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The relationship between Britain and the American colonies
Summary of the seven years war
The relationship between Britain and the American colonies
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Due to the Great Britain having to become involved in the Seven Years’ War because the colonists could not win and were having troubles with it, Great Britain acquired a large amount of debt. Since this debt was acquired through, in their eyes, the colonists failure to defend themselves the British government decided that the colonists needed to be taxed in order to pay the debt back and since they were unable to fight for themselves they needed increased British troops, more taxes, and Britain needed to take control of the colonies so they did not cause any more damage. This was done through a series of acts and proclamations. There were many acts and proclamations that Great Britain implemented as a means to take more control over the thirteen …show more content…
colonies and to pay back the debt from the Seven Years’ War. One of these proclamations was the Proclamation of 1763. The proclamation of 1763 was issued by Parliament forbidding the colonists from expanding past the Appalachian Mountains as a means of preventing any further disputes between the colonists and the Native Americans because Great Britain could not allocate more funds to the British troops to fight in another war while still paying off the remaining debts from the Seven Years’ War.
This was also a result of Great Britain assuming they would need to step in and fight a war that the colonists instigated because the colonists failure to win the Seven Years’ War without assistance made the British troops opinion in their military abilities greatly decline. The colonists were angered by this proclamation because after a hundred years of salutary neglect they had formed their own governments and culture and way of doing things, and having the British government decide that they needed to be oversaw was a metaphorical slap in the face to them and offended them. The colonists also did not like that Great Britain was interfering in the colonies ability to expand westward. Another implementation by Great Britain as a way to take more control over the thirteen colonies and pay back debts was the Quartering Act which stated that colonists must house and feed British troops even in times of peace. This was implemented because Great Britain could not afford to build forts and buy food for the troops that were staying there long term while thy were still paying off the massive debts from the Seven Years’ War so this was a means to cut down on military costs. They …show more content…
needed to cut down on military costs since British troops were a constant presence in the colonies as a result of Great Britain’s view that the colonists could not take care of themselves after their poor performance in the Seven Years’ War that started the whole issue. The colonists were also enraged by this implementation because they felt Britain was overstepping their rule by keeping the military presence and forcing them to quarter the troops the colonists felt didn’t need to be there in the first place because, as the colonists saw it, they could protect themselves and the British troops did nothing in the Seven Years’ War. Both of these acts effectively strained the relationship between Great Britain and the thirteen colonies due to opposing viewpoints. These acts and proclamations were all done to colonists without them having any representation in parliament which led to the term “taxation without representation” and caused issues leading to the American Revolution.
Taxation without representation is still used today as the moto for Washington D.C. because Washington D.C. has no representation in Congress but its residents are still taxed by the government, much like the colonist were by the British. This has caused certain problems in Washington D.C., like how it caused problems between the colonists and British just to a much lesser extent. The difference in the situation with Washington D.C. is that the United States government was willing to compromise. In order for Washington D.C. to have a representative they would need to become a state and while congress cannot currently do that without conflicting with the principles of federalism, the national government allowed Washington D.C. to have a local government instead in turn for taxing them with no representation. This is a significant difference from what was happening between the colonies and Great Britain because Great Britain was unwilling to compromise. Great Britain took greater control over the colonies economically and politically through increased taxes, acts, and proclamations because of a gigantic influx in debt that needed to be paid as a result in Great Britain’s intervention in the Seven Years’ war because the colonists were failing to win. This
intervention led to a greater handling of the colonies by Great Britain because they felt the colonies were no longer fit to be trusted to handle their own affairs and saw fit to use an increase in taxes in the colonies because Britain saw them as the cause for the debt. This led to differing viewpoints between the colonists and British government causing anger and tension between the two.
From 1754-1763, Britain fought the French and Indian war. Although Britain had won the war, they still had a lot of war debts to pay off. Britain turned to the colonies to pay off their debts by taxing them. The taxes angered the colonists because they believed it violated their rights. Benjamin Franklin had initially proposed the Albany plan of Union to unite the colonies, however this law was rejected by all of the colonial governments. It wasn't until after all of the British laws and taxes that the colonies would unite and write the Declaration of Independence.
After the French and Indian War, Great Britain was in tremendous debt and had additional land to rule. By cause of their debt and their obligation to their new land, they began to put taxes on the colonists living in that land. The colonists were enraged because they were getting taxed without representation in British Parliament. Two acts that caused some of these reactions are the Stamp Act and the Townshend Acts. Overall, British actions after 1763 caused numerous reactions from the colonists, which led to the American Revolution.
