America's Road to Independence America’s Road to Independence: In the year 1783 the Treaty of Paris was signed, granting America their freedom from Great Britain. There were many reasons why the colonists wanted their freedom and separation from their mother country of England. Great Britain laid down many laws and Acts which were the main reasons leading up to the revolutionary war, otherwise known as America’s War for Independence. For eleven years even before the actual revolution started, Great Britain bullied the thirteen original colonies with several harsh acts and proclamations. The Proclamation of 1763 came first. It prohibited settlements west of the Appalachian Mountains and trading in that area without a license. Less than a year later the Sugar Act was passed. It lowered taxes on molasses, but put new taxes on wine, coffee, cloth, and of course sugar. Colonists reacted to this harsh act by smuggling in the goods they needed. This way they did not have to pay the tax and it was much cheaper for them. In 1764 the Currency Act was passed. This prohibited colonies from issuing paper money and required all of the debts to be paid for in gold. In 1765 the Stamp Act was passed which required all written materials to be printed on stamped paper including newspapers, birth, marriage, and death certificates (King, McRae, Zola 95). These items were many of the basic necessities, which made the tax even more realistic. The colonists reacted to this act by forming a Stamp Act Congress. Nine colonies of thirteen showed up and all wanted representation (Dadante, 25 September 2000). These three acts were the start of the build up towards the war. In 1765 the Quartering Act was also passed requiring coloni... ... middle of paper ... ...lso made a Declaration of Rights and formed a Continental Association. The meeting was over in October and they decided to meet again on May 10 of 1775. In early April of 1775 was the first clash between patriot soldiers and British soldiers. It was the beginning of America’s road to independence. For nearly a decade Great Britain taxed and bullied the colonies. They took away their rights and morals by setting strict regulations in which they had to live by. It was not fair for the millions of residents that the colonies had. They finally had enough and decided that in order to be free and happy, they needed to be separate from Great Britain. America had also developed their own identify as a new culture that was extremely different from England. They needed to be separate. These many acts and reactions is what led up to America’s War for Independence.
Leading up to the time of the Revolutionary War, seven policies were passed by Britain in hopes of controlling the colonies. These acts culminated in the Quebec Act which persuaded many Americans into supporting the revolutionary effort. The Proclamation of 1763 was the first policy passed by the British. This forbid any settlement west of Appalachia because the British feared conflicts over territory in this region. The proclamation, however, infuriated the colonists who planned on expanding westward. The Sugar Act was passed shortly after in 1764. This act sought harsher punishment for smugglers. The next act to be passed was possibly the most controversial act passed by Britain. The Stamp Act passed in 1765 affected every colonist because it required all printed documents to have a stamp purchased from the British authority. The colonist boycotted British goods until the Stamp Act was repealed but quickly replaced by the Declaratory Act in 1766. The British still held onto the conviction that they had the right to tax the Americans in any way they deemed necessary. The Declaratory Act was followed by the Townshend Acts of 1767. This imposed taxes on all imported goods from Britain, which caused the colonies to refuse trading with Britain. Six years passed before another upsetting act was passed. In 1773, the Tea Act placed taxes on tea, threatening the power of the colonies. The colonies, however, fought back by pouring expensive tea into the Boston harbor in an event now known as the Boston Tea Party. The enraged Parliament quickly passed the Intolerable Acts, shutting down the port of Boston and taking control over the colonies.
The British were facing economic difficulties after the French and Indian war; therefore, they passed taxes on the colonies to help repay the debt. Initially, the British introduced the Sugar Act in 1764. The colonists did not approve of the British taking control over them. The colonists opposed the Sugar Act because they had to pay three cent tax on sugar. In addition, the Sugar Act increased the taxes on coffee, indigo, and wine. This act was the start of colonist frustration. Subsequently came the Stamp Act the following year in 1765. The Stamp Act was the mind changer for many colonists known as the Patriots. The Patriots started forming as a result of England enforcing acts. The patriots believed the colonies should go to war and separate
The American Revolutionary War officially ended in 1783 with the signing of the Treaty of Paris. Shortly thereafter, General Washington surrendered his troops to the Continental Congress. The Americans had won their independence, much to the dismay of the British crown. King George III lost his American colonies due to a number of reasons. The responsibility of the American Revolution and King George III’s loss of his colonies cannot be placed on one specific event, but rather a build-up of tensions over the years causing the idea of freedom to ring through the colonies and drive them to make the United States of American a free country ‘with liberty and justice for all.’
