In debate Darla Davis discusses the Taxes imposed on the American Colonists by Parliament. First not everyone in parliament believe that taxation of the colonies was right thing to do. According to Darla’s Article, Will Pitt and Edmund Burke, were two members of the parliament that under stood why the colonist were opposing the tax. Colonist were opposing men felt that the opposition from the colonists concerning the taxes existed, because the colonist had been practically ignored by England since having been established. Pritt and Burke obviously considered the colonists’ opposition to taxation by the parliament to be a form of rebellion for having been ignored for hundreds of years. The American colonies had been allowed to govern themselves with interference. Why should they have to be dictated to them now? Why should they have to make payments to a parliament that had nothing to do with them for hundreds years. “England could not afford to be left out of any acquisitions. The French, the Dutch, and the Spanish had already claimed territories there, and England could not allow herself to be left behind any of these countries.” (http://www.earlyamerica.com) The King and Queen of England were so “out of sight and out of mind” current members of Parliament ever set foot on American soil. …show more content…
(Roark, Johnson, Cohen, Stage, & Hartmann) These troops were kept up in America even after the French had surrendered their possessions in Canada to Great Britain. Their proceeded with vicinity was to shield the settlers from Indian intrusions and also French striking back along the outskirts. On the whole, the English Crown caused $2 million under water while battling against the French and securing the
Settling in the New World provided both the American settlers and the British government with many opportunities. For the colonists, North America provided an opportunity to improve their lives and escape religious persecution. For the British, settlers in North America provided access to raw materials and new markets in which to sell finished goods. This mercantilist relationship continued for several years, until the colonists began to question Parliament’s right to treat them differently than other British citizens. Taxes were imposed on the colonists as a means of helping to pay the debt Britain had incurred fighting the French.
This was alarming to the colonist because they familiar with the “no taxation without representation”. This Act resulted in a strong unified violent response from the colonists. The colonist issue was not with the tax itself, it was the fact that parliament was trying to tax them with no elected representatives in Parliament.
All British citizens are granted that their basic right but when they do not have it fulfilled but the citizens in Britain do, it is not fair to the colonists living in America. “Colonists…look upon this unconstitutional method of Taxation as a direful attack upon their Liberties & loudly exclaim against the violation” (5). The majority of the colonists think that the colonists taking away their basic right is a direct attack against them that it’s not fair. They will protest, make agreements, and create peer pressure so that communities would boycott against the taxes together to protest the unjustness in the
The American Revolution was the start of the America’s history and one of the biggest turning points in that era. All the colonists remembered the daring fight against Britain for land and liberty. Yet, 29 years later another war broke out between Britain and America. The same arguments were in place as before, America was pushing for land and defending their liberties. In these ways the War of 1812 can easily be viewed as the second American Revolution.
At the conclusion of the French and Indian wars the British government was in debt for having to finance such an expensive war, and felt that since the war took place in the colonies and for their defense the colonists should pay the debit in the form of taxes. This is a perfectly reasonable argument on their part however what parliament failed to do was give the colony a say in the matter, and did not take into account that the restrictions, and taxes sugar, molasses, and paper aka the Townsend acts they implemented would make making a profit in the colonels virtually impossible, and violated the colonist’s Natural rights. Some of the great thinkers of the time believed that the government had a moral obligation to treat its citizens fairly,
John Dickinson, a Pennsylvanian political leader, stated that “[The Townsend Acts claim the authority] to impose duties on these colonies, not for the regulation of trade… but for the single purpose of levying money upon us” (Dickinson, Document 2). Up until this point, Dickinson believed that the taxes the British put on the colonists were reasonable because they were put in place to regulate trade. However, now taxes are being put on the colonists just for the sake of acquiring money from them. In doing this, the British government display their tyrannical nature, choosing to tax the colonists just because they can. Additionally, the colonists have no say in the passing of the Townshend Act, or any other act for that matter, because they had no representation at Parliament.
