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Impact of the American Revolution
What was the effect of the American Revolution
What was the effect of the American Revolution
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Beginning in 1764 Great Britain started establishing acts on colonies, which would raise the British revenue, ban the colonies from issuing their own paper money or require them to house British troops in their homes. Consequently, it was not long before the colonists started the revolution; the injustices of their mother country finally led them to declare independence and wage war against Great Britain. In my view it is apparent that the colonists were in every right and aspect justified to break away from Britain; moreover, it was just about the time that they stood up and took control over their own fate and life.
Significantly, there was a myriad of differences between American colonies and their mother country. The original American
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settlers came to the new world for variety of reasons; however, still they were thinking of themselves as British subjects. Yet as the time passed by, the cultural, economic and political gap between people of the British Isles and separated from them by three thousand miles people of North America started dramatically deepening. Isolated from the goods that Great Britain was offering to their citizens, colonists were living in a highly primitive environment, where obtaining the most prosaic neccesities was an impossibility. Furthermore, the role of a government has evolved; paradoxically, it played much smaller role in the colonies than in Britain itself. The end of the Seven Years War brought a burden of heavy debts on British Government leading to enforcing laws and levying taxes on the colonies, which ultimately would help in increasing revenue for the British.
As Thomas Whately wrote in his pamphlet (Document 1), British Chancellor of the Exchequer under those circumstances was justified in levying taxes on the colonists. Apparently, the French and Indian War not only caused an increase of the taxes, but also limitation of western expansion by colonists Consequently, it prevented the colonies from settling west of the Appalachian Mountains, where it would be harder to control and tax them. For this reason the colonial resentment of British attempts to expand imperial authority in the colonies …show more content…
increased. By having taken many rights away from the colonists, some people say that King George III ignited a dynamite; began the prelude to revolution. Had the British Government not imposed so many restrictions, could it sustain peace rather than beginning a war. Being under pressure of the Proclamation of 1763 and set of acts, 27 men from 9 colonies all across the East Coast of North America drew up a Declaration of Rights and Grievances (Document 2), in which they condemned some of the new taxes being imposed by Parliament. It is the most compelling evidence of the colonists’ endeavor to reach an agreement, not a dispute. American boycotts of British goods and numerous protests forced the Government of Great Britain to finally led to a repeal of the Stamp Act. Promising may it seem, the view of consensus was by far remote. Not until the British Parliament’s decision of the East India Company’s monopoly on the tax-free transport of tea for, had the colonists been at peace.
Yet soon after it meant that the colonial tea trades were discredited in competing with such an enormous rival, who, besides its treasure, is not obliged to pay taxes. For this reason insulted colonists wage a boycott of British goods and the as a form of a protest the Sons of Liberty dumped 342 chests of tea from Indian company into the harbor; good amounting to $1,000,000 dollars today. Having heard of this, the British Prime Minister Lord North said, "Whatever may be the consequence, we must risk something; if we do not, all is over". The British Parliament responded by a closure of Boston’s harbor and an imposition of Coercive Acts in hope that the acts would cut Boston and the state of New England off from the rest of Americans, which would prevent the British from unified resistance against them. However, the act was viewed as a violation of both; constitution and human or natural rights, leading to a mobilization of the
colonies. Boston Tea Party was barely the first act of colonial resistance towards British empire. Coupled with Battle of Lexington and Concord and Battle of Bunker Hill, the colonists were persistant in their tenacity of purpose (Document 5). Having issued Common Sense, Thomas Paine helped in convicing many feered Americans that the only way to end the conflict with England is to break away from them and create a democratic republic (Document 6). Why should tiny England rule the vastness of a continent? How can colonists expect to gain foreign support while still professing loyalty to the British king? These questions led many pamphlet’s readers to one answer. If it had not been for Thomas Paine, the American Revolution would be in a deadly crisis. As the summer of 1776 drew near, a five-man committee including Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and Benjamin Franklin drafted a formal statement of the colonies’ intentions to explain and justify the rest of the world why colonies had chosen to separate themselves from Britain. On June 7, 1776, at Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Richard Henry Lee voiced a resolution with a long list of grievances and justifications telling that the United States should be completely free of English reign and that all political ties between the two countries should be dissolved.
The soldiers were trialed for murdered but were found innocent. Afterwards, a group of men formed named The Sons of Liberty. The Sons of Liberty lead protest in Boston. A key event leading to the revolution was the Boston Tea Party. The Boston Tea Party was a protest lead by the Sons of Liberty. The group of men dumped the imported tea and further eroded the relations with Britain. After the Boston Tea Party, the colonist refused to drink British tea. As stated in Tom Gage’s Proclamation, “Whereas the rebels hereabout, Are stubborn still, and still hold out; Refusing yet to drink their tea, In spite of Parliament and me” Furthermore, the British were becoming annoyed by the colonists actions. Therefore, the British passed the Intolerable Acts. The Intolerable Acts, as the name predicts, made the colonists furious. The British had passed the Intolerable Acts precisely to punish the Massachusetts colonist. The Acts consisted of the Massachusetts Bay closing, until tea was paid for, and a new Quartering Act, The new Quartering Act allowed British Troops to be stationed in private homes if necessary. Also, it gave power to the crown to elect all officials in
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...
