How Did The Colonists Gain Their Independence

It was the Tea Act. This act stated that only the British East India Company could sell or transport tea. Members of parliament passed this act because many of them had stakes in the company. At the time the British India Company was going bankrupt. This act threatened all colonial businesses by creating a monopoly. In Boston, the colonists devised a plan to resist this act. Several colonists dressed as Indians to deceive the British. These colonists seized the imported tea and dumped it into the harbor. The colonists dubbed this “the tea party.” The British responded to these actions by creating four acts jointly called the Coercive Acts. These acts closed the Boston ports to all trade, increased power of Massachusetts governor, granted trials of royal officials in Massachusetts be tried elsewhere, and allowed the new governor rights to quarter his troops anywhere. These Coercive Acts only angered the colonists more. They have strengthened their non-importation of British goods. They have also begun the forming of local militia companies.

The Stamp Act further increased the duties on almost any printed material. The amount of mass defiance and rioting, especially in the major cities, that followed shocked the British government, they have never seen this amount or scale of discontent before with their subjects in America. As time went on, so did the riots, mostly in New York, Boston, and Newport, Rhode Island. Finally in March 1766, after a long debate, Parliament repealed the Stamp Act only to pass the Declaration Act, which stated that Parliament could enact laws for the colonies in all cases. Only now most Americans began to realize the power parliament had over controlling their basic rights. England further angered the colonists in June of 1772, when they announced that instead of having a legislature put into place by them, England would pay the governors and judges. Even though it would save the colonists money, they had the mindset of if the judges were paid by England, then they would obey them and what they said. In response, Boston created a Committee of Correspondence to win the sympathy of other colonies, by the end of 1773, all but 3 colonies had Committees of Correspondence. The final step before revolution started was taken in 1773 when the Parliament passed the Tea Act, which allowed the East India Company to ship tea directly to North America with a tax to the colonists, but the merchants who competed with the company announced this as

The American settlers were left at outlaws and out of sovereignty protection under King George III of England while still able to be charge for breaking British reforms and laws such as smuggling across the Trans-Atlantic trade routes after August 1775. These goods included tea, coffee and other raw goods that supplied England’s industry and production of goods causing a disruption in slave trade and income through transnational trade which vital to the upkeep of the colonies during times of financial difficulties such as the introduction of the Stamp Act of 1765 on all documentations and newspaper to finance Britain’s Seven Years' War between 1756 and 1763. Another significant event, The Boston Tea Party of 1773 due to the taxation under the Tea Act depicts the civil unrest of colonists against the British Parliament and to regain rights to trade without taxation. The need to sever ties with England not only signalled the transition from colonialists to become freed men but during the American Revolutionary War it allowed the equality of colonialists as equal men thus it is the liberal ideals and the post-colonial attitudes created by mistreatment of the government that highlight the outcome of this rebellious period.

The French and Indian war (1754-1763) commonly known as the seven year war. The war was between New France and the colonies of British America. The reason for the war was for control of North America and the fur trade. The Treaty of Paris was the treaty that marked the ending of the French and Indian War. The treaty gave the British control over the area west of the thirteen colonies to the Mississippi River.

By the 1750s, the American colonies had come a long way from their original struggles and failures. They had grown in both population and economic stability. Even so, relations between the colonies and Great Britain were strained. The colonists became more and more discontented with England’s control of their political and economic affairs. The colonies were dissatisfied with the rules of British Mercantilism, or the idea that the colonies were a mere source of raw materials and market for the British mainland. This animosity for the motherland had then been seeded by the lack of economic freedom and the harsh taxes that had been set on everyday luxuries and necessities;

Prior to the American Revolution, Britain controlled the colonies through a system of mercantilism. Many Americans found the system debasing, and they felt kept in a state of adolescence that was never allowed to come of age. It wasn’t until Britain began taxing the colonists after the Seven Years’ War that Americans began to realize what they had to do in order to resolve their problems being forced upon from overseas. The colonists developed a strong sense of their identity and unity as Americans by the eve of the Revolution through coming together to fight for independence from Britain.