At the dawn of the 1770s, American colonial resentment of the British Parliament in London had been steadily increasing for some time. Retaliating in 1766, Parliament issued the Declaratory Act which repealed most taxes except issued a reinforcement of Parliament’s supremacy. In a fascinating exchange, we see that the Parliament identifies and responds to the colonists main claim; Parliament had no right to directly tax colonists who had no representation in Parliament itself. By asserting Parliamentary supremacy while simultaneously repealing the Stamp Act and scaling back the Sugar Act, Parliament essentially established the hill it would die on, that being its legitimacy. With the stage set for colonial conflict in the 1770s, all but one
The colonists had no one to tell Britain that the acts and taxes and what they were doing was unfair. In Document 5 it says, “What is to defend [the colonists] against so enormous, so unlimited power?” Meaning that the colonists had no one to speak out for them. Britain didn 't make the acts/taxes to pay off the debt from the war; Britain did it to show the colonists “whose boss. ” The British knew how much power they had and what they were able to do with it.
Many of the reasons the American colonies believed they were justified in their rebellion from England lay in trade and taxes. When George III inherited the throne at the end of the Seven Years’ War England’s debt had risen to 145 million pounds and his chief minister believed that the American colonies needed to help shoulder the debt. (Nash, et al., 2007. , p. 134) In attempting to collect these taxes from the colonies to relieve the mounting debt Parliament passed a range of acts, which led to discontent among the colonists as many of them restricted trade, their political maneuverability and left many believing they infringed upon their “right to be taxed only by their own consent.”
Between 1763 and 1775, there were three ‘Imperial Crises’ which occurred between the British and the American colonists. The conflict that was produced during this period arose through an undefined balance of political and economic power between the two parties. In 1763, Britain had just concluded the French and Indian war and was left with an immense and almost crippling debt of around 140 million pounds sterling (“Turning Point In American History”). In Britain’s eyes, the most effective way to reduce this debt was increased taxes. Unfortunately, the people of England were already massively overtaxed, which meant the last option for the British was to tax the American colonists.
The colonists wanted representation when it came down to being taxed, but the British government would not allow it. The government wanted full control over the people, so they made sets of acts and laws that were placed on taxation. For example, the Stamp Acts of 1765. These acts taxed all papers, pamphlets, newspapers, and cards. The Townshend Acts of 1767 were also a large part of taxation.
During the Colonial Era (1492-1763), colonists were justified in waging war against Great Britain; due to the inequitable Stamp Act, the insufferable British oppression, and the perceived tyranny of King George III, the king of Great Britain, however, the colonists were unjustified in some of their actions. In Colonial America, colonists were justified in waging war against Great Britain, because the Stamp Act was unfair and viewed as punishment. Because of the war, Britain had no other choice but to tax the colonists to pay for the debt. For example, according to document 2, the author states that the act was not only for trade but for “the single purpose of levying money.”
The French-Indian War of 1754-1763 resulted in political, ideological, and economic alterations within Britain and its American colonies. The French and Indian War, also referred to as The Seven Years War, began with British and French conflicts across the Ohio River Valley, as both nations wanted to claim the land for themselves. The first blood of the French-Indian War began with multiple British failures, including Washington’s dreadful defeat at Fort Necessity and General Braddock’s failed attempt at conquering Fort Duquesne, in which he died along with two-thirds of his army (Document C). The British would, however, gain momentum in 1759 with multiple victories, including their most significant triumph, Quebec.
As a result, Britain decided to tax their colonists
The French and Indian War was important to the American Revolution because the debt from the war was the reason that Parliament started taxing the colonists. Also, the French and Indian War made Britain very weak, making the colonists’ actions work a whole lot better. Since France was not happy with the outcome of their war with Britain this was a main reasons for France’s interest in helping the now Americans throughout the Revolutionary War, which was very important to the colonies’ victory. The reason why Britain started to tax the colonists was because of the debt resulting from the French and Indian War. The first tax was the the tax on sugar, which was put on the colonists to help pay off the war debt.