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The political relationship between Britain and its American Colonies
The political relationship between Britain and its American Colonies
The political relationship between Britain and its American Colonies
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For over their first 150 years of existence, the English colonists were largely allowed to govern themselves, separate from the king’s or parliament’s authority. All of this changed at the end of the French and Indian War. Struggling from the immense amount of debt accrued from defending the colonies and fighting the French, the new king, George III, deposed the old prime minister in favor of one that would be willing to place a tighter grip on the colonies. These attempts to consolidate control of the colonies with parliament would prove disastrous, with many of the events like the Stamp Act, the Boston Massacre, and the Boston Tea Party being remembered today. These events and others after the war directly led to the improbable union of the thirteen colonies in war against the tyranny of the greatest empire of the world.
After the English was no longer at war at France, they stopped supplying the money that they had been sending to the colonies during the war because of the
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war debt. This put the colonies into a depression which was worsened by the English attempts to stop the colonies from printing paper currency. This and parliament’s declaration preventing the expansion into the land west of the Appalachian mountains prevented small farmers and plantation owners alike from easing their debt in ways they had been able to earlier. Damron 2 What really upset the colonists were the laws that parliament passed to try to tax them. The most egregious of these acts was the Stamp Act, which required the colonists to put a stamp on every written document that was created. This greatly upset merchants and those who made pamphlets from their printing presses because of the increased cost and because they felt that they were being taxed without their consent. After largely governing themselves for so many years, the colonists believed that if parliament were to pass laws on the colonies, they should have an elected member of parliament to represent their views for them. Some colonists felt so strongly about this that they began to refuse to buy stamps and boycotted the various goods that were now being taxed by the English crown. It was during this time that the popular phrase “no taxation without representation” originated as a cry of outrage. While they tried to find different ways to tax the colonists, the English passed other laws that would greatly anger them. After defeating them in the French and Indian War, the English had taken control of all French lands in Canada and all territory east of the Mississippi River. The French threat may have been removed, but the numerous tribes that fought on their side were still dangerously close to English settlements. Concerned for the integrity of the colonies, Parliament passed what the colonists called the Intolerable Acts, which forced the settlers to provide lodging for English troops and to also provide food and supplies for the army. Parliament also sent additional troops from the isles to provide permanent garrisons in important cities like Boston and New York. This caused much resentment and even rioting in some cities, with Boston showing the most resistance. The tensions became so high there that multiple unarmed men were shot and killed by a group of English soldiers trying to keep order. The event would become known to history as the Boston Massacre. Damron 3 With events like these happening in Boston and the economic disaster of the various acts that Greenville and his parliament had created, the Stamp Act was repealed in favor of a new act that, parliament believed was a fair and very generous offer.
The East India trading company was in debt and asked parliament for assistance. Parliament made the Tea Act, which made imports of tea to the colonies from the trading company much cheaper than those from local sources. This angered the colonists because they could no longer compete with these prices and they feared that if they acquiesced to this new act, that others like it would soon follow. Groups like the Sons of Liberty and the Daughters of Liberty then organized protests and the boycotting of English goods, not just tea. The sons of liberty even boarded one of the trade ships in Boston harbor dressed as Indians and proceeded to dump all of the tea overboard in an event called the Boston Tea Party. Colonists in other port cities copied
them. These events, and many others, led to the degradation of relations between the English crown and the colonists of the thirteen colonies. This was largely due to the fact that for over the first 150 years of their existence, the colonists were largely able to govern themselves with their own local assemblies and the government of each of the colonies under the royal governors. By the end of the French and Indian War, the colonists had the established belief that while the king and parliament were the ultimate authority over them, the locally elected assemblies should decide most of the major decisions for them. It was this belief that the power of the government should reside in the people that ultimately led to war and revolution.
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
When the colonies were being formed, many colonists came from England to escape the restrictions placed upon them by the crown. Britain had laws for regulating trade and collecting taxes, but they were generally not enforced. The colonists had gotten used to being able to govern themselves. However, Britain sooned changed it’s colonial policy because of the piling debt due to four wars the British got into with the French and the Spanish. The most notable of these, the French and Indian War (or the Seven Years’ War), had immediate effects on the relationship between the colonies and Great Britain, leading to the concept of no taxation without representation becoming the motivating force for the American revolutionary movement and a great symbol for democracy amongst the colonies, as Britain tried to tighten their hold on the colonies through various acts and measures.
