The British Parliament made the colonists angry by implementing a multitude of different taxes to help carry the financial burden that was going on in Britain and in the Colonies; in some aspects the British used the money to help the colonies, but Parliament often took the taxes too far. The first major act that that will be looked at is the Sugar Act of 1764. The reason that this first tax (act) was implemented was to regulate the smuggling of sugar and molasses into the colonies from the French and the West Indies, or any other non-British Caribbean sources, hence the name “Sugar” act. The act itself was a revamped version of the 1733 Molasses act. Basically, the act was set up to create a monopoly for the British plantations in the West
After the French and Indian War, Great Britain went into serious debt. Great Britain’s debt caused them to tighten their control over colonial America. One way that Great Britain tightened their control over the colonies was by enacting many taxes. The colonists met these acts with much resistance, and protests. This went to show that the main cause of the revolution was tighter British control for the colonists.
Everything from legal documents to playing cards were taxed, so that the British could pay for the French and Indian War. The British declared the tax fair because the American colonists were profiting from the protection of the British troops. Many colonists saw the tax as unfair, which is when the term “taxation without representation” came into light. The colonists had no say over the legislation’s passage since they had no representation in the British Parliament. Eight years later, in 1773, another tax was passed by the parliament known as the Tea Act.
There was lots of change going on in England around the time of the French and Indian War. Before the war, all the English people and colonists got along fine without any big problems. After the war, however, England was in debt and needed to find a way to pay it off. They immediately decided to start taxing the colonists to make more money. This is what upset the colonists, as it appeared to be taxation without representation.
Taxes! After the French and Indian War, the British government needed money to pay for the cost of protecting the colonists from the French and Indians. The British government approved several taxes including the Stamp and Tea Acts to help pay for the costs of the war. The colonists were expected to pay these taxes.
The reason why the American colonies would not pay the taxes, tariffs and other payments to the British Empire was because they felt they should not pay to any country where they have no representation. The British parliament would then remove virtually all taxes initially imposed on the American colonies leaving only the tax on the tea imports, which was done to show that despite the fact that the British would allow Americans not to pay all taxes, they still had the ability to impose them and to assure that everyone pays them. I have to add here that in the summer of 1773, the British would create a rather smart money-generating plan. The British East India Company was given the exclusive right to trade tea to America thus becoming the monopoly and the controller of this commodity to the colonies (Hakim, 140). Yet in order not to make Americans angry, the British would somewhat reduce the duty Americans were paying for the tea to assure that it would be unprofitable for the Americans to start their own tea trading business because the tea was as cheap as never before (Wiegand, 93).
However, a new law was put into place by Parliament that put taxes on all imports to the colonies. All of the acts, which included the Sugar Act, Stamp Act, Quartering Act, Declaratory Act, Townshend Acts, Tea Act and Intolerable Acts, caused the colonists stress and built up their anger and resentment toward the British government (Cayton 113). As the tension built, the colonists chanted “No taxation without representation,” which meant that the colonies should not be taxed because they did not have anyone in Parliament speaking for them. The colonists did this because they felt it was discriminative to put taxes on them without representation for them in Parliament. One of the taxes, called the Stamp Act, affected all the colonists.
The British’s debt forced them into a position to impose large taxes on the colonists but much to the colonists discontent. Beginning with the Stamp and Sugar acts which were taxes put on by the British government. The stamp act taxed any paper product; for example, letters, certificates, or any printed material were colonists were required to pay a tax on, which hurt business owners. The sugar act was a tax put on any sugar that was sent to the colonies. These taxes greatly angered the colonists and their frustrations derived from the idea of “no taxation without representation.”
The Revolutionary war was not revolutionary because it did not protect some of people’s rights, made lives harder, and left Americans in despair. The Declaration of Independence clearly stated that all men are created equal and unalienable rights (Document 2). This, however, is not shown through the social classes. The Revolutionary War was fought to bring freedom, but that undoubtedly does not show. First and foremost, Abigail Adams wrote “Remember the ladies, and be more generous and favourable to them than your ancestors.
Kylie Lambert Professor Menke October 11, 2017 First Essay The Colonist during the 1600’s, up until the 1800’s, did not agree with the British government controlling them. Great Britain had an impact on the colonies and their development by setting multiple laws, applying taxes, and forcing religion on the Colonists.
The French and Indian War left England with a debt of £130,000,000. To help pay off the debt Britain set up taxes, to collect money, on frequently used products by the colonists. The Molasses Act put a six pence tax on every gallon of molasses. The colonists thought this was a lot of money to pay so they did everything to avoid it. This act was not really enforced and the colonists did not really obey this act.
DBQ Essay The American Revolution was a rebellion from citizens in Britain that was inspired from many events, including the creation of the United States of America. A revolution is a forcible overthrow of a government to acquire a new system. The American Revolution was sparked from a variety of occurrences ranging from speeches to letters to documents, therefore causing the revolution to become the most significant yet. There were many influential people/concepts that added ignition to the revolution, including Abigail Adams, Leon F. Litwack, and the article from Northwest Ordinance.
It all started in 1756, the the beginning of the Seven Years War. For seven years Britain and France fought each other. By the time that England won in 1763, it was bankrupt. Because of Britain’s bankrupt-ness they enacted taxes and acts on the American colonies without their representation. Among the the taxes were the Sugar tax, which taxed sugar and molasses, the Stamp act, which taxed paper documents, and the the Tea act, which taxed tea.
Then when the Stamp Act was overthrown, the tea tax was put in place by the British, for no beneficial financial reason, just because they could. The colonists needed to revolt and break away, but the British refused to understand that, which is what caused them to go to war. During the war, the British were still taking advantage of the fact that they had control over the colonists. One of the ways they would show this is by quartering the colonists homes. British soldiers would come into a town and need a place to stay.
The American Revolution (1700-1790) was a historical event in time, where the Thirteen Colonies that became the United States of America, gained independence from the British Empire. Many historians would agree that the Revolution was caused by events and the growing differences between the colonists and England. The cause of the American Revolution could be summarized in the saying ‘liberty vs. tyranny’. The American Revolution was a struggle by liberty-loving Americans to free themselves from a dictatorial British rule. In this period, the Colonies protested against the British Empire and entered into the American Revolutionary War, also known as the American War of Independence.