A Colonial family’s Reaction to the Stamp Act. “Ma? What is happening in the town with all those men? I heard something about the French and Indian war. Are we okay ma?”
It was Britain’s method of increasing their wealth through commerce, and they used it to their advantage during the Seven Years War as they were going broke through taxations on the British colonies. 2. Why did many colonists feel that their rights had been violated by British taxes? What measures did they take to protest this?
Few in Britain expected the colonists to have protection and not pay for it themselves.” This quote reveals that the British Government did not appear to have any other way of paying their debts, but perhaps they could have continued to tax the homeland instead of taxing the American
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.
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 Retaliating in 1766, Parliament issued the Declaratory Act which repealed most taxes except issued a reinforcement of Parliament’s supremacy.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
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.
To remedy this situation, Great Britain determined that the American Colonies should be taxed as an instrument in dissolving the country’s debt. The American colonists, especially in the North, took great exception with this decision. This arbitrary, and ultimately Draconian, course of action would result in punitive
“The history of present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations [unlawful seizures], all having in direct object the establishments of an absolute Tyranny over these States. ”(Document E). The British taxed just about anything they could; like tea, paper, legal documents, and stamps “Committees are appointed into the characters and conduct of every tradesman, to prevent them selling tea or buying British manufactures. ”(Document I) The British were taxing the American colonists to pay what Britain lost in the French and Indian war.
This was a war where the fight was with the New World and France. The British King tried to imposes taxes on the thirteen colonies to help pay for the cost. Thomas Paine talked about these types of “burdensome taxations” in Common Sense as well as in his other writing titled Rights of Man. He talked about these issues because he knew the colonists were angry. Writing about the injustice would appeal to them (Hacht, 178).
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.
(1) This evidence shows that the tax was unevenly distributed amongst the French population, especially the Third Estate that was impoverished. This caused a financial unrest between the king and the tax paying Third Estate. On the other hand, in the American revolution, all of the thirteen colonies had to pay tax to the British. They found this unfair, because they had no representation in the British parliament, and they said: “taxation without representation is tyranny” (2). This makes it clear that the Americans had no rights or say in the British government.
I asked. “Do you recall how Britain won the French and Indian war in 1763?” he paused, and I nodded an affirmative before he continued. “As a consequence of the victory, Britain racked up some pretty substantial war debts and to pay them off, they are going to raise money by taxing the colonists.” “So they are basically taxing the colonists for their financial problems.”
Allison and I, sent back to our rooms, made doll clothing and played with cards, but our ears remained strained to catch any conversation between our families. “Look at it this way, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, the French and Indian War resulted in a high debt but also a British victory. In order to pay for the debt, we have to pay a tax because we benefited from the British victory. The British paid with their lives for this, but we have paid nothing. We are also under King George III’s protection, so the British have the right to tax us,” Allison’s father stated
In 1765 March 22, The Stamp Act began. It was when American colonists were taxed on any kind of paper product. Such as ship’s paper, legal documents, licenses, newspapers, other publications, and even playing cards were taxed. All of the money that was taxed was used to pay the costs of defending and protecting the American frontier near the Appalachians Mountains. Although this act was unpopular among the colonists.
"Mom!" I screamed, running through the house, “Mommy, quick come outside!” I couldn’t believe the news I had heard in town. The town was chaos, everyone was screaming, and the echoes could be heard all around. I heard people saying things such as, “It’s all the King’s fault!”