Revolution Exam
1) During the years 1763-1775, Britain and the American Colonies had different views and interpretations for various events and documents.
The Stamp Act:
The Stamp Act was created by George Grenville, the Prime Minister from 1764-1766. Britain’s national debt had soared to 133 million pounds due to the war. Grenville decided to propose several taxes on the American colonists, including the Stamp Act. The Stamp Act required embossed markings on court documents, land titles, contracts, playing cards, newspapers, and basically anything printed. Grenville figured that the tax would cover part of the national debt and the cost for keeping ten thousand soldiers in America—roughly 200,000 pounds per year. The Colonists were not viewed as equal citizens of Britain, so it would not be difficult for Parliament to pass the Act. Benjamin Franklin represented Pennsylvania and suggested that if Britain was going to tax the American colonies, there should be Americans in Parliament. Franklin wanted the Americans and British to be as one. British politicians denied Franklin’s request because they claimed that the American colonists were already “virtually” represented by merchants in Parliament who had interests in America. Some other differences in opinions from American colonists were those of their rights. The colonists believed that taxation without representation took away their essential rights as Englishmen. There was confusion of what the rights of free subjects of were. They also believed that just because Britain had such a huge debt, that shouldn’t mean that the colonies have to take part in it. The taxation led to mobs such as the Sons of Liberty. There would be rebellions and violence to come.
The Quartering Act:
At the request of General Thomas Gage, Parliament passed the Quartering Act, which required the American colonists to house and feed British troops. In January 1766, members of the New York Assembly said that because the British commander had his headquarters in New York, there was an unequal burden under the Quartering Act; in turn, they decided to follow some of the specifications in the Quartering Act, but not all of them. The Assembly also feared that the troops would cause an unlimited drain on their treasury by the cost of living and eati...
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...h’s theory in the Wealth of Nations was the economic model that the American colonists thought was accurate.
Work Cited
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(http://www.bigissueground.com/history/ash-uscolonists.shtml).
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(http://college.hmco.com/history/readerscomp/rcah/html/ah_072900_quarteringac.htm).
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Colonies.” 5-03-05 (http://www.law.indiana.edu/uslawdocs/declaration.html).
McClymer. “How Did the King's Colonies Become Little Republics?” 5-03-05
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(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercantilism).
When the British passed the Stamp Act, the colonists reacted in various ways. The Stamp Act, passed in 1765, put taxes on all printed goods in the colonies. Specifically, newspapers, legal documents, dice,
The Quartering Act of 1774 was passed “for the better providing suitable quarters for officers and soldiers in his Majesty’s service in North America.” This act ensured that housing was provided to the stationed British soldiers in the colonies. It also allowed governors to house the soldiers in other buildings, such as, “uninhabited houses, out-houses, barns, or other buildings,” if suitable quarters were not provided. This also meant that the British soldiers were allowed to stay in private homes, even if they were occupied. Luckily, for the colonists, this act also had an expiration date of March 24,
It was not all as good for the Colonies as it seemed, however, for with that came the Declarative Act. The Declarative Act states that, “That the King 's Majesty, by and with the consent of the Lords spiritual and temporal, and Commons of Great Britain, in parliament assembled, had, hath, and of right ought to have, full power and authority to make laws and statutes of sufficient force and validity to bind the colonies and people of America, subjects of the crown of Great Britain, in all cases whatsoever” (Temperley). This nullified any progress the House of Burgesses had accomplished. There was still hope however for the King George III appointed a new minister. He made a name for him self in the Colonies in the French and Indian War. He was sympathetic to the Colonies and was a supporter in repealing the Stamp Act. His name was William Pitt. Unfortunately for the Colonists, he fell ill shortly after taking office and passed and was replaced by Townshend. Townshend had quite the opposite views as Pitt. He supported generating yet even more revenue from the Colonies. He adds taxes on lead, paint, paper, glass, and tea. He also set out to quell the power of the upstart American assemblies. He used the New York legislature to set a bold example. The New York legislature was not recognizing the Quartering Act. Townshend suspended the Assembly until they submitted and agreed to recognize and follow the act. Such
