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What Role Did Virtual Representation Play In The Revolutionary War

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Many scholars believe that the French and Indian War was the turning point that led to a downhill spiral of the relationship between the American Colonies and Great Britain. After this war, the British were more strict on the colonies in many ways. Due to the firmness and unfair laws, many colonists grew upset and demanded that they have the rights of Englishmen. The British believed in a different form of representation, known as virtual representation, which was when someone from England represented the colonies in Parliament. But, the colonists believed in actual representation, which was when someone from the colonies would represent them in Parliament. The colonists insisted that what the British were doing was taxation without representation. I believe that these very different views on actual and virtual representation, played a crucial role in the commencement of the Revolutionary War, giving birth to America as a democracy. Most colonists came from Great Britain but there were also large amounts that came from all over Europe, which then led to a wide variety of hostility toward one another. Many of the governments that they were …show more content…

Although each colony had many different ideas, they were brought together by the idea of actual representation, saying that England needed to give them the rights of regular Englishmen. The British government said they had the rights because they favored virtual representation. After realizing they had no voice in England, the colonists eventually decided to declare independence and start a democracy. I am in favor of actual representation because it allows for active representation rather than passive. By this I mean that the one who is representing a specific area or party gets to actually experience what is going on, rather than just being reported back to by other

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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.

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The French and Indian War altered the relations of the American Colonies and Britain through political, economic, and geographical issues. At the start of the French and Indian War the French owned a big majority of land but the during the war the French lost their land to the English. The Treaty of Paris in 1763 gave the English, the French land of North America (Doc A).

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The American colonies established their resistance to the British royal crown, as the ministers of King George III began to impose new taxes trying to reduce debt that incurred during the French and Indian War, aka the Seven Years War (1754-1763). The American

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British policies established in 1763-1776 greatly affected the colonists and pushed them towards developing their own republican values. All of the acts and taxes the British issued and how overly controlling the British were over the colonists was the starting point, also the increasing rebellions encouraged the colonists to break away from Britain’s rule, and finally the wars that resulted and seizing authority from the British was the final turning point for the colonists in eliminating Britain’s heavy-handed ruling over the colonists. The acts, and taxes that came with most of the acts, that the English imposed on the colonists was a substantial reason the colonists opposed British rule. After the French and Indian war the British found

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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

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The colonists refused to submit to a king that was only interested in their money, causing the colonists to become irate with the British once more. Since Great Britain thought that it was superior to the colonies, Great Britain did not give colonists the opportunity to speak up for what they wanted, which lead the colonists to rebel. The arrogance of Great Britain led to the rebellion of the colonists, which sparked the Revolutionary War through social, economic, and political actions. Furthermore, Great Britain caused a tremendous amount of irritation to develop inside of the colonists. The Revolutionary War showed that it is a necessity for Americans to have their opinions voiced.

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During the first years of the English settlements of North America the people who immigrated from England they formed colonies that with the support of the British government. The colonist didn 't pay a lot of taxes on their trading benefits to the government. Through the years, the King and the parliament started raising taxes on almost everything that the colonist was producing in the colonies. The colonists weren 't happy with the new taxation that the king was charging to the colonies, and it led the colonist to protest at British empire. There are several reasons why the colonists revolted against the British government.

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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.”

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The relationship between Britain and its American colonies was civil at first but began to strain in the mid-1700’s. In the beginning, Britain ruled colonies with little involvement because they were busy dealing with the French and Indian War among other things. As a result of this, the colonies were typically left in charge of themselves with little interference from British authorities. After years of being left alone, the colonists had developed a feeling of freedom and independence. When the war ended there was a significant change in the relations between England and the colonies.

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The people of America (colonists) were tired of being controlled by England. They wanted to be free and independent. They believed that they were able to control themselves and be their own country. They wanted England to let go of their control and to view them as independent and their own country.

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The British government was not looking for the best of the people. They were only thinking about what they wanted; the government was not interested in what the people wanted so they decided to make decisions on their own, which resulted in changes that form the United States today. Because of this, they were justified in rebelling and declaring independence. One reason why the colonists decided to rebel and declare independence was because of taxation.

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The British would use this to have more power and tax the Colonies. An example of this is the Stamp Act which was the tax on paper products. The Sugar Act which was a tax on molasses because too many people were to smuggle it. These are all examples of Virtual Representation because they came from the King. Taxation without Representation is a Tyranny which is why many of Colonist’s would revolt against the King.

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They all wanted freedom, equal rights, and respect. When the British began to tax the colonist, they became extremely upset and enraged, and because of this the revolution began. The colonists were unified, but also divided. Many of them were fearful for their independence because it would cause problems and turmoil with the new country. They were also divided because imported printing goods were being taxed.

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Prior to the American Revolution, history had shown cases of tyrannical governments taking advantage of the people. In most cases these tyrannical governments were shown no mercy and many times they were overthrown. For the American Colonies and the British Government this was completely different. It was different in the way that the American Colonies had shown great dislike for the lack of representation, taxes, and its plain disrespect from its mother land.

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When one looks at all the revolutions the earth there are many differences. Evry revolution is different but every revolution have one thing in common, one group of people is being oppressed by another. For this essay we are supposed to compare two different revolutions to the American Revolution. The two others I chose are the Cuban revolution and the Haitian revolution. To begin, I will look at a little back ground of each revolution and then the main cause.

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