The Revolution Of The American Revolution

American Revolution One of the most important facets of any revolution is violence. This is often a response to the heightened repression or other intolerable demands from the government against its people. The American Revolution is no exception. Following the Seven Years War, England need to recover some of their finances which were lost due to the war. Parliament achieved this by the taxation of the American colonies; the Stamp Act of 1765 is an example of this.

An oppressed people will eventually rise against the oppressor regardless of loyalties they may have had in the past to their oppressor. Humans can only withstand so much oppression before eventually reaching a breaking point-a fact the British Empire failed to realize when they took oppressive actions on their colonies that would cause conflict and culminate into the American Revolution. After claiming victory in the French-Indian War, the British decided to implement policies and taxes in the colonies the colonists that the colonists considered illegal due to lack of their consent. While initially, the colonists did attempt more peaceful and logical alternatives to resolve their discontent with the British Empire, eventually more oppressive taxes and violent events culminated to a full Revolution. Before the revolution, the British had incurred debt from the French-Indian War and needed to raise money: they turned to the colonies as a source of income.

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.

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.

Continuing disobedience in Boston led Parliament to pass the Coercive Acts, which completely closed Boston harbor in an attempt to cut off the Boston rebels from the rest of the colonies. On April 19, 1775, the Battles of Lexington and Concord broke out when British troops tried to seize a rebel stockpile of weapons. This began the Revolutionary War. Washington watched these developments with fear. He would lose a lot if a rebellion took place.

Many revolutions begin with the outbreak of violence, which is often a response to heightened repression or other extraordinary demands from government against their people. The American Revolution is an obvious example of this. The violence took the form of the Revolutionary War and Congress became the leadership. American Revolution was the first anti-colonial, democratic revolution in history. Americans insisted on representation and when the British denied it, they fought their colonizers.

The true nature of the conflict between the British and the Colonists was that the British had loosely governed the colonies in the beginning. Because of problems at home in England they did not strictly govern the colonies. The colonies formed their own governments around the loose laws of the British. When the British needed money they decided to bring in extra revenue by taxing the colonists. The colonists did not accept their taxation without representation, which caused the Colonists to seek independence from the crown.

The Act stated they must use stamped paper for printing bills, legal documents, and playing cards. England saw these acts as needed to cover the expense for the soldiers protecting the colonies; the Americans did not feel the soldier’s needed to be in the New World and hated the taxes. The Prime Minister claimed that the Colonists were represented in the parliament: each member stood for the empire as a whole. The acts imposed by England to control and monitor America only succeeded in helping with t... ... middle of paper ... ...as the Battle of Lexington, the first in a series of wars in a span of eight-years between the colonist and Britain. In January of 1776, Thomas Payne published Common Sense; a letter that stated kingship is hazardous to liberty and is undemocratic.

These taxes caused uprisings among colonists which contributed to British occupation in America, leading to more rebellions. Eventually, the rift in the relationship between the colonists and the British led to the Revolutionary War and the formation of a new country. 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 caused Britain to scapegoat towards the colonies for the great loss in revenue. Britain believed that it was the colonies responsibility to help pay for the ... ... middle of paper ... ...t to the King with their concerns about virtual representation and self rule and their attempts were ignored. Document E discusses the aspirations of a reverend towards his mother country. The document discusses his desire to have peace and freedom and through the growing number of colonists they will achieve their true goal of independence from Britain. Britain had no respect or liberty, not even an ear to give the colonists and this is what made the colonists turn their backs on the British.