John Dickinson wrote Letters for a Farmer in Pennsylvania to address the issue of the quartering act replacing the Stamp Act as well as explaining that Parliament could pass regulatory economic measures that provided incidental revenue, it had no right to tax the colonists specifically for the purpose of revenue. In Dickinson’s first letter he wrote that, “the assembly of New York either had, or had not, a right to refuse submission to that act. If they had, and I imagine no American will say they had not, then the parliament had no right to compel them to execute it. If they had not this right, they had no right to punish them for not executing it; and therefore no
(140) It was during this time period that “the government in London concerned itself with the colonies in unprecedented ways…to help raise funds to pay for the war and finance the empire.” (Forner 141) The British government was heavily in debt after fighting the Seven Years War on several fronts. The need to raise funds was paramount and the colonies were a ready source. The British government started imposing taxes on the colonies as a means of income. This was a change in the relationship between America and the mother country. Many Americans opposed these taxes. (Forner 142- 143) According to Forner, “Opposition to the Stamp Act was the first great Drama of the revolutionary era and the first major split between the colonist and Great Britain over the meaning of freedom.” (142) This act was eventually repealed by Parliament in 1766 after great opposition by Americans. (Forner 144) The Stamp Act was just the beginning of several events and taxes on the colonist leading up the Boston Tea
“Give me liberty or give me death!” This statement from Patrick Henry’s “Speech to the Virginia Convention,” delivered to the House of Burgesses, has been quoted by many, becoming almost cliché. However, the declaration is truly understood by a select few. The unjust Stamp Act passed by the British crown in 1765, brought fame and notoriety to Henry as he spoke out against the unjust taxation without representation. Ten years later on the eve of revolution, Henry calls upon the Colonial government of which he is part, to act for the betterment of the people. Patrick Henry attempts to persuade the House of Burgesses to revolt and declare war against Britain by logically convincing them that it is their natural right to be free and calling on their patriotism and pride as leaders of colonial America.
According to Webster’s Online Dictionary, revolution is “a sudden, radical or complete change.” During the early settlement of the British colonies, settlers became so culturally different from those in Great Britain that they already seemed to be their own country. This is what John Adams meant in saying, “What do we mean by the Revolution? The war? That was no part of the Revolution; it was only an effect and consequence of it. The Revolution was in the minds of the people… years before a drop of blood was shed at Lexington.” In fact, the revolution began years before the colonists began to feel mistreated by the British. As they arrived in the new colonies, they noticed many major differences in the society and culture of this new place. As time went on, they learned about the colonies and the society there, and eventually, they evolved their cultures and lifestyles to comply with this new society. The primary changes the colonists the colonists made were in their economic system, their lifestyle, and their freedoms. In England, the economic system was primarily industrious, while in it was agriculture. In addition, the colonists, especially those in the south, relied very heavily on slave labor for agricultural purposes. In Great Britain, however, slavery did exist, but it was not relied upon for a functional society. The final change the settlers made in the New World was religion. In Great Britain, the king forced everyone to join the Church of England and leave the Roman Catholic Church. When in the colonies, settlers could go back to whatever religion they desired, so colonial religion was extremely diverse. Therefore, three main changes or “Revolutions”
Before his presidency, Adams took part in many of the historical events that marked this country. He became a prominent figure in his activities against the Stamp Act, which he wrote and published a popular article “Essay on the Canon and Feudal Law” (Ushistory.org). Word had arrived in Boston that Parliament was planning to pass a stamp tax, which was the first direct tax on the colonies, unless the colonies taxed themselves to help raise the needed revenue to pay off the war debt. The colonies, however, did not tax themselves. On March 8, 1765, the Stamp Act passed both houses of Parliament. It provided for a tax to be specified by a stamp on legal documents, newspapers, licenses, and other printed matter. Once the Stamps arrived to Boston, they were detained and burned. The people rushed in the streets saying, “No taxation without representation!” (Cowley 21-22).
