Rachel Leppke Dr. Adamiak History CRN 15047 25 October 2016 Was the American Revolution Largely a Product of Market-Driven Consumer Forces Professor Breen’s essay argues “that colonist’s shared experience as consumers provided the cultural resources needed to develop a new form of political protest” (Breen 87). Political acts were seen as what people were buying and selling. If you bought/sold British goods you were loyal to the crown. Goods became the foundation on which trust was based. (Breen 87) “Before this, massive political movement had not organized itself around the denial of imported goods” (Breen 87). The colonists made trade speak for them (Breen 87). They would boycott British goods to protest taxes placed upon them and gain attention …show more content…
In 1765 it had become an American staple for resistance (Breen 89). The taxes on tea made many people boycott British teas and outrage occurred when British tea came on ships to America. In New York City, Charlestown, and Philadelphia last-minute negotiations helped prevent violence and the tea was sent back to London or was stored but not sold. In Boston there were three tea ships and on December 16 of 1773 Boston’s “Mohawks” threw the tea overboard into the ocean. The consequences of this shocked the colonies to further resistance against Britain and heightened tension. (Breen …show more content…
Fear of what Britain could possibly do became the leading fervor to rise up against a government that would only harm their people. This type of thinking came from British confusion and shifts of power overseas which permitted more united colonists to take leadership. (Degler 94) The mercantile system put into place lead the colonists to break the British limitations it put on them and revolt. The progression of moving west was also not a major event for rebelling against the crown Degler argues because the Proclamation Line was already in the process of being moved west. The taxes and acts in 1773 was less of a burden per capita for colonists than in 1698, it is estimated to be about five times greater in 1698. (Degler 95) The American Revolution was not based on the taxes themselves but on the concept of British government interfering in colonial government. Before the seven years’ war the colonies were essentially left to rule themselves and they did not have to actually pay any taxes to Britain. After the war colonists expected the British to let them go back to the old way of doing things. However this did not happen and Britain started to have more control of the government. (Degler
The British colonies in America from the time they were established up until around 1763 had a policy of Salutary Neglect. Salutary Neglect meant that the British would not interfere with the colonies national or even international affairs. This benefitted the colonies, they got to experience some forms of democracy, and they also were able to experience independence in a way though they took it for granted. The British after the Seven Years War, which was fought on American soil, for the Americans protection, decided that the colonies should be required to pay for it in taxes. Britain was in debt, and their economy was in a recession, so the well off colonies tax money would have helped them considerably. The tax would only be the beginning to a long line of British policies further upsetting the colonial people.
By this point, the colonists were beginning to question Britain’s motives towards them. They believed they were being treated like slaves and being used solely for the economic growth of Britain. One night, in 1773, the colonists rebelled against these taxes on their tea. A group of men dressed as Native Americans boarded a ship at Boston Harbor and unloaded three vessels of taxed tea (Boston Tea Party). This event, known a...
Some say that the Revolution was destined to happen ever since Settlers set foot on this continent, others argue that it would not have happened if it weren't for a set of issues that finally drove the colonists to revolt. Ultimately, Britain lost control in 1765 when they gave in to the Stamp Act Congress’s boycotts against parliamentary taxation and gave them the idea that they had the power to run a country. To a lesser degree, Salutary Neglect led to the conception of a legacy of colonial religious and political ideals which set in motion an eminent conflict. During this period, England “forgot” about the colonies and gave them colonists a taste of independence and suspicions of individual political theories. Through Parliament's ruthless taxation without representation and a near opposite religious and political mindset, Britain and the colonists were heaved into a revolutionary war.
