Imperial Crisis 1763 Analysis

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. This required the reinforcement of the Navigation Acts, as well

However, in 1773, the East India Company noticed that there was an overproduction of tea and its prices surely would decline (“The Third Imperial Crisis”). Tea was one of the, if not the, most valuable asset to many members in Parliament. Britain was forced to impose a new Tea tax on the colonists, which was aimed to keep the price of tea high. Even this act was reasonable in the eyes of the British, but to the colonists, this was just a British way of assuring dominance considering it was now for profit rather than to pay off debts. The response to the Tea Acts was the Boston Tea Party of 1773 (“The Third Imperial Crisis”). The American Boston tea party was probably the most unreasonable and destructive action taken by either of the two parties during this period, yet somehow historians portray this act as a sign of courage and independence. However, no matter how unreasonable the Americans were, they got the response they wanted from the British. The British responded to the Boston Tea Party with the “Coercive Acts” or the “Intolerable Acts” as some put it (“The Third Imperial Crisis”). This is where British reasonability exited the picture. The Intolerable Acts were four different acts that served as punishment rather than advancement of the British economy. The Boston Port Act closed down the Boston Port until the colonists paid for all the tea they had dumped into the sea. The Massachusetts Government Act permanently dismissed the Massachusetts Assembly of any power. The Justice Act allowed any British soldier who kills a rioter a trial in England. Finally, the Quartering Act allowed the British army to seize any property in the colonies that was in possession of a suspected rebel. Additionally, outside the Intolerable Acts, the British passed the Quebec Act, which extended the boundaries of Quebec south to the