Ordinary colonists in North America saw British taxes as both an economic hardship as well as a trampling of their rights. Even before such men as Sam Adams and Paul Revere led protests through the streets of America, the everyday farmer and shopkeeper were finding ways around British taxes such as smuggling goods in and out of colonial ports. The God given rights of the common man were being tested and some American colonists started to consider fighting their British overlords.
Colonists like Matthew Patten who openly opposed the British Empire were considered insurgents. The British called him an insurgent to label him as a dangerous man others should not associate themselves with. If he did not recognize the king and respect his government, then he was a traitor. Patten was born in Ulster, Ireland in 1719 and he moved to New England when he was nine years old. In 1775, after a series of harassments by the British government, Patten took up arms in the local militia against the British soldiers responsible for rumored shootings at Concord. Matthew Patten and his entire family joined the insurgents and plotted against the British troops in New England. A common man like Patten who originally had no intention of jeopardizing himself or his family risks his own life and their lives to fight against the British soldiers stationed in the colonies.
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This private network was kept secret from the British and helped expand the communication of information for the colonial rebels.17 This organization also helped solidify revolution as the main focus of those involved.
Owning land gave American colonists a since of self-worth and freedom. The fight for Evangelical Protestantism played a more significant role to the insurgents because they felt that politics and religion overlapped each other. God expects oppressed people to defend their
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.
They were the people who actively participated and sacrificed their lives. Therefore the side they chose to fight on was heavily influenced by their “local interests, grudges, and unfulfilled yearnings [Page 87].”In summary, poor farmers, wanted political rights and land. For slaves they yearned for freedom. Women wanted to have the same rights as men. Native Americans wanted the colonists to stop encroaching on their land. Many of these desires coincided while other clashed. Therein lay the chaos that drove the American Revolution. While many of the people did not succeed the ideas they fought for became deeply embedded into
By this point, the colonists were beginning to question Britain’s motives towards them. They believed they were being treated like slaves and being used solely for the economic growth of Britain. One night, in 1773, the colonists rebelled against these taxes on their tea. A group of men dressed as Native Americans boarded a ship at Boston Harbor and unloaded three vessels of taxed tea (Boston Tea Party). This event, known a...
The American Revolution was caused by a series of attempts from the British to tax American colonists. After a war against France, Britain ruled an enormous overseas empire. Britain however faced war debt and was in need of money to administer the overseas empire. The crown decided that since the colonists were the primary beneficiaries of this empire, it was time to have them contribute to the empire’s revenue by paying taxes.
effort to unite and resist. The land that was occupied first was theirs, he believed. The land, he
From elementary to high school, the American Revolutionary War, is a topic that is repeated in the classroom, but to my surprise there were a lot of details that I was never taught. John Shy explored the many different angles of the Revolution in his essay, “The American Revolution: The Military Conflict Considered as a Revolutionary War.” He provides analysis on the American Revolutionary War and breaks it down into three categories, military, social, political, as well as where they overlap. This essay caught my attention because of Shy’s explanation on the Revolution and its effects. He tried to explain questions that have been around for many years such as how did one of the greatest military powers in the world could have been defeated
In the mid eighteenth century colonist of the new world started to rebel against Britain. Living in the colonies cost Britain a great deal of money Colonist did not like that they were being taxed. There were several acts passed that angered the colonists. For example, the Stamp Act, the Stamp Act was passed in 1765 taxed all legal documents including newspapers and other printed materials. The Stamp Act affected all that bought printed materials and it did not affect the poor because it was not too expensive. The colonist started to rebel and boycotted “No taxation without representation.” The colonists rebelled in many ways one of them was the Boston Tea Party. The Boston Tea Party occurred in 1773 as an act of revolt colonists threw tea cargo of a ship to the ocean. These acts of Britain towards the new colonies caused colonist to revolve and declare war to separate from Britain. The colonists were not justified to going to war to break away from Britain because England was paying more taxes and the mother country deserved absolute respect; however, the colonists were justified to break away from Britain because they were taxed without representation.
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.
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...
The British Order in Council said ¨The British revenue only paid for a fourth of the cost and was inconsiderable ¨ (DOC 6). Due to not being able to afford to protect the colonies Great Britain developed mercantilist policies in order to gain some money. Mercantilism benefited the mother country but the colonies were only allowed to trade with Great Britain making them overspend for items in order to gain some revenue. The colonial government now had less power because of this policy of mercantilism. Soldiers at the time thought that they were not being treated fairly, one soldiers diary said ¨And though we be Englishmen born, we are [denied] Englishman's liberty (DOC 4). The British treated colonist with less respect than they would have if they were from Great Britain which caused a divide worsening the relationship between Great Britain and the American colonist. Taxes were also enforced in the colonies to pay for the British troops. The colonist thought this new taxation seemed unfair, they saw it as death to their liberties (DOC 7). Great Britain introduced tax such as the stamp act (1765), the sugar act (1764), and the Townshend acts (1767). American colonist thought that they should have taxation with representation so they formed groups such as the sons and daughters of liberty and boycotted taxed
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...
When the French and Indian War had started in 1763, it was assured that Great Britain was deeply in debt. During this battle, England had occupied much of Eastern American colonies. When the British had taken over the colonies it angered the workers, because many of them thought they had to leave their jobs and work for British side. In addition too, many colonists knew they were going to be taxed. This quote is directly from Benjamin Franklin’s Letter on the Stamp Act in July 01, 1765. “Idleness and pride tax with a heavier hand than kings and parliaments. If we can get rid of the former, we may easily bear the latter” (Franklin). If the colonists can get rid of the British Legislative branch, then they will have the freedom to sell, buy, and trade. However, many colonist believed they could do anything more, but not pay any taxes to the Parliament. Throughout the middle 1700s, many farmers faced this issue and were not able to ...
As an American observes the life around him, noting the many advancements made in merely the last century, he must wonder how America climbed to such a level. The 21st century technology, the military and political power, education and ethics, all came from such meager beginnings, solidified by the Revolutionary War. The Revolutionary War proved to be a significant turning point in the history of our country, but what caused America to win? What were some of the most significant factors in the victory of these American patriots? By examining these three particular factors, America’s military assets, it’s aid from other countries, and its own spirit of independence, one’s understanding of the Revolutionary War, an essential root of this nation, is truly increased.
The problem for many American colonists was not that taxes were high (the taxes were actually quite low, particularly compared with those paid by ordinary citizens of Britain), but that the colonies were not consulted about the new taxes, as they had no representation in Parliament. The colonists did not have any voting rights with regards to the taxes and so in order to avoid having to pay the taxes imposed on them the colonist’s boycotted British goods. This eventually led to the Boston Tea Party and other boycotts.
In the 1770’s the British army was well known for its monetary wealth and professional well trained militia. American colonists were slowly getting more and more fed up with the inequality and taxation under British rule so they took a stand. Americans known as Rebels or Patriots fought in the Revolutionary War to gain independence from Britain. Some colonists also known as loyalists, thought that the Patriots had no chance against the professional militia so they stayed loyal to the crown. Although improbable at the start of the American Revolution, the colonists were able to defeat the British army and formally gain independence because they had great leadership from George Washington, similar goals that created high morale, and aided from