In the aftermath of the French and Indian War of 1754-1763, Britain had triumphantly conquered the French power. With this victory, Britain had successfully secured the eastern part of North America. Even though Great Britain defeated France and its allies, the victory came at a great cost. The expensive war against the French caused Britain’s national debt to skyrocket from 75 to 133 million pounds (Notes). To reimburse this major financial burden, Britain relied on the colonies. By imposing a sequence of taxes and regulations such as the Navigation, Sugar, Stamp, Townshend, and Coercive Acts Britain deflated the debt. Consequently, these tariffs would ignite protests and discontent among the colonists. Their rebellious actions would soon …show more content…
The Act had mandated special stamps to be placed on any paper products with print such as newspapers and documents (Notes). Although the Act had affected everyone, it immensely assaulted businessmen and printers (Keene 102). In many acts of protest, publishers across the colonies were intimately involved with the opposition to the Stamp Act. Letters and pamphlets were distributed explaining why the Stamp Act was illegal (“Stamp Act” 2015). In addition, the leading newspapers of the day illustrated how times were “dreadful” and “Dollar-less” (Bradford). Moreover, newspapers contained an imprinted skull stamp to signify the effects of the Act (Fig. 1.) Along with the publishers, other groups also protested against the unfair taxation of paper …show more content…
The acts posed an immediate threat to the established traditions of colonial self-government (Alchin). In order to enforce the Act, the British Government stationed soldiers to maintain control. However, a separation of patriots (opposition with Britain) and loyalists (siding with Britain) had erupted throughout the colonies (Keene 109). As a result, the atmosphere was filled with chaotic protests toward the British agents. The colonists adopted a series of restrictions, known as the nonimportation agreements, to protest the British policies (Alchin). According to the agreement, colonists decided to boycott British imports (Alchin). The abundant sense of disorder and discontentment had led to the repeal of all taxes except for the tax on tea (Keene). With a presence of colonial hate and loath still lingering, British officials constantly feared for their lives. As a result, fear and taunting had led to one of the most well-known altercations between the British soldiers and the colonists. In an event known as the Boston Massacre, angry colonists tormented British authorities. On March 5, 1770, a mob of about 60 angry townspeople taunted a group of soldiers by hurling rocks and snowballs (Keene 104). As the taunting intensified, the British soldiers had held their ground. In the heat of the confusion, the
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...
Passed in 1767, the Townshend Acts put taxes on several basic items that, to obtain them, needed to be imported. These items included glass, paper, lead, and tea. The British planned out the Townshend Acts a little differently than they had previously planned other acts. They passed the Townshend Acts in a way for them to still make money, but to avoid direct conflict with the colonists. The British thought that if they taxed imported items, as opposed to taxing items produced in the colonies (like the Stamp Act did), that the colonists wouldn’t have as much hostility towards the act. The second part of the Townshend Acts was sending of troops and warships to Boston. In September of 1768, warships arrived in Boston harbor carrying four thousand troops. The soldiers came to keep structure after all the colonists’ chaotic reactions of the past acts. The establishment of the Writs of Assistance was the last part of the Townshend Acts. British soldiers used the Writs of Assistance to search colonists’ houses for smuggled goods. After the British passed the Townshend Acts, the colonists had several reactions in response to them. One reaction was boycotting. This colonial boycott was on all imported British goods, and it was extremely widespread. The boycott encouraged more colonists to join the Sons and Daughters of Liberty, which lead to many colonists replacing items, which they would normally buy from British merchants, with homemade versions. These items included fabrics, candles, and tea. Another reaction was non-importation agreements. Non-importation agreements are written agreements that said that whoever signed one would not purchase items from British merchants until they got representation in British Parliament. A tremendous amount of colonists signed these agreements, and those who didn’t were sometimes harassed or had their property destroyed. Similarly,
In 1763 the Seven Years’ War ended with the British Empire emerging as victors. The victory came at great cost to Great Britain’s economy. The national debt almost doubled from 75 million pounds to 133 million pounds between 1755 and 1763. Given that Britain fought in North America to uphold the security of her colonial possessions, British ministers deemed it fair that the cost of the war should be shared with the colonies. Subsequently, import duties on popular goods were raised and a number of Acts regarding excise taxes were passed. These included the Sugar Act of 1764, the Stamp Act of 1765 and the Townshend duties beginning in 1767. The consequences of these actions were to place great financial burdens on the North American colonists, but more importantly, to
After the French and Indian War, the British were unimpressed with the colonial war efforts and generally assumed they were unable to defend the western frontier, whereas the colonists thought they had done well in all of the wars and were confident that they could defend themselves. This led to conflict between the two nations, brought on by the costs of the wars. Landowners in Britain wanted to reduce the taxes placed upon them. King George III and the Whigs supported a colonial policy that would abandon salutary neglect and force the colonies to support the cost of the British empire. In addition to this the British began to be more present in the colonies, beginning with Pontiac’s rebellion where the British sent troops instead of letting the colonial forces respond to the attack, because of their thoughts on the colonists military efforts. The Proclamation o...