In the mid eighteenth century colonist of the new world started to rebel against Britain. Living in the colonies cost Britain a great deal of money Colonist did not like that they were being taxed. There were several acts passed that angered the colonists. For example, the Stamp Act, the Stamp Act was passed in 1765 taxed all legal documents including newspapers and other printed materials. The Stamp Act affected all that bought printed materials and it did not affect the poor because it was not too expensive. The colonist started to rebel and boycotted “No taxation without representation.” The colonists rebelled in many ways one of them was the Boston Tea Party. The Boston Tea Party occurred in 1773 as an act of revolt colonists threw tea cargo of a ship to the ocean. These acts of Britain towards the new colonies caused colonist to revolve and declare war to separate from Britain. The colonists were not justified to going to war to break away from Britain because England was paying more taxes and the mother country deserved absolute respect; however, the colonists were justified to break away from Britain because they were taxed without representation.
As a prelude before the Revolution itself, there were already preliminary symptoms of unrest within America that followed the first step in the general pattern of revolutions. Prior to the first shots at Lexington and Concord in 1775, growing discontent with the British Government passing certain acts that the Americans perceived as unfair had already risen to a substantial degree. With the majority of acts incurring economic and financial costs, by 1767, the Townshend Acts had been passed, putting further taxes on paper, glass and tea. Upon the taxes that the Stamp Act of 1965 incurred on such items as newspapers, official documents and almanacs, the American people became highly agitated and a feeling of resentment quickly spilled over the masses, ‘several person were for dying rather than submitting to it...’ [pg52 Maier, P.] Additionally, the Colonialist became increasingly violent, ‘Almost immediately after the Acts [implementation], outbreak of mob activity...’[pg54 Maier, P.] By 1970, the preliminary symptom of unrest displayed through protest and discontent was evident. The Colonialist did not feel that they were obligated to be subject to these taxes without representation in British Parliament. Additionally, the psychological pre-condition associated with the cause of war was present in the Colonialist discontent regarding the numerous Acts bearing economic consequences. Not only had the events up till 1770 displayed active protests and early mob activity, it also hinted at the potential oncoming violence the growing mob could inflict which was the next step in the general broad pattern of revolutions.
According to the theory of mercantilism, the colonies only existed to serve the interests of Britain. But it seemed as if Britain was abusing their right over the colonies. They enforced many policies such as the Stamp Act, the Townshed Duties, and the Tea Act which caused many problems for the colonists. One problem that the colonists faced was the Stamp Act of 1765. This act imposed a new tax on legal documents, newspapers, playing cards and dice. The Americans did not agree with it. It was not the cost of the stamp that angered them, it was the principle. They had no say in what the British Parliament did. The tax provoked a fire storm of protests, and the boycotting of British goods began. Some colonists did not limit their protests to words. In several cities, groups of people attacked officials who defended British policy. The Stamp Act was not a good idea, and one year later it was repealed. But that wasn't the end. The Townshed Duties posed as another difficulty. These duties required the colonists to pay minor import duties on tea, lead, oil, papers and painter's colors. Since Britain had imposed unnecessary taxes on the colonies before, this was not new. John Dickinson encouraged protesters to join in the battle by writing the first twelve "Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania". Protests began once again and cut British trade in half. Britain sent troops to be stationed in Boston to enforce the Townshed Duties, and the colonists refused to quarter the troops. The Townshed Duties were repealed in 1770, three years after it began. And three years after that, a new act arose. Parliament passed the Tea Act in an attempt to save the East India Company from bankruptcy and reassert its right to tax. A group of Boston patriots destroyed a shipment of tea in a protest known as the
...Sugar and Stamp Acts). Before the era of Enlightenment, colonists were angered by the British interfering with their new country, but never thought to rebel against their homeland. However, with their newfound knowledge of Enlightenment principles like freedom and reason, many colonists began to see the taxes as unfair. Knowing that political power was in their hands, they stood up against the British government stating that they were an independent country. Additionally, as the British government continued to try to interfere with American government, many colonists began to want a new government that was based on Enlightenment principles instead. This led to the American Revolution because the colonists with their gained knowledge of the world and society yearned for a government that guaranteed everyone natural rights under the law.