The most important issue prompting Americans to rebel in 1776 is clearly parliamentary taxation. The first time a Parliamentary imposed tax threatened the livelihood of the colonies was in 1733 with the Molasses Act, stemmed from the loss of profit for the British West Indies under the Navigation Act. However, this act was avoidable and rarely paid. Following the long and harrowing French and Indian War, Britain was deep in debt and George Grenville was appointed British Chancellor. He was determined to pay off the debt by brutally taxing the colonies. He not only reinforced the ignored Navigation Acts, but he placed the new Sugar Act which was similar to the Molasses Act which put a tax on rum and molasses imported from West Indies, but this Act would be enforced. Needless to say, the colonists were not used to this intrusion of Parliament and felt that it was wrong because there were no members in Parliament to represent the colonies. They felt it was a direct violation of their civil liberties and the first whiff of resentment was beginning to spawn. Next was the Currency Act which disregarded the colonies paper money, forcing the colonist to pay in only silver and sending their economy into chaos. Perhaps the most important and controversial acts were the Stamps Acts that placed a tax on legal documents, almanacs, newspaper, pamphlets, playing cards and dice.
This angered a few northern merchants because it meant that they couldn’t rely on the cheaper goods from smugglers, and that they had to raise their prices, and therefore lost business and popularity in the colonies. The Currency Act of 1764 made it illegal for the colonies to print and distribute paper money. This effected the southern farmers because they used paper money to take out loans, that were now worthless and so they fell into debt. These first acts helped the colonists realize they needed to set aside their griefs with the other colonies to go against the bigger threat of the London policy makers. The workers in the towns suffered from reduced opportunities for work because of the new restrictions on manufacturing and currency. The Stamp Act of 1765 affected everyone in the colonies by placing a tax on any printed document. This act generated more revenue from the colonies than any of the previous acts. This act was seen as a way for Parliament to levy money form the colonies while circumventing the local governments, which causes some colonial revolutionaries to call for action from the colonists. The
...eir independence from Great Britain because the British stopped using salutary neglect and started to employ laws, they passed the Proclamation of 1763 which violated colonists’ rights, and the colonists were not represented in Parliament, but still had to pay taxes. The colonists broke away from Britain because they were isolated and became used to self- governing. Once Great Britain tried to take control, the colonists were angered. Also, when Great Britain tried to limit the westward expansion of the colonies, the colonists felt that their rights were being infringed. The lack of representation in Parliament played a gigantic role as well. The British taxed the colonists even though the colonies did not have an American representing them in Parliament. These reasons were certainly enough for the British colonies to declare independence from Great Britain.
Without colonial consent, the British started their bid to raise revenue with the Sugar Act of 1764 which increased duties colonists would have to pay on imports into America. When the Sugar Act failed, the Stamp Act of 1765 which required a stamp to be purchased with colonial products was enacted. This act angered the colonists to no limit and with these acts, the British Empire poked at the up to now very civil colonists. The passing of the oppressive Intolerable Acts that took away the colonists’ right to elected officials and Townshend Acts which taxed imports and allowed British troops without warrants to search colonist ships received a more aggravated response from the colonist that would end in a Revolution.
After the French Indian War ended, the Britain was in debt, and they also wanted to have more control of the colonies, and the colonists. They passed different acts and procedures in order to collect money, and hold the control of the colonists, and the colonies. Yet the colonists were not given any representation, and they were losing their freedoms one by one; these caused a serious tension between Britain and the colonies, which eventually lead to the American revolution, followed by the Declaration of Independence. The colonies were justified for declaring independence from England, because the king of England caused “repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over the states”("The
The imperial tactics of the British Empire were exercised on the colonists through heavy taxes trade restrictions because of their mercantilist economy. The Stamp Act taxed the colonists directly on paper goods ranging from legal documents to newspapers. Colonists were perturbed because they did not receive representation in Parliament to prevent these acts from being passed or to decide where the tax money was spent. The colonists did not support taxation without representation. The Tea Act was also passed by Parliament to help lower the surplus of tea that was created by the financially troubled British East India Company. The colonists responded to this act by executing the Boston Tea Party which tossed all of the tea that was imported into the port of Boston. This precipitated the Boston Port Act which did not permit the colonists to import goods through this port. The colonists protested and refused all of these acts which helped stir the feelings of rebellion among the colonists. The British Mercantilist economy prevented the colonists from coin...
