However, the British Government was in serious debt at the time of its extreme taxing of the colonists. National debt doubled from £75 million in 1754 to £133 million in 1763, as money to finance the war was borrowed heavily from British and Dutch bankers. (website about taxes) Because of this enormous debt, the British needed to make up for it by setting new taxes into affect. It is arguable that the debt was in part a burden of the colonists ' as the war ended to their advantage, and was undertaken upon their account. It is also debatable whether or not the colonies were obligated to help out their mother country in this way.
Independence can be expensive. While the American Revolutionary War very costly casualty-wise, it left a young, new nation with millions of dollars of domestic and foreign debt. This staggering debt, at the time, totaled 77.1 million dollars, 1.27 billion in today’s american dollar. Debt was divided throughout the colonies, since there was no umbrella organization, like the government, to pay off the tax as one tax rather than haphazardly dealing out twelve different recompenses. Alexander Hamilton feared this debt and drafted his plan of action to keep the debt at bay and to repay the tax in a simple way--or so it seemed.
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.
Most english believed that the colonist should pay higher taxes. This evidence shows the colonist were justified in going to war because of the
Along with all of the money that was spent to protect these colonies, there were still ten thousand troops maintained in the American colonies every year. The colonies had, and still were, reaping the benefits of being citizens of the British Empire while Great Britain was taking care of all of the costs. George Grenville, the Prime Minister of Parliament in 1763, did not appreciate the fact that England was paying the bill for the protection of the American colonists while they were gaining so much from the placement of troops there. In 1763, the time had come to “pay the piper,” and the most logical way to do this was to tax the
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.
Soon after the Seven Years’ War, the British and the colonists learned that victory came with a rather expensive price (Kennedy, Cohen, & Bailey, 2010). Great Britain tightened its grip on the colonies in North America, expecting colonists to pay for their financial struggles. In order to make colonists pay for the war, Great Britain reminded the North American colonies who had authority by controlling the colonists to submit to various ordinances ratified by British Parliament. This action only showed that arrogance leads to rebellion socially, economically, and politically. Socially, a lack of communication between Great Britain and the North American colonies was to blame for the Revolutionary War.
Georgina Casillas 10/19/17 Block 6 Were American colonists justified in fighting a war to break away from Britain? With a great sense of nationalism and pride in the year of 1763 colonists were celebrating the victory from the French and Indian war. This war left the British government in debt. The British tried to pay off the debt
as a result, without that debt, the colonists wouldn’t have had their saying “no taxation without representation.” Without that, the thought of breaking away from England most likely would not have started spreading through the colonies. Then, after the colonists got rid of the act through
(Beauchemin 10). Colonial taxpayers were not only paying for their own soldiers, but they were also paying for English soldiers as well. The war was between England and France, but was fought in the colonies. If it had not been for the English, the colonies would not have even been involved in this conflict to begin with. The colonies only needed protection by England due to the country itself; many of the English enemies would often go after American harbors and ships so they could gain the upper hand against England.
In the first sentence of the article, “Objections to the Taxation of our American Colonies by the Legislature of Great Britain Briefly Considered,” Jenyns says the right to tax the colonies is “indisputably clear” and later says “The liberty on an Englishman cannot mean that is, an exemption of from taxes imposed by the authority of the Parliament of Great Britain. Likewise, his counterpart Johnson in “Taxation no Tyranny” says “A tax is a payment, exacted by authority, from part of the community, for the benefit of a whole.” These articles are written from a very strong British stand point that clearly states the British Parliament felt as though it was their right to govern over the
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.”
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.”
Britain had built up a great debt and the colonies were a financial burden to run, to try and resolve their problems the British instituted various measures
At the commence of the War England had a National Debt of 72,000,000 Pounds in 1754. By 1763, England had a National Debt of 135,000,000 Pounds, which equivalent to $10,000,000 today. With this economic collapse, England had to find newer ways of paying this money and a way of paying this off was by making tax and putting them on the Colonies. Mercantilism was employed to give/buy from England the manufactured goods and other items that will keep its economy stable. The British Council in 1763 Complained saying, “ We find that the revenue arising therefrom is very small and inconsiderable, ….
