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Why Did The British Tax The American Colonists

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Introduction In the late 1700s, the British government taxed the American colonists. Many might ask if it was a substantial decision to tax the American Colonists as a way to make money. Taxing the American Colonists led to many events that would not benefit the British. The taxation of the American Colonists was not a prudent decision on Britain’s behalf. Why did the British tax the American Colonists? Adding on to that, the British taxed the American Colonists using many acts such as the stamp act and the sugar act. The reason why Britain was in debt was due to the Seven Years’ War. Britain’s national debt nearly doubled after the Seven Years’ War, from £75 million in 1756 to £133 million in 1763. Britain, trying to find a way out of …show more content…

However, maybe there was an alternative way for the British to repay their debts other than taxing the American Colonists. The British did try ways to get out of their debt other than taxing the American Colonists, such as taxing the homeland with the Cider Tax, however, that attempt failed and many people wanted to remove the tax. The failure of the Cider tax led to Britain taxing the American Colonists, but maybe continuing to tax the homeland would be a better solution rather than taxing the American Colonists. The article “The History of British Taxation in the American Colonies” states “It appeared to the British government that a few new taxes to pay for their garrison should be easily absorbed. Indeed, they had to be absorbed, because there simply didn’t seem to be any other way of paying for the army. 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

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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.

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"Those who want to reap the benefits of this great nation must bear the fatigue of supporting it" (Thomas Paine). This quote relates to the struggles that the British had to endure while finding solutions for their many dilemmas. In order for the British to have full advantage over the colonial nation, they had to overcome these issues. They figured that they could press the American colonists to help share this burden, which would not only be a solution for their problems, but would also increase their power throughout the country. Therefore, the British desired to tax the American colonists due to the financial consequences of the French and Indian war, to demonstrate sovereignty, and for defense against the French.

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British officials unjustly taxed colonists to cover up the debt they caused. Most of this debt was caused by wars, like the French-Indian War and the Seven Years' War. One of the

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Since trade was boosted, Americans came to accumulate a large amount of debt to the British creditors. (Henretta & Brody, 2010) In order to extract money from the colonist to repay their debt, the British then began to place tariffs on many common items that had no reason to be taxed. The colonies felt the same way and even though they had an underlying debt, they felt that this was the improper way to go about

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871 Words | 4 Pages

I believe the British had the right to tax the American colonies because they were British territories, received protection from the British Army, and the people who lived there were considered British subjects. While the colonists were unrepresented in Parliament, the laws of Great Britain were clear that the taxation of the American Colonies was completely legal and well warranted. Up until the 1760’s the colonist had enjoyed tax-free living. However, in Great Britain the subjects there were under heavy tax burdens because of the ongoing Seven Years’ War in North America. To cover the cost of the war and the army in the Colonies, the British Parliament passed tax acts on the colonies.

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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.

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760 Words | 4 Pages

The federal government couldn’t even collect taxes, so they were unable to gather any money to repay their debts from the Revolutionary War. The states’ power allowed them to tax, and they ended up seeming as though they were independent countries. This is foreshadows the results what the French and Indian War caused for Britain. The French and Indian War, also commonly known as the Seven Years’ War, set Britain in debt. In order for Britain to pay off their this debt, Parliament passed many acts which taxed the thirteen colonies as much as ten times the amount of what they taxed the actual citizens of Britain; although each colony had a different amount.

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The Britain felt that it was only natural that the American colony would pay the mother country more for their protection after the Seven Years War with France. England was trying to relieve some tax burdens by increasing the tax on the colonies (xix). “that the main purpose of country’s overseas possessions were to serve the business interest of British merchants and manufacturers and to provide the mother country with raw materials” (xvii). However, such increase in demand, and pressure seemed unfair to the American colony despite the fact that they had been paying less tax compared to an English

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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).

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Great Britain was the most powerful government in the world in the time of the American revolution, it had a reputable navy and army. Britain’s government style was a monarchy with a parliamentary system, which was implemented in the colonies. Following The seven years war British troops were stationed in the U.S. colonies war this and the war combined put Britain in a great amount of debt. In order to pay debts parliament needed to create revenue, so Grenville who was the prime minister and the British government introduced the sugar and currency act, along with these acts it created more taxes including, the Stamp act, Coercive acts, and Townshend acts. These all angered the colonists because they were not being properly represented in

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426 Words | 2 Pages

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.”

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935 Words | 4 Pages

Taxation was such an important issue for the colonists in British North America in the decade preceding the American Revolution for a number of reasons. It played a significant role in shaping their grievances, fostering a sense of unity, and fueling their desire for independence. The British still had control over their lives and were mercilessly hurting them with their high taxes on tea, food, and most goods. The colonists reached their boiling point. They felt their lives were indentured servitude.

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The war with Great Britain was meant to end these taxations. Great Britain was trying to make us believe that we were paying for the debts, but really, they were taking our money and spending it while we were just getting poor. "We contended with Great Britain—some said for a three-penny duty on tea, but it was not that. It was because they claimed a right to tax us and bind us in all cases whatever. "We started a war with Great Britain because we wanted to end this taxation, and now that we are a lone country, the Constitution will tax us

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“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.

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533 Words | 3 Pages

Arguably, these taxes were only placed by Britain to “milk” the colonies for profit. Ben Franklin responded to the Stamp Act, writing a letter to John Hughs to discuss efforts to get it repealed (Document G). . In a way, the series of taxes applied by Parliament would spark a fire within the colonists and begin the American Revolution, where Americans finally say enough is enough. The time had come for political and ideological change, where the colonies would break from their motherland, Great Britain. In conclusion, the French Indian War would kick off a series of political, economic, and ideological events that changed the relationship between Britain and its colonies forever.

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