The American Revolution was not only a battle between the British and the colonists; it was a historical movement that brought about new ways of thinking. The ideas of liberty and equality began to be seen as essential to the growth of the new nation. The separation of the American colonies from the British Empire occurred for a number of reasons. These reasons are illustrated in the Declaration of Independence. Although Thomas Jefferson wrote the document, it expressed the desire of the heart of each colonist to be free of British rule. British rule over the colonies became unbearable in the early months of 1776, making it clear to the colonists that it was time to either give in to British power or declare their independence. This idea of independence divided the colonies, but it was not long before a revolutionary committee met in Philadelphia and drew up the document that would change American history.
There were many reasons and events that led to the American Revolution, but it really all boils down to England being selfish. They wanted to make as much money as they possibly could off the new colonies, feeling a sense of entitlement, as they had provided funds and supplies to the settlers to make the trip in the first place. The British Parliament enacted laws and taxes that affected the economies and the lives of those in the new colonies, but for the benefit of England. The new Americans were not given the same rights under the Parliament as the British people, nor did they have a say in what the Parliamentary decisions. At one point the colonist had enough and began to protest and fight back, leading them down the American Road to Revolution. The Americans no longer wanted to be under Britain’s thumb, and looking for solutions, and knowledge to change that. This led them to a series of actions that began the American Revolution.
After the Seven Years Way England was broke for she had spent more money needed to win the war. Also winning the war gave the colonist a “we can do it spirit”. However because England now was facing debt she decided to tax the colonies. One the first acts passed was the sugar act passed in 1764. This Act was the raise revenue in American colonies. What it did was lowered the tax from six penses to three penses per gallon on foreign molasses. Molasses is a product made by refining sugarcane, grapes or sugar beets into sugar. This upset the colonist because before the sugar act they didn’t have to pay the tax so even if it was lowered that meant nothing for they now had to pay for it. A year later, in 1765, the Britain’s passed another act known as the Stamp Act. The Stamp Act put a tax on stamped paper, publications, playing cards, etc. Because it was on all paper products in a way it affected everyone; from the papers for the upper class such as lawyers, publications such as newspapers for the middle class, and playing cards for the lower class for entertainment. Next, the Townshend Act passed by Charles Townshend. This came in 1767, which imposed taxes on colonial tea, lead, paint, paper, and glass which just like the Stamp Act affected all of the classes in the colonist in the Americas. Though this act was removed three years later in 1770, it still left colonists with a warning that conditions may become worse. Around 1773, parliament passed the Intolerable Acts one of those acts which affected taxation was the Bost...
There were many factors that led up to the American Revolutionary War, one of these factors were the laws and acts being passed at the time. The British Parliament attempted to limit the power the American Colonist had at the time by taking away from their income. How they did this one may ask? The simple answer is taxes. One of the many taxes imposed was the stamp act. During this time the American colonies were being oppressed by the British one of the first signs of this was the Stamp Act. The act stated that almost anything written had to be stamped and tax...
Till then, England 's preoccupation with civic skirmish and current war with France permitted the Colonies to carry on foreign and domestic trade with tiny intrusion from British powers. Furthermore, since their founding, the Colonies had been managing much of their affairs. The Colonists, as a result, established a sense of freedom. When England started imposing limitations on the Colonial trade and carrying other activities that recommended Colonists never had similar rights as British peoples in England, the Colonials began to take stock of their individuality and question Great Britain 's authority over them. When the French and Indian War lastly finished in 1764, no English subject on both sides of the Atlantic could have predicted the coming fight between North American colonies and the parent country. More so, the roots of these battles were started, and therefore, this war. One should keep in mind that the French and Indian War, which was known in the Europe as the ‘Seven Years ' War, ' was a worldwide
The American Revolution began as a conflict over political and social change, but soon developed into a dispute over personal rights and political liberty. A decade of conflicts between the British government and the Americans, starting with the Stamp Act in 1765 that eventually led to war in 1775, along with The Declaration of Independence in 1776. Americans united as one and knew that they wanted to be an independent country, have their own laws, rights, and not be a colony of the Great Britain. They fought hard for their independence and people lost their lives in the process of it, but in the end they succeeded. Never give up, keep fighting till the mission is accomplished, just like the Americans did when they were fighting for their independence.