Hello Professor and hello everyone;
There were many factors that led to the American Revolution. These factors led to the dissatisfaction with Great Britain. With the massive cost from the French and Indian war, King George III had to pay for the cost. This is when the Proclamation of 1763 was issued. This policy stated that settlement was prohibited anywhere west of the Appalachian Mountains (U.S. History (n.d) OpenStax). This was also used to prevent the settlers and Indians from starting another war. When an investigation of the colonies and their revenues showed that they were doing very poorly, the new prime minister, George Greenville, was very set on enforcing laws and new taxes. The first step was the Revenue Act (or better known as sugar Act). This taxed the imported sugar and other goods and made stricter penalties for smuggling. This Act violated two beliefs of the colonists, that consent was needed for colonist to be taxed (U.S. History (n.d) OpenStax).
The stamp Act of 1765 was the solution the British had to the resistance to sugar Act. This required that the colonist to buy special stamps to place on things such as newspapers and cards. This enraged the colonists again and yet strengthened the notion that they were being taxed without consent. The next action taken by the British was the Townshend Act of 1767 which taxed imports into the colonies such as glass, paint, paper, and tea. This Act started what would be knowns the nonimportation movement. This movement organized boycotts against anything imported from Britain. With the new taxes in place, the animosity grew between the colonist and Britain. This caused unrest and Britain to move soldiers to the port cities to try to contain the unrest. This resulted in the Boston Massacre (U.S. History (n.d) OpenStax).
Tension ran high in Boston in early 1770. More than 2,000 British soldiers occupied the city of 16,000 colonists and tried to enforce Britain’s tax laws, like the Stamp act and Townshend Acts, American colonists rebelled against the taxes they found repressive, rallying around cry, “no taxation without representation”. Tension increase between colonists, and soldiers and between patriot colonists and colonists loyal to Britain (loyalists) were increasingly common. To protect taxes, patriots often vandalized stores selling British goods and intimidated store merchants and their customers. The primary cause for the Boston Massacre was that patriots in Boston started throwing things such as rocks and sticks at British soldiers, which caused the soldiers to fire into the crowd. The most significant result was that it helped rally the colonists around the Revolutionary cause. The Boston Massacre seemed to be the insightment of British troops by American colonials (Elizabeth, Brown Kate). Tensions in the American people had built up as result of an increasing sense of patriotism, pains brought on by British rules and regulations.The tension produced by military occupation of Boston, was increased after the firings of a group of soldiers against a group of nobles who were protesting against the rise of rates on the part of England. The conflict energized anti-British sentiment and paved the way for the American Revolution ( Elizabeth, Brown Kate). The Boston Massacre had a major impact on relations between Britain and the American colonists. It further incensed colonists already weary of British rule and unfair taxation and roused them to fight for independence (Elizabeth, Brown Kate).
The Townshend Acts were a series of measures, passed by the British Parliament in 1767, that taxed goods imported to the American colonists, who had no representation in parliament, saw the Acts as an abuse of power. The British sent troops to America to enforce the unpopular new laws, further heightening tensions between Great Britain and the American colonies in the run-up to the American Revolution War. The British government thought the colonists should help pay the cost of their protection. The British parliament enacted a series of taxes on the colonies for the purpose of raising revenue (U.S. History (n.d) OpenStax). By 1769, more than 2,000 British soldiers’ troops had arrived in Boston to restore order.
References
U.S. History (n.d) OpenStax Retrieved from: https://openstax.org/books/us-history/pages/3-3-english-settlements-in-america
Elizabeth, Brown Kate. “History.” Massachusetts Society, 6 June 2020, www.massar.org/2020/06/06/250th-series-250th-anniversary-of-the-boston-massacre-from-the-viewpoint-of-the-british-and-loyalists/.
Hi Professor and class,
Two acts that I am going to discuss the Stamp Act and the Townsend Act. In 1973 The war between England (Protestants) and France (Catholics) had finally ended with England emerging victorious against France. The war was costly and British subjects across both sides of the Atlantic including Georgia and Maine sang in triumph “Rule, Britannia! Britannia rule the waves! Britons never, never, never shall be slaves!” U.S. History (n.d) OpenStax. Despite the ownership of black slaves existed in Georgia at that time.
The Stamp Act came about after the war and England accrued a large debt from the war that had to be paid. Parliament had to find ways to raise revenue to pay off said debt. U.S. History (n.d) OpenStax. One suggestion was to develop a stamp book that citizens had to purchase and use a stamp for anything that was printed on paper, like playing cards, newspaper, or legal documents. This was introduced by the Prime Minister Grenville in 1764. This was used on both sides of the Atlantic. Many disagreements came about because of the Stamp Act and many protests came about and many groups protested and boycotted against British goods and against this British policy, in Great Britain and the U.S. Eventually, this Act was lifted.
After the Stamp act was lifted by parliament, the Townsend act came about in 1767. It was like the Stamp Act, but included was any thing paper, paint, lead, tea, and glass was taxed when it was imported from Britain. (the colonies paid). Bostonians rioted because imports came into Boston to keep the economy going, so taxes had to be paid and there was no other way around it. The day of the rioting March 5th, 1770 British soldiers fired into a crowd of rioters killing 5 (American Revolution). AKA The Boston Massacre
In my opinion, I think that the Townsend Act played a significant roll in the Declaration of Independence, because it gave America the push to break away from Great Britain and to reclaim her independence.
References
https://www.history.com/topics/american-revolution/townshend-actsLinks to an external site.
U.S.History (n.d) OpenStax Retrieved from :https://openstax.org/books/us-history/pages5-1confrontint-the-national-debt-the-aftermath-of-the-french-and-indian-war
