Colonial Home Rule

1. Why were we well-situated to break with the monarchy? America was well-situated to break with the monarchy for a number of reasons. One was that the distance limited Britain’s capacity to govern the colonies. Another reason was that for more than a century, Americans had already been responsible for managing their own domestic affairs, including taxation and electing their own leaders.

2. What is home rule? What was the nature of colonial home rule?
Home rule is the power given by a state to a locality to enact legislation and manage its own affairs locally. Britain had allowed Americans the responsibility to manage their own domestic affairs and elect their own leaders. The British found the home rule agreeable as well because their main concern was to control America’s foreign commerce and guarantee itself a market for British manufactured goods and a steady supply of cheap raw materials.

3. What events led to the dismantling of colonial home rule? What was the response to this?
France’s 1763 defeat left Britain broke so Britain turned to the colonies to raise the needed revenues by imposing taxes such as the stamp act. Britain violated home rule to make America help pay

Each colony sent its leading professionals, merchants, and planters. The Continental Congress passed resolutions condemning British taxes and administrative decrees. The most significant actions of the First Continental Congress were adoption of a Declaration of American Rights, which essentially reasserted home rule, and endorsement of an agreement to ban all trade with Britain until it withdrew the despised taxes and regulations. The Second Continental Congress met in 1775. It acted like a national government and instructed the conventions to reconstitute themselves as state governments based on republican principles. The Second Continental Congress also issued the nation’s first bonds and established a national