Summary: The First Imperial Revolution

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Tension began to rise, as George III became the king of Great Britain in 1760. At first, he was an appreciated king, but because of his political views and whom he appointed as his ministers he quickly lost his fame. His first appointed minister George Greenville would impose several taxes on the colonist that would cause them to cry taxation without representation. The king also imposed the Proclamation of 1763, which regulated colonist expansion to the newly won territories in the west. And finally, after the calming before the storm, the tension broke with the Last Imperial Crisis. King George III imposed the Proclamation of 1763 on the colonies. This proclamation set up a government in Canada, Florida, and other colonies that Great Britain …show more content…

The colonies were smuggling in cheaper tea, the tea company had warehouses packed full of tea waiting to be sold. His plan was to impose the Tea Act of 1773 which would repeal duties on English Tea and retained the Townshend Act, which required only certain imports to be purchased from Britain, such as tea. North felt this would provide the colonist with cheap tea, save the company, and they would be able to accept the taxation from Parliament. Colonists, however, saw this as a threat as this would create a monopoly on the tea market because this tea could only be carried by company ships and sold by few consigners. This caused the tension to grow and the colonists revolted by dumping over one million dollars worth of the tea into the Boston Harbor. This would cause shock to everyone and gave way to four Coercive Acts. One closed Boston ports until the tea was paid for; another allowed the army to quarter soldiers with the citizens. Military force was permitted for use against the civilians and Parliament passed the Quebec act, which established French Civil Law in Quebec. The colonist elected conventions to form a resistance. Massachusetts Governor Gage asked for 20,000 redcoats to help uphold the new government. In 1774 the First Continental Congress met and agreed that Britain must readdress their policies. The Second Continental Congress met the following year and formed the Continental