When we hear about the Revolutionary War, one of the most popular phrases to be tied to it is “no taxation without representation,” and was coined from the fact that the colonies were being directly taxed without democratic representation. The fact that the American people did not have representation in Parliament while being taxed was virtually universally disapproved and was an extremely big factor in driving the American people to protect their democratic ideals through war in the years prior to the revolution.
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.
the Germans for the first time in the war. The Battle of Britain was a
After the French and Indian War ended in 1763, Great Britain had nearly gone bankrupt paying for the war. The British thought it was only logical to start new taxes against the colonists. After all, to the British, they had fought the war in the name of the colonies and in what they believed was in their best interest. Many different types of taxes came and went to help pay for the debt. Over time, the
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 French and Indian War, the British government decided to make the American colonies pay a large share of the war debt with new taxes that they issued. The English ...
In the 1770’s the American colonists were being taxed too much by the British and they started to want their independence. Britain was taxing the colonists to pay their debts from the French and Indian War. The colonists started to fight back by tarring and feathering some tax collectors. Britain sent troops to the colonies which caused more problems.
After the Great War for Empire, the British parliament began carrying out taxes on the colonists to help pay for the war. It was not long from the war that salutary neglect was brought on the colonies for an amount of time that gave the colonists a sense of independence and identity. A farmer had even wrote once: “Here individuals of all nations are melted into a new race of men, whose labours and posterity will one day cause great changes in the world” (Doc H). They recognized themselves as different than the British, so when parliament began passing bills to tax without representation there was an outcry of mistreatment. Edmund Burke, a man from parliament, sympathized with the colonists: “Govern America as you govern an English town which happens not to be represented in Parl...
The origin of England's dependence on the colonies began during the French and Indian war, in the 1750s-1760s. In this war, the British were quite inexperienced; their European style of fighting did not work against the guerilla-warfare fighting style of the French. The British wore bright red coats, marched in long lines, often lugging cannons around with them, while the French hid behind trees and picked them off one by one. General Braddock relied on his force of ill-disciplined American militiamen, who used behind-the-tree methods of fighting in order to fight the Indians. After many years of fighting, the British finally came out victorious. Although England emerged from this war as one of the biggest empires in the world, it also possessed the biggest debt. They had poured much money and resources into these colonies in order to keep them as their own, and it was time for the colonies to give something back to the British for protecting them from the Indians. They finally realized what a precious gift the colonies were, and how useful they would be. In this war, the British realized that the colonies were their pawns in a global game of chess. At any time, the British felt that they had the right to impose taxes on the colonies, in order to make up for money that was lost in the French and Indian War to defend them. They had the view that because they had done so much to help the colonies, that the colonies had to repay them.
Overall, the imperial policy of the British Empire urged the colonists into a state of total rebellion. The colonial economy, geography, and politics had all been subjected to unfair consequences. The acts that were passed served as a way for England to push the responsibility its debt and issues on the colonists. If the colonists’ grievances were appealed to, the colonists may have never rebelled against their mother country.
This land was Ohio, much of the Mississippi valley and Canada. This at first was pleasing to the colonists because they saw the opportunity to expand, many even began purchasing land. These plans were cut short with the Proclamation of 1763. The proclamation declared that there would be no expansion past the Appellation Mountains. This proclamation was an attempt to cease quarrels with the Native Americans and even obtain their cooperation. This angered the colonists because they felt that they were entitled to the new land that Britain had just procured. Also following the French and Indian War was the Quartering Act. In 1765 the British forced the colonists to house British Soldiers. The British felt that it would be wise to keep soldiers in the colonies, not only to protect its new land from threats, but to also keep an eye on the colonies. Quartering soldiers in the colonist’s houses would save the British Empire a substantial amount of money. The colonists would be asked to build barracks for the soldiers, however the cost would be too high so they refused to build. Another reason this angered the colonists was, they felt it unnecessary to have troops when they had a
The British were trying to control the Americans entirely, with their monopoly on trade, and also thought that the Americans would do everything they demanded them to do. The colonists soon figured out Great Britain's angle on the situation. That was, they didn't understand why they were forced to pay taxes to the British, when they had no say in Britain's actions.