American Revolution Dbq

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After fighting in the Seven Years’ War (1756-1763), Britain was left with an immense debt on its shoulders (Chapter 4). It was up to George Grenville to help reduce this debt and save England from a disastrous future (Chapter 4). His plans were set into motion when parliament passed different acts that they hoped would raise money to pay off the debt (Chapter 4). However, they did not foresee that these actions would lead to the American Revolution. Although the change in British imperial policy involved taxing and placing acts on the colonists to raise debt money, these actions displeased the people and caused them to revolt creating events like the Boston Massacre and The Boston Tea Party. These factors were of many that brought about the …show more content…

Charles Townshend presented a way to the House of Congress to gain income from the Americans (Chapter 5). His idea turned out to be more of a scheme when these Revenue Acts involved placing duties on American imports of paper, glass, paint, lead, and tea (chapter 5). The chancellor realized that without the proper enformentents, his plan to collect money from the Americans would come close to failing. To insure that his plan would continue to “grow”, Townshend created an American Board of Customs Commissioners (Chapter 5). He managed to convince Parliament to order New York's governor to veto bills passed by the colony’s assembly until it allowed British troops to stay with the colonists, an act known as the Quartering Act (May 1765) (Chapter 5). The act angered the Americans because it violated their rights and they had to provide the troops with certain necessities. The American saw the act as “taxation without representation (Chapter 5)”. Just like the colonists refused to follow Grenville’s Stamp Act, they refused to pay Townshend's duties. Just like previous revolts, the Sons of Liberty organized boycotts of British goods (Chapter 5). The Revenue Acts caused people to take oaths before their neighbors, promising one another that they would not purchase certain goods until Parliament revoked such an act (Chapter 5). Yet again …show more content…

In order to save Britain's largest business, the East India Company, from going bankrupt, Parliament passed the Tea Act in May 1773 (Chapter 5). Although the Act lowered the prices, the Americans preferred the cheaper leaves that were illegally brought in from Holland (Chapter 5). Parliament allowed the East India Company to sell directly to American retailers, which cut out “middlemen” and it also eliminated duties that were paid in England (Chapter 5). Like all the other acts, the Tea Act was none other than a scheme for Parliament's support to tax colonists without any representation (Chapter 5). Another problem that occurred was that the act threatened to place powerful colonial merchants who smuggled Dutch tea, out of business (Chapter 5). This of course would not settle down well with the Americans considering their love for cheap Dutch tea. In the colonies, the colonists turned back the tea ships before any problems occured (Chapter 5). However, in Boston, Governor Hutchinson would not allow the ships carrying East India Company’s tea back to England (Chapter 5). The ships remained in Boston Harbor until a drastic event occurred. On December 16, 1773 a group of colonists men, dressed up as indians and dumped the tea over the Boston Harbor (Chapter 5). It was a reckless idea considering they were dumping tea worth than thousand euros (Chapter

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