(Make intro stronger) Before 1760 England and Americas’ relationship was on good terms. The imperial system provided the America’s with many benefits such as political stability, opportunities for trade and commerce, and also military protection. During this time Great Britain was known as a world power and desired to remain that way. In response to wanting to remain a world power, Britain, during 1763- 1775 passed a series of laws that would allow them to gain more control over the colonies which would ultimately increase colonial taxes, control trade in the colonies and pass strict laws. These regulations caused the Colonies and Britain to have a tumultuous relationship, and the colonies warnings that these regulations were strenuous were

The Boston Tea Party occurred on December 16, 1773, and is marked as one of the greatest catalysts of the American Revolution. Colonists were enraged by British taxation without proper representation after the French and Indian war. The war had cost the crown dearly and in response, parliament passed the Stamp Act in 1765 and the Townsend Revenue Acts in 1767 as an effort to replenish their depleted treasury. Parliament retraced the Stamp Act and the taxes put in place by the Townsend Acts, except for a duty on tea; a "demonstration of Parliament's ability and right to tax the colonies"("The Boston Tea Party"). This caused patriots across the country to refuse to allow ships of tea to land as a protest of Parliament's unfair taxation on the

Historian, Clinton Rossiter stated that the Stamp Act had an “overwhelming refusal to obey” because the colonists were not going to allow their independence to be taken from their firm grip. Because of the threatening debt, Britain required certain colonies to provide food and shelter for British troops in an effort to save money. This Quartering Act in 1765 took more than the colonist’s money; it took their sense of security and their privacy. Americans could no longer feel safe knowing that Britain’s power to protect was growing weaker, and since the British troops still had more authority over the colonist’s, they could search the colonists’ homes and obtain personal information about them. Similarly, the tax on tea in 1773 in the colonies proved that the British were at fault for a rebellion from the colonists and that the Boston Tea Party was inevitable.

One example is the Stamp Act of 1765, which demanded that the colonists only buy English paper (which was taxed). The colonists protested by boycotting British goods. In order to set the colonies straight- England passed the Declaratory Act of 1766, which stated that the British government had the right to assert control over its colonies. By this time, tensions were high among the colonists and the British. The colonists resented that their independence had been taken from

There were many tedious laws passed that angered the colonists beyond belief. They decided that it was reasonable to have the colonies help pay back the debt they owed to the banks and individual investors, they borrowed money from to fight the Seven Years’ War (Foner, p. 141). An example of this would be the Sugar, Stamp, and Tea Acts which raised colonial taxes and lowered English taxes. The sugar Act was less of a conflict due to the fact that it mainly affected the colonists at the ports as it was used to lessen smuggling. The Stamp Act though, was what caused great drama and marked the definite split of the colonists and Great Britain over the meaning of freedom (Foner, p. 142). This act affected all of the free colonists, especially those who wrote, published, and read books, newspapers, and followed political affairs. The colonists claimed that Britain had no right to tax them since they were not represented. This gave way to the famous expression “no taxation without representation”. As this was law was repealed, colonists thought the same would occur with the Townshend Acts. Unfortunately, a rift happened one night giving way to what we call the Boston Massacre from this. Lastly, The Boston Tea Party was an effect of the Tea Act. This famous rebellion resulted in more British enforcement, reducing colonist’s liberty only supplying them more reason to go to

In the mid 1700’s, uproars in the thirteen original colonies had led to a revolution that eventually caught the attention of the British Tyranny. Later, the thirteen colonies sought Independence which broke off all ties with the British. In the midst of the American revolution, colonists and the British proceeded in uproar against each other; in due course, leading to the taxation of colonists, a tyrant ruler, and loyalist standpoints which opposed the colonists’ wishes.

Right before and throughout the American Revolutionary War there were many acts passed by British Parliament that limited and angered the colonist. To name a few, there was the Stamp Act, Townshend Acts, and Quartering Act. A man named John Dickinson wrote twelve letters expressing his thoughts on acts such as the Townshend acts, they were titled Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania. In his first letter he wrote directly to the colonist that lived amongst him and spoke to them as if he they were equals. The Townshend acts of 1767 imposed taxes on items like glass, paper, and tea. Later in 1770 these taxes were repealed. They were important because they were a key factor in the American revolutionary war that led the colonist to revolt against the British.

The British knew that they had to control the colonists so they decided to make sort of tax/law to where the colonists could not move west. This law/tax was called the Proclamation of 1763. This made the colonists very angry because had they not just fought a war so they could move west? That was the beginning of the new laws and taxes that Britain would make for the colonists in an attempt to control them.

Colonists from Britain initially came to the New World seeking gold, glory, or religious freedom. Later on, following the 7-years war fought by colonists and British against the French and Indians, Britain was left with a heavy war debt. As colonists were taxed in order to pay these debts and Britain began to interfere in the colonies more and more, colonists grew upset. As the tensions rose, these few sparks grew into a raging fire that fueled the colonies fight against Britain and gain their independence. The founding documents to guide the new nation were interpreted as directives for the formation of the government and to insure that no single party held all