The Boston Tea Party gave ideas to others and afterwards people boarded on the ships in Annapolis and New York to prevent any tea to land. Colonists all over the coast of North America continued to boycott any tea from the East India Company. Unfortunately their actions did lead to consequences from British Parliament. After Parliament closed the ports, all the colonists felt bad and started to support the Bostonians. The colonists called for a Continental Congress from the Committees of Correspondence. They wanted to set up a timetable for no consumption, exportation, or importation of British goods to protest.
“John Hancock organized a boycott of tea provided by the East India Company, which was subject to an import tax, and helped to enforce the boycott by smuggling tea in so that the colonists would not go without their favored beverage.” This is what resulted in the Tea Act. "The trade in tea with China that was the most viable in the 18th century. Tea accounted for more than 60% of the Company’s total trade in the late 1700's. Customs duty on tea was providing 10% of the British government's annual revenues.” The Tea Act being passed was not aimed to make the American colonists angry, but it made many mad. American colonists could buy no tea unless it came from the company. American colonists saw this law as yet another meaning of “taxation without representation” because it meant that they could not buy tea from anyone else without spending a lot more money. There was a bad reaction to the Tea Act.
One of the most famous events of the colonies efforts to severe ties and rebel against the British government was the Boston Tea Party. The British government enacted the tea act of 1773, in an effort to revive a failing East India Company. The Tea act would not enforce higher taxes or prices on the tea for the consumers, it was established to create a monopoly for the East India Company. The taxes for the faltering tea company would be lowered in an effort to lowball other providers of tea to the colonies. Even though colonists would be getting tea for a better value, they saw this act by the British Government as another example of unjust taxation (History.com, 2009).
Due to the redundant acts in the 1760s, the American Colonies demanded to revolt from Great Britain. The colonies would either fight or resist the actions , or taxes placed upon them by the British. They revolted due to the Boston Tea Party of 1773, and the Boston Massacre of 1770. All of these taxes were placed upon the colonies to help Great Britain pay off the debt of the French and Indian War. The colonist were resentful towards the British because they did not have a say in the British Parliament, which led to the saying “no taxation without representation” in approximately 1761 by James Otis. The British Parliament was the Congress of Britain, which passed the laws and taxes on the colonies. Overall, the colonies would either fight or resist the taxes passed on them, which would then lead to the American Revolution.
According to the article, some Boston citizens disagreed and decided to protest the British tax on the tea that was being imported to the colonies. Most acts to tax the colonies fell through, but this one was successful to demonstrate the power of parliament to tax the colonies. Even though the price of British tea was cheaper, the colonists did not want to pay the taxes on it. This information supports the reason why the colonists wanted to act upon the British.
Because of the British King feeling the need to tax the colonies in the new world, the colonies rebelled against the taxation. The writer states, “During the 1760s and 1770s, the city was a center of anti-British activity…. the city was also strategically important,” (New York City). The New York colony closed their stores and started the boycott against the British Parliament, when they passed The Stamp Act. During this time the New York colony impacted the future, for they were one of the first
Overall, the colonists did not respond well to the sanctions imposed by the British. What began as general disdain for the orders given evolved later to acts of violence against the British. In the case of The Stamp Act, colonies convened in a congress to argue the fact that they were being taxed without adequate representation from Parliament (Schultz, 2013). After making such declarations, merchants responded by refusing the import of British goods. Instead, Colonists used their internal resources to make their own goods, thus exports declined. A result of this was that the Stamp Act was repealed; however, the revolts did not stop there. Riots were organized by “The Sons of Liberty,” a small group of Colonists that’s purpose was to taunt
The British spent a lot of money in the French-Indian war, leaving them in a great deal of debt. Since the British were in this large amount of debt, they decided to implement taxes on most of the products that the colonists used to get tax-free. For example, Britain started taxing tea. The British government sent a large shipment of taxed tea for the colonists. The colonists did not want to pay taxes on tea, so they refused to take the tea off the ship. Then at night, a group of colonists dressed as American Indians boarded the ship and threw the tea overboard. What was interesting was that they didn’t hurt the ship at all. Instead, they destroyed all the tea and left. This is just one example of the colonists revolting against the new taxes, but there were several