Parliamentary Acts Leading Up to the American Revolution

This limited the colonists’ freedom and only spread more anger throughout the colonies. The laws were so regulated it was hard not to make an error. The one that brought out the most public opposition was the Stamp Act in 1765. The Sugar Act wasn’t covering the debt, and Parliament was forced to pass the Stamp Act. The Act stated they must use stamped paper for printing bills, legal documents, and playing cards.

The Boston Tea Party was an important historical event that happened on the night of December 16th, 1773. This was a predicament that was between the British government and the American colonies. The number one priority of it dealt with taxes, which Britain was requiring American colonies to pay. In 1765, the Stamp Act was created by Parliament to provide money to make peach with the Native Americans and the American settlers. It was an act that was loathed by the colonists of America, and was repealed by parliament for many reasons.

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.

Boston Tea Party When the Boston Tea Party occurred on the evening of December 16,1773, it was the culmination of many years of bad feeling between the British government and her American colonies. The controversy between the two always seemed to hinge on the taxes, which Great Britain required for the upkeep of the American colonies. Starting in 1765, the Stamp Act was intended by Parliament to provide the funds necessary to keep peace between the American settlers and the Native American population. The Stamp Act was loathed by the American colonists and later repealed by parliament. (http://www.bostonteapartyship.com/History.htm) However, the British government quickly enacted other laws designed to solve monetary problems.

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 British government had good reason to tax the colonies, because they just went to war to defend them. That they understood, but they didn't appreciate the fact that they didn't have a say into how the debt would be paid. The British passed the Townshend Acts to offset the war debt. This caused the colonist to reinstate the boycott on luxury items. England then passes the Tea Act taxing imported tea, but also gives the British East Indian Tea co. a complete monopoly, cutting the middleman out of the deal, thus putting American merchants nearly out of business.

The costly French and Indian War created a divide between British Parliament and the colonists that was temporarily appeased when William Pitt returned recruitment control to the colonists and reimbursed farmers and tradesmen for their goods and services that had been forcefully taken. However, this peace was short lived when British Parliament tried to acquire complete control of the colonies and regain financial stability by passing the Stamp Act of 1765, the Townshend Duties, the Tea Act of 1773, and the Intolerable Acts of 1774. The acts greatly inconvenienced the colonists and led to the Boston Massacre of 1770, the Boston “tea party,” colonial unity, and the first shot at Lexington that sparked the American Revolution. Upon defeating the French in the French and Indian War, Britain tried to expand westward but was abruptly stopped by the Indian tribes who fought back with raids and attacks on the colonies. Fearing more Indian attacks and negative effects on western trade, British Parliament passed the Proclamation of 1763 to prevent expansion past the Appalachian Mountains.

The irregular and disorganized British rule of the American colonies in the previous years led to the outbreak of the Revolutionary War. Most Americans did not originally want to separate from mother England. They wanted to stay loyal to the crown. England’s unwillingness to compromise, mismanagement of the colonies, heavy taxation of the colonists that violated their rights, the distractions of foreign affairs and politics in England and the strict trading policies that England tried to enforce together made the revolution inevitable. The British were definitely expected to win the dispute because they significantly over powered the Colonists in most areas.

But when the “tyrannical'; King George jumped in demanding control of the colonies, they were angered and looked for a way to keep their liberties. Second, America was taxed by the British government to decrease its national debt. Due to their differences in economic base, Britain was self-sufficient in manufacturing goods and the colonies in agriculture. They both needed each other to survive initially. Later, however, America grew more self-sufficient and was able to survive without Britain’s helping hand.

In an act of defiance, “a few dozen of the Sons of Liberty, opposing new British laws in the colonies, systematically dumped three shiploads of tea into Boston harbor. They acted to prevent the royal authorities from collecting taxes on that import” (Bell). This made left Parliament infuriated. They did what they only know how to do and put a tighter squeeze on the colonists. Their answer was the Coercive Acts, also known as the Intolerable Acts in the Colonies.