It is 1776, the United States had just declared it’s Independence from England and one of those reasons for departing was the requirement to house British soldiers at anytime. After the French and Indian War England felt the need to thousands of soldiers in the colonies and an colonial quartering act was passed in 1765.When the British required the quartering of soldiers in the colonies it had passed in England that quartering of soldiers was not required. This quartering act on the colonies along with overtaxing lead to the start of the Revolution.Once the Americans won the war and had need to draft a constitution for the newly formed country, the exclusion of this requirement had to be added to the Bills of Rights.
The Stamp Act was an act that was passed by the British Parliament that was to go into effect on November 1st, 1765. This act was created to help pay the costs to govern and protect the American colonies. The Stamp Act required stamps to be placed on all legal and commercial documents and various articles. Many colonists did not want the act to be implemented. For that reason, Samuel Adams put together the Sons of Liberty to help abolish this law. Then the Stamp Act Congress was composed to completely repeal the act. The Stamp Act was one of the many taxes that the British Parliament put on the colonies as a source of wealth. This act made it necessary for colonists to put stamps on almost all written documents and other various articles.
This land was Ohio, much of the Mississippi valley and Canada. This at first was pleasing to the colonists because they saw the opportunity to expand, many even began purchasing land. These plans were cut short with the Proclamation of 1763. The proclamation declared that there would be no expansion past the Appellation Mountains. This proclamation was an attempt to cease quarrels with the Native Americans and even obtain their cooperation. This angered the colonists because they felt that they were entitled to the new land that Britain had just procured. Also following the French and Indian War was the Quartering Act. In 1765 the British forced the colonists to house British Soldiers. The British felt that it would be wise to keep soldiers in the colonies, not only to protect its new land from threats, but to also keep an eye on the colonies. Quartering soldiers in the colonist’s houses would save the British Empire a substantial amount of money. The colonists would be asked to build barracks for the soldiers, however the cost would be too high so they refused to build. Another reason this angered the colonists was, they felt it unnecessary to have troops when they had a
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
The population of Boston in 1765 was over twenty thousand people, and it was the second largest city in the country. The city was split up into two political factions, the loyalists, also known as the “Tories” were loyal to the British nation and respected and followed their policies. The other group was the Patriots, they too pledged alliance with the British, but they also believed strongly in their colonial rights, and more often then not went against parliamentary decisions. America still had not declared independence from England in 1765, and was expected to follow the rules of the parliament and the King. The government like all other states was structured differently, but the people elected their representatives. Unlike the British who let the people vote, but they are “indirectly represented” by Parliament. The stamp act was one of the first things Britain did to upset the colonies. John Adams who was a prospering young lawyer at the time, called the Stamp Act “That enormous engine, fabricated by the British Parliament, for battering down all the rights and liberties of America.” The stamp act put a tax on legal documents, and other paper items. The Americans called this “Taxation without representation”, because they didn’t have any elected officials in Parliament, who were representing them. The Americans petitioned the administration, but the King and Parliament simply ignored our pleas. This act caused the formation of the loyal nine.
One of the British actions that angered the colonists was the Stamp Act. The Stamp Act was passed in response to colonist's complaints about the Sugar Act. The Stamp Act, according to the chart in document one, forced colonists to buy a stamp and place it on all of their paper products. Colonists boycotted the Stamp Act and and formed the Committees of Correspondence and the Sons of Liberty. The Sons of Liberty, according to document two, tarred and feathered British officials and tax collectors to protest the Stamp A...
There were a myriad of differences between Great Britain and her American colonies in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, but these differences can be divided into three basic categories: economic, social, and political. The original American settlers came to the colonies for varied reasons, but a common trait among these settlers was that they still considered themselves British subjects. However, as time passed, the colonists grew disenfranchised from England. Separated from the king by three thousand miles and living in a primitive environment where obtaining simple necessities was a struggle, pragmatism became the common thread throughout all daily life in the colonies. It was this pragmatism that led the colonists to create their own society with a unique culture and system of economics and politics.