In response to the Tea Act of 1773, the colonists had various reactions. The Tea Act was suggested by Lord North in order to save the East India Company from bankruptcy. This act also allowed the East India Company to bypass most of the taxes placed on tea, except for the Townshend Act tea tax. The Tea Act made the East India Company’s tea the cheapest, even with the tax. The colonists were
Through many means of protest such as the Boston Tea Party, boycotting British goods and products, and the formation of many protest groups such as the Sons and Daughters of Liberty that made it possible for the colonists to fight off the English influence. The Boston Tea Party in Boston was a major factor when it came to the independence of America because it showed that the colonists could work together and formulate a plan such as disguising themselves as Mohawk Indians to intimidate the enemy and successfully dispose of hundreds of barrels of tea into the Boston Harbor. Now with cause comes effect, the cause was that the English had lost a lot of money and profit once the tea was disposed of, but the major reaction of the English was to retaliate. England had sent an increase in troops to the colonies to oversee what was happening with the formulation of protests and the British government had also passed the Intolerable Act, which closed down the harbor to repair any damage caused by the actions of the Boston Tea Party, and made it so that more restrictions were put on the colonists for their actions. As a result of this act being put into place, the colonists had also retaliated by forming the First Continental Congress which was a meeting of the delegates of the thirteen colonies except Georgia because Georgia was a state that homed debtors and criminals. As stated in Document E, “A Declaration by the Representative of the United Colonies of North America, now met in Congress at Philadelphia, setting forth the causes and necessity of their taking up arms.” This has showed that the colonists would do anything and everything within their power to rid the colonies of the oppressive and selfies rule of the British empire forever even if it meant violence and death would be a result of their
Some say that the Revolution was destined to happen ever since Settlers set foot on this continent, others argue that it would not have happened if it weren't for a set of issues that finally drove the colonists to revolt. Ultimately, Britain lost control in 1765 when they gave in to the Stamp Act Congress’s boycotts against parliamentary taxation and gave them the idea that they had the power to run a country. To a lesser degree, Salutary Neglect led to the conception of a legacy of colonial religious and political ideals which set in motion an eminent conflict. During this period, England “forgot” about the colonies and gave them colonists a taste of independence and suspicions of individual political theories. Through Parliament's ruthless taxation without representation and a near opposite religious and political mindset, Britain and the colonists were heaved into a revolutionary war.
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.
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 American Colonies were beyond frustrated. They were tired of the British Parliament not responding to the American colonists’ boycott. The Sons of Liberty took three ships full of tea at the Boston Harbor and dumped 342 crates of...
The Boston Tea Party gave ideas to others and afterwards people boarded on the ships in Annapolis and New York to prevent any tea to land. Colonists all over the coast of North America continued to boycott any tea from the East India Company. Unfortunately their actions did lead to consequences from British Parliament. After Parliament closed the ports, all the colonists felt bad and started to support the Bostonians. The colonists called for a Continental Congress from the Committees of Correspondence. They wanted to set up a timetable for no consumption, exportation, or importation of British goods to protest.
“John Hancock organized a boycott of tea provided by the East India Company, which was subject to an import tax, and helped to enforce the boycott by smuggling tea in so that the colonists would not go without their favored beverage.” This is what resulted in the Tea Act. "The trade in tea with China that was the most viable in the 18th century. Tea accounted for more than 60% of the Company’s total trade in the late 1700's. Customs duty on tea was providing 10% of the British government's annual revenues.” The Tea Act being passed was not aimed to make the American colonists angry, but it made many mad. American colonists could buy no tea unless it came from the company. American colonists saw this law as yet another meaning of “taxation without representation” because it meant that they could not buy tea from anyone else without spending a lot more money. There was a bad reaction to the Tea Act.
A new era was dawning on the American colonies and its mother country Britain, an era of revolution. The American colonists were subjected to many cruel acts of the British Parliament in order to benefit England itself. These British policies were forcing the Americans to rebellious feelings as their rights were constantly being violated by the British Crown. The colonies wanted to have an independent government and economy so they could create their own laws and stipulations. The British imperial policies affected the colonies economic, political, and geographic situation which intensified colonists’ resistance to British rule and intensified commitment to their republican values.
The Boston tea party was a brief incident among many, composing, economic, and political crisis that ultimately caused a revolution. These events consisted of The French and Indian war, the Stamp Act, the Townshend Revenue Act, the Tea Act, and of course the Boston Tea Party. The incident caused by the colonies infuriated the British government therefore as punishment parliament responded to the abuse with the Coercive Acts of 1774 . When the thirteen colonies once again decided to resist the British troops revolution spread. “We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.” This act later on lead to the American Revolutionary War, were years later independence was
The connection between Britain and the English colonies was that of the ruling of the colonies by the king of Britain, King George III and his parliament. The king’s ruling was very unfavorable for the colonists because of his tyrannic dictatorship and unjustly taxations. The mere thought of an island ruling an entire continent thousands of miles away with poor communication and lack of supervision of the colonies by the king, did not work in favor of the colonies nor for Britain. Three contributing factors for the outbreak of the American Revolution were (1) the king’s taxes, (2) neglect of the 13 colonies and (3) England’s mercantilism policy. King George III and his decisions were one of the major causes that had the English colonists fumed with anger towards Britain and this eventually led to the American Revolution.
England tried to compensate for their debt by taxing the colonists in any way that they could. One way that the British attempted to raise money was through the Stamp and Townshend Acts. The Stamp Act taxed a great number of people and things. There was probably no one who did not have to pay out more than they would have liked because of this act. It taxed almost every single piece of paper. “Merchant owners were obliged to buy stamps for ships’ papers and legal documents. Tavern owners, often the political leaders of their neighborhoods, were required to buy stamps for their licenses. Printers-the most influential group in distributing information and ideas in colonial society-had to buy stamps for their newspapers and other publications” (Brinkley 131). Townshend introduced the Quartering Act, which allowed British troops to enter any colonists house and stay there. The colonists did not have the right to refuse the soldiers either. This greatly upset the residents of Bos...
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.