrusion. The colonists felt as if they were being kept in a “state of perpetual adolescence” because the trade was so heavily controlled. (Merits and Menaces of Mercantilism) These exasperating laws caused a great deal of tension between Britain and the colonies, tension that would evolve into the revolutionary war. This tension and frustration, I believe, would have prompted me to sign the Declaration of
Though it seems that British policy may have stifled trade in the Atlantic colonies by regulating trade and dividing territories from Canada to the islands of the Caribbean, It is more likely that the policies helped more than hurt American trade. America directly benefited from the establishment of Jamestown, even though the Virginia Company was a near failure. The Massachusetts Bay colony provided a place for puritans to settle. When the Navigation Acts were imposed upon the early colonists, along with the writs of assistance and the various taxes that Great Britain thought were necessary, the colonists mostly ignored them. The Navigation Acts didn’t prevent smuggling, and was more likely a symbolic gesture. By the end of the French and Indian War, America was strong, even though the war cost over £2 million.
An American History of the World. 4th ed. of the book. W.W. Norton, 2012, 591. 6.) Foner, Eric.
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.
The American Revolution did not cause the effects of the events that took place or any single legislation. The British government was the result of some factors playing against the wellbeing of the colonists. Between 1763 and 1775 a series of laws related to taxation could possibly be an important factor that instigated the American Revolution. The legislations most likely began the debate starting on what the nature of the responses should be and how it should be. The responses should've been civil, but there were others that preferred other means to get their point across. The British had no choice but to repealed the stamp act.
The colonies were morally justified in declaring independence because many of the things Britain did toward them. Britain passed acts and laws that were not always fair for the colonists.They were justified because the king had ignored them for many years, and over those years the colonies built themselves up. That combination of independence and being treated like machinery led to a great deal of resentment. Revolution was inevitable, and justified.
Most Americans know the causes of the American Revolution and how it turned out. The real mystery is, was the Revolutionary war avoidable. The colonist motivation was “Taxation without representation” which touched the hearts of others. From the Sugar Act of 1764 to the Tea Act of 1773, colonist were taxed an abundant amount of money. The reason was Great Britain needed money to pay for the French and Indian war. Therefore, they placed a financial burden on the colonist! They were also forced to have soldiers sleep in their houses. This, to most colonist, was also a financial burden. Hence, the American Revolution was not avoidable. Great Britain took the colonist for granted and used them to their advantage. They also weren't willing
The first discussion on the constitution between Americans and the British was held in as the war came to an end in 1763. A number of issues in the administrative policies were discussed. One of the issues was the inefficient and corrupt customs service headed by the British in America, the currency Act. Set up in 1764 which, did not allow colonies to give out paper money, the stamp act set up in 1765, which ordered all legal documents be issued with stamps and in which the bearers were supposed to pay for them, the invention of the Halifax Nova Scotia court where officials from the customs service could appeal their cases from the courts of the local colonies and many more Acts of parliament. These legislations were too demanding to the Americans and they had to strongly oppose them because they infringed people’s property rights and democracy. However the front liners of the American Revolution were careful not to break their relationship with the British because these conflicts were not about the American economic values, but it was about people’s democratic rights. They only resorted into conflict as the last