The British colonies in America from the time they were established up until around 1763 had a policy of Salutary Neglect. Salutary Neglect meant that the British would not interfere with the colonies national or even international affairs. This benefitted the colonies, they got to experience some forms of democracy, and they also were able to experience independence in a way though they took it for granted. The British after the Seven Years War, which was fought on American soil, for the Americans protection, decided that the colonies should be required to pay for it in taxes. Britain was in debt, and their economy was in a recession, so the well off colonies tax money would have helped them considerably. The tax would only be the beginning to a long line of British policies further upsetting the colonial people.
Patrick Henry once said, “give me liberty or give me death!” During the revolutionary war. The American revolution had begun in Lexington on April 9, 1775. This was where the first battle of the American revolution occurred. Through all the battles and acts the British had placed on the colonists, they had suffered greatly and decided to break away from Britain. But, were the colonists valid in disuniting from Britain and conducting war? The American colonists were justified in waging war and splitting from Britain because the British were unjust to the colonists , they imposed unnecessary acts against the colonists and the British ignored all requests for change.
In conclusion due to over 150 years of neglect the new colonies had develop a culture and heritage quite unique to the Old world of thought. If Britain had not treated the colonist as cast off rubbish and had given them some guidance, during that 150 yrs., the colonies would not rebel. But after 1763 they insisted that they conform to the old British ways and that would eventually force the colonies into revolution.
On the eve of the American Revolution, colonists have signified and ensured their newly discovered identity by coming together to rid the American colonies of the British monarchical influence. Throught means of newly developed legislatures, both passive and aggressive protests, and formation of propaganda were the American colonists able to engrave their identity on the future of America forever.
In the first few months of 1773 the British East India Company found it was sitting on large stocks of tea that it could not sell in England. It was on the verge of bankruptcy, and many members of Parliament owned stock in this company. (USA, 1) The Tea Act in 1773 was an effort to save it. The Tea Act gave the company the right to export its merchandise without paying taxes. Thus, the company could undersell American merchants and monopolize the colonial tea trade. By October, the Sons of Liberty in New York, Philadelphia, and Boston threatened tea imports and pledged a tea boycott.
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.
After the French Indian War ended, the Britain was in debt, and they also wanted to have more control of the colonies, and the colonists. They passed different acts and procedures in order to collect money, and hold the control of the colonists, and the colonies. Yet the colonists were not given any representation, and they were losing their freedoms one by one; these caused a serious tension between Britain and the colonies, which eventually lead to the American revolution, followed by the Declaration of Independence. The colonies were justified for declaring independence from England, because the king of England caused “repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over the states”("The
The American Revolution, or otherwise known as the American War of Independence, was taken place between the years of 1775-1783. The war was fought between Great Britain and the 13 British North American colonies. The American Revolution caused a series of traumatic events. The American colonists were justified in waging war because the British seized the rights of the colonists, the American colonists did not have a say in Parliament, the Boston Massacre, and incoherent decisions involving taxes by the British King.
By the time the colonists had settled into their new land they had established some order such as small governments to keep the colonies in line. The ocean separating England and the colonies made it difficult though for England to guide the colonists successfully the way they had wanted. The main thing the British tried was implementing taxes, but they also went so far as letting the colonies on their own for awhile and using military to keep them in place. On the other hand, the colonists saw that the British were stalling their attempts at self-governing so they worked together to disregard any British policies. By the eve of the Revolution, colonists had developed a sense of their identity and unity as Americans that was brought about by the British parliament. Exasperated by British efforts to hinder their growing self-reliance, colonists began pushing them away by doing various things such as rioting, boycotting, or voicing their opinions on paper.
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...
The American Revolution was sparked by a myriad of causes. These causes in themselves could not have sparked such a massive rebellion in the nation, but as the problems of the colonies cumulated, their collective impact spilt over and the American Revolution ensued. Many say that this war could have been easily avoided and was poorly handled by both sides, British and American; but as one will see, the frame of thought of the colonists was poorly suited to accept British measures which sought to “overstep” it’s power in the Americas. Because of this mindset, colonists developed a deep resentment of British rule and policies; and as events culminated, there was no means to avoid revolution and no way to turn back.
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.”
The main reason for the severance of the colonies from Britain was the lack of equality in parliament and the disregard for colonial needs. Whether it be forcing someone to pay for a war they did not fight or want, limiting one’s need for land, or piling on the taxes, all of these factors played a part in the dissolving of British-colonial ties. The colonists were only human and had the human reaction of defiance to injustice. If the colonists had not of had the audacity that they did, today’s America would be a very different place. Breaking away from Britain was the greatest thing the colonists could have possible done.