In concern to the American Revolution, there are two sides debating its primary cause. One set of historians believe the cause to be ideals and principles. The other set of historians and scholars credit economic and social interests as the primary cause of the Revolutionary War. Historians Jesse Lemisch and Dirk Hoerder used the mobs in colonial cities as evidence of the social concerns of Americans at that time. Another Historian, Arthur M. Schlesinger argued in a 1917 study “that it was the colonial merchants who were chiefly responsible for arousing American resistance to the British; and that although they spoke of principles and ideals, their real motives were economic self-interest: freedom from the restrictive policies of British mercantilism.” This argument is very concrete and is supported by the different legislation that the British Parliament passed after the Seven Years’ War. In fact, an act was passed in 1764 by the Parliament that was instrumental in specifically angering the merchants that played a major role in leading the Americans to independence. That piece of legislation was the Sugar Act which placed a tax on sugar being brought into the colonies. This tax was a significantly less than the one that was logged in the book previously; however, that tax had been ignored for years. The initial response of the merchants to this piece of legislation was anger because this new law cut off their highly profitable smuggling organizations which greatly affected their earnings. Soon after tha...
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...
When the colonies were being formed, many colonists came from England to escape the restrictions placed upon them by the crown. Britain had laws for regulating trade and collecting taxes, but they were generally not enforced. The colonists had gotten used to being able to govern themselves. However, Britain sooned changed it’s colonial policy because of the piling debt due to four wars the British got into with the French and the Spanish. The most notable of these, the French and Indian War (or the Seven Years’ War), had immediate effects on the relationship between the colonies and Great Britain, leading to the concept of no taxation without representation becoming the motivating force for the American revolutionary movement and a great symbol for democracy amongst the colonies, as Britain tried to tighten their hold on the colonies through various acts and measures.
In the event of America’s victory in the American Revolution lead to the birth of a new nation. However, before the American Revolution the original colonies of America were already becoming impatient with British rule. This was mostly a result of a foreign country trying to rule people an ocean apart, and by rule this meant collecting taxes Americans found unfair. This rebellion against British rule became more prevalent from the passing of the Stamp Act of 1765 created mostly by George Greenville. The passing of this tax was Britain’s way of reinforcing their authority in the colonies and lessening their financial burden. However, from British standpoint that was not the sole purpose for the acts as they also wanted to build a defense against foreign nations and insure Britain benefited from her Acts of Trade (Alden 4). This ideology of lessening their burden through taxing the colonies failed instantly, because the colonist refused to pay the taxes at all cost. It became impossible to sell the stamps and anybody who dared try was threatened with violence. American’s rebellious nature against the new taxations methods lead to the creation of The Stamp Act Congress. The Stamp Act Congress denied the right of parliament to levy an internal tax in the colonies, and voiced American’s discontent. The colonist insisted the detested the law be repealed, and reinforced their demand by refusing to import British goods. Leading Britain to become furious with her distant subjects as the colonist began declaring acts of tyranny against them. With the refusal of British imports in America and constant riots British troops were sent to Boston to protect the Customs Commissioners, but were met by angry colonist leading to the Boston Massacre ...
In October of 1765, the same year the act was passed, the Stamp Act Congress met with delegates from nine colonies and petitioned the King of England, along with the two houses of Parliament. This petition and reaction to the act became the first formal cry for reformation with regard to England’s control over America. In addition to the Stamp Act of 1765, other various taxations aroused a spirit of revolution in America. One year before the Stamp Act, the Sugar Act of 1764 lowered the duty on molasses and raised the duty on sugar. While this act was designed to raise money, the majority of the Americans did not view it as any different than traditional taxations. Another set of taxes, known as the Townshend Duties, taxed goods imported to the colonies from England. Townshend judged this to be more practical because the duty was on “external” goods (those imported to the country) rather than “internal” goods, which the Stamp Act had attempted to address.
“ No taxation without representation!” a group of colonists shouted as they roamed the streets surrounded by armed, red-coated British soldiers. Around the 1760’s, turmoil between the 13 colonies and Britain began. Britain no longer gave them their rights, respected the amount of time between taxations, or gave them a say in any law that applied to them. Although there are reasonable things that Britain did, American colonists were justified in waging war and breaking away. If Britain was going to bombard them with taxation and laws in the span of a few short years or not present them with a representative in Parliament, then the colonists had every right to become their own self governing country.