Before the Boston Massacre even occurred, tensions were high in the city of Boston between the Bostonians and the British. At this time people were just getting over the Stamp Act and were now angered by the new taxes also known as the Townshend Duties. This new tax caused Bostonians to become more aggressive causing the British to send more soldiers to impose the laws of Parliament and to restore order among the people. The arrival of more soldiers only caused more of an uproar between the people of Boston and the red coats. Bostonians went out of their way to harass British soldiers whenever they got the chance, but on March 5, 1770 both sides acted unacceptably resulting in the Boston Massacre (84-85).
The Merriam-Webster online dictionary defines massacre as “the act or an instance of killing a number of usually helpless or unresisting human beings under circumstances of atrocity or cruelty” or “a cruel or wanton murder” (m-w.com). Essentially a massacre results in either the death of many people or death by cruel means. The Boston Massacre occurred on March 5, 1770, in Boston, Massachusetts and involved American colonists and British troops. The colonists, upset by recent laws enacted by the British, taunted a smaller group of British soldiers by throwing snowballs at them (Boston Massacre Historical Society). In response, the soldiers fired upon the unarmed colonists leaving five people dead and six wounded (Phelan, 131). Even though the event in Boston on March 5, 1770, in which blood was shed, and called the Boston Massacre, the actions which took place on that day did not constitute a massacre. Since only five people were killed and six wounded and there was no evidence of cruelty, the name Boston Massacre was likely a propaganda ploy by Samuel Adams to rally the colonists against the British instead of a true massacre.
When the Boston Tea Party occurred on the evening of December 16,1773, it was the culmination of many years of bad feeling between the British government and her American colonies. The controversy between the two always seemed to hinge on the taxes, which Great Britain required for the upkeep of the American colonies. Starting in 1765, the Stamp Act was intended by Parliament to provide the funds necessary to keep peace between the American settlers and the Native American population. The Stamp Act was loathed by the American colonists and later repealed by parliament.
Imagine a powerful organization from a different place coming into your town taking your jobs, destroying your possessions and telling you what you can and can't do. This is what the British were doing to the colonists during the time of the Boston massacre. The Boston Massacre was a conflict that happened on March 5th 1770. It happened near the courthouse in front of the church on a street called King Street. British soldiers had shot at a group of colonists killing 5 of them. Some think it was the British to blame for this tragedy but others think it was the colonists fault for this event.
The French and Indian War impacted the trans-Atlantic economic relationship between the motherland and her colonies. Before the war colonists were rushing to buy new British manufactured goods resulting from the early stages of the industrial revolution. To pay for these manufactured goods, colonists increased their export of raw materials for sale to Britain. Although the exports were able to pay for a significant portion of cost of British imports, a significant shortfall was covered by British loans. This economic relationship saturated much of pre-French and Indian War colonial America and became normal. After 1763, Britain was in dreadful need for revenue to pay for the French and Indian War. Britain was clever on finding ways to raise revenue from the colonies. From 1650 to the end of the French and Indian War was a period of "salutary neglect." Britain had very little involvement in the lifestyle of the colonies. After the French and Indian War, mercantilism became strictly enforced. Merc...
The Stamp Act was an act that was passed by the British Parliament that was to go into effect on November 1st, 1765. This act was created to help pay the costs to govern and protect the American colonies. The Stamp Act required stamps to be placed on all legal and commercial documents and various articles. Many colonists did not want the act to be implemented. For that reason, Samuel Adams put together the Sons of Liberty to help abolish this law. Then the Stamp Act Congress was composed to completely repeal the act. The Stamp Act was one of the many taxes that the British Parliament put on the colonies as a source of wealth. This act made it necessary for colonists to put stamps on almost all written documents and other various articles.
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...
On March 5, 1770, an event occurred in Boston, which consisted of British troops shooting upon colonists. People refer to this as a massacre, but they only look at one side of the story. The Boston Massacre in 1770 was not really a massacre, but a mutual riot (Boston Massacre History Society). British soldiers went to America to keep the people of Boston in order. However, the soldier's presence there was not welcomed by the Bostonians and this made things worse (Boston Massacre History Society). The British had to fire their guns because the Bostonians were antagonizing the soldiers, which caused five people to die. The Bostonians made the soldiers feel threatened so in turn they acted in self-defense. The British soldiers and their Captain had to go through a trial, to prove they were not to blame for what had occurred.
One night, on March 5, 1770, a street fight occurred between a group of American patriots and some British soldiers stationed in Boston. The Americans harassed the troops by yelling and shouting names at them and throwing snowballs and sticks. A crowd formed and in the noise and confusion, weapons were fired. In the end, ...
On March 5, 1770 the Boston Massacre, also known as the Incident on King Street by the British, heightened the tension in the already hostile colonies. The Boston
Today, in our lands, many people are struggling with laws that Parliament passed. These laws such as Stamp Act and Townshend Act taxed goods such as paper, lead, tea and other goods. Consequently, these laws angered many people, so many colonists are preparing to rebel and unite from England.