After the British signed the Quartering Act, anger filled the colonists: The British were taxing goods without the colonists’ input. “No taxation without representation,” became a common slogan for the colonists (Lukes 10). Stephen Johnson, an angry colonist, said, “Why not tax us for the light of the sun, the air we breathe and the ground we are buried in?” (Lukes 35).
During the late 1700’s, rules and regulations were placed to subdue the colonies and raise money after the French-and-Indian war, as too Britain’s Seven-Year-War. In replace of the Stamp Act of 1765, a new act, under the financial leader, Charles Townshend, the Townshend Acts were added to place a tax upon certain imported goods. The Townshend Acts was implemented to raise revenue for the civil government. This act placed a tax onto glass, lead, painters, colors, paper, and tea imported into the colonies. These “external” taxes would raise 40,000 Euros to pay commissioners of customs. People argued toward the act for raising revenue, or used to pay royal officials in the colonies. Britain sent a seven-hundred pocket army to protect those customs, which angered the colonists. Later, the Massachusetts legislature wrote the Circular Letter to send to Britain, issuing that one cannot be taxed without direct representation. Adding on to the Townshend Acts’ mayhem was the ...
The war had been enormously expensive, and the British government’s attempts to impose taxes on colonists to help cover these expenses resulted in chaos. English leaders, were not satisfied with the financial and military help they had received from the colonists during the war. In a desperate attempt to gain control over the colonies as well as the additional revenue to pay off the war debt, Britain began to force taxes on the colonies. Which resulted in The Stamp Act, passed by parliament and signed by the king in March 1765. The Stamp Act created an excise tax on legal documents, custom papers, newspapers, almanacs, college diplomas, playing cards, and even dice. Obviously the colonist resented the Stamp Act and the assumption that parliament could tax them whenever and however they could without their direct representation in parliament. Most colonials believed that taxation without their consent was a violation of their constitutional rights as Englishmen. Which is where the slogan “No Taxation without Representation” comes
After the Great War for Empire, the British parliament began carrying out taxes on the colonists to help pay for the war. It was not long from the war that salutary neglect was brought on the colonies for an amount of time that gave the colonists a sense of independence and identity. A farmer had even wrote once: “Here individuals of all nations are melted into a new race of men, whose labours and posterity will one day cause great changes in the world” (Doc H). They recognized themselves as different than the British, so when parliament began passing bills to tax without representation there was an outcry of mistreatment. Edmund Burke, a man from parliament, sympathized with the colonists: “Govern America as you govern an English town which happens not to be represented in Parl...
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.
Even though the colonists resisted the Sugar Act, Britain issued another tax, the Stamp Act in March of 1765. The Stamp Act placed taxes on all legal documents from newspapers, pamphlets, licenses, legal documents and even playing...
In the 1770’s the American colonists were being taxed too much by the British and they started to want their independence. Britain was taxing the colonists to pay their debts from the French and Indian War. The colonists started to fight back by tarring and feathering some tax collectors. Britain sent troops to the colonies which caused more problems.
In 1764, the Sugar Act was enacted, putting a high duty on refined sugar. Even though silent, the Sugar Act tax was hidden in the cost of import duties making most colonists to accepted it. The Stamp Act, however, was a direct tax on the colonists and led to an uproar in America over an issue that was to be a major cause of the Revolution tool to oppose taxation without representation. To Americans, British government had no mandate to pas an act affecting colonists without their representation the litigation aimed at oppressing colonists. The duty not only targeted on sugar but its products. The implication it carried traversed along economic lines of civilians in raising the cost of living. The move made it difficult for firms as the cost of production went up with minimal sales as people abandoned Britain products.
In the 1760s, Boston was full of disorder. With each new British law came protest from American colonists. The people of Boston believed that Britain did not have the right to tax them because they did not elect their representatives in Parliament. Only the Massachusetts Assembly, whose members were elected every year, had the right to tax its citizens. The Stamp Act of 1765 and the Townshend Acts of 1767 led to boycotts and unrest, steered by a group known as the Sons of Liberty. As a result, the British government sent troops to Boston to keep order. Instead of staying in a fort on an island in the Boston harbor, the British troops stayed on the commons and were living in buildings in the middle of town. The British troops’ presence in Boston was not welcome and Bostonians viewed them as a threat. Because they did not like the English army in their city, fights between the American colonists and the British troops were common.