1993 Apush Dbq Analysis

One of the British wrongdoings against the colonists was that the Parliament instilled a numerous number of heavy taxes on the colonies after the Seven Years War. Those taxes were the Sugar Act, Stamp Act, Quartering Act, Townshend Acts and the Tea Act. These Acts, from the colonial standpoint, were to collect money for the treasury (Boyer et al, 141). Moreover, these taxed placed upon the colonies were an act of taxation without representation, which upset the colonists. “Jefferson argued that the English government had violated its contract with the colonists, there by giving them the right to replace it with a government of their own design.” A government with an emphasis on “equality of all individuals and their natural entitlement to justice, liberty, and self-fulfillment expressed republican’s deepest longing for a government that would rest on neither legal privilege nor exploitation of the majority by the few.” (Boyer et al, 158,

In the 1950’s the cold war had begun. The fear of retaliation from communists was at large. Some Americans believed that communists were amongst them plotting. This lead to a dark time in history when American opportunity became limited for many. Most rights were limited, normal life was disrupted, and the most necessary human right may have been taken. All of these restrictions limited the American opportunity making it an age of fear and oppression rather than an age of opportunity.

In result, economic changes would come to the colonies. Parliament met in 1763 and came to the conclusion that they were not receiving the profit they needed from the colonies (Document F). As a result, many taxes were passed by British Parliament upon the colonies, including the Sugar Act, the Stamp Act (Document H) and the Tea Act. The American colonies were not happy, to say the least. Americans protested, saying that these taxes were unnecessary and unfair. Arguably, these taxes were only placed by Britain to “milk” the colonies for profit. Ben Franklin responded to the Stamp Act, writing a letter to John Hughs to discuss efforts to get it repealed (Document G). . In a way, the series of taxes applied by Parliament would spark a fire within the colonists and begin the American Revolution, where Americans finally say enough is enough. The time had come for political and ideological change, where the colonies would break from their motherland, Great Britain.

One reason why the colonists decided to rebel and declare independence was because of taxation. The colonists wanted representation when it came down to being taxed, but the British government would not allow it. The government wanted full control over the people, so they made sets of acts and laws that were placed on taxation. For example, the Stamp Acts of 1765. These acts taxed all papers, pamphlets, newspapers, and cards. The Townshend Acts of 1767 were also a large part of taxation. Imports of lead, glass, paper, paint, and tea were taxed; the British government wanted the colonists to pay so they created punishments for colonists who

Many Americans and British have different opinions on what went on and who was right in the American Revolution. Americans thought they were right and so did the British. The American Revolution went on from 1775 to 1783. The very first battle, Lexington and Concord, was “a shot heard around the world.” Coming back to our opinions, were the American colonists justified to break off of Britain? The American colonists were justified by taxation, no representation, and the lack of land they owned.

One time the British passed a law that allowed the british soldiers to forcefully live in the colonists’ home! The colonies started out to benefit Great Britain, but after one war and lots of laws, the colonies were going to be part of a revolution. What was the American Revolution about? Economic Rights or Civil Liberties? On one hand the British instilled unfair regulations on trade and goods. On the other hand the British deprived the colonists of even the most basic of rights. The American Revolution was more about Civil Liberties because there are three main arguments that support it: Taxation without Representation, the Quartering Act, and the Intolerable (Coercive) Acts. These actions that the British did justified the colonists’ revolution.

The British became tyrants and did things just because they were able to. Britain had “an absolute Tyranny over these states.” (Document 7), it is saying that Britain had complete control over everyone and everything. The British treated all of the colonists like slaves and made the colonists do whatever Britain wanted the people to do. Like when Britain issued the Quartering acts, Britain made the colonists give up their homes and jobs just so the soldiers had a bed, food and money. The colonists had no one to tell Britain that the acts and taxes and what they were doing was unfair. In Document 5 it says, “What is to defend [the colonists] against so enormous, so unlimited power?” Meaning that the colonists had no one to speak out for them. Britain didn 't make the acts/taxes to pay off the debt from the war; Britain did it to show the colonists “whose boss. ” The British knew how much power they had and what they were able to do with it. Britain set up the unfair taxes because they wanted to and were able to do

Many of the reasons the American colonies believed they were justified in their rebellion from England lay in trade and taxes. When George III inherited the throne at the end of the Seven Years’ War England’s debt had risen to 145 million pounds and his chief minister believed that the American colonies needed to help shoulder the debt. (Nash, et al., 2007., p. 134) In attempting to collect these taxes from the colonies to relieve the mounting debt Parliament passed a range of acts, which led to discontent among the colonists as many of them restricted trade, their political maneuverability and left many believing they infringed upon their “right to be taxed only by their own consent.” (Nash, et al., 2007., p. 135) The Stamp and Townshend Acts

The British were in massive debt following the French and Indian war, therefore they placed taxes on the colonists in order to regenerate some of that money lost. The Sugar Act of 1764 taxed the sale of molasses in hopes to gain some lost money, but this act led the people of Boston to boycott the molasses industry. The Stamp Act of 1765 shortly followed, making colonists buy a stamp with every paper product. The rage the colonists felt over the passing of this act, led the colonies to begin to unify as they together boycotted the trade industry. The Townshend Duties of 1767 imposed taxes on glass, lead, paint, paper and tea, but this only led to the colonist to again boycott the trade of those items and start newspaper attack. The Tea Act which took place in 1773, and was one of the last attempts from the British to control the amount of money it was making on the colonies. The Boston Tea Party occurred soon after this act started being enforced, resulting in hundreds of cases of tea being dumped into the Boston Harbour. The British kept on attempting to pass taxes in the American colonies but every new tax they passed fueled the revolutionary flame within the angered

This made the colonist upset because they wanted nothing to do with the British soldiers and the colonist was not fond of them living in their house. They also wanted the colonist to fund the money needed to feed and house the soldiers, and they refused to do so. The Stamp Act, which Parliament passed in 1765 was the one that caused the most disruption of them all. The Stamp Act made the colonies angry because they had to use stamped paper for all official documents such as diplomas, marriage licenses, wills, newspapers and playing cards. The stamp showed these words embedded in the paper; the taxes had to be paid on this document. This was extremely disturbing to the colonies because of what they had written in the document about the taxes. George Grenville 's plan insisted that all of the taxes that they collected go directly to the soldiers who were protecting the North American Colonies. He also informed the colonies that those who tried to avoid using the tax paper that they would be tried in a court of law and not by a jury of their peers. The British Crown was ready to enforce these sanctions on the colonies, which is why they informed them of their intention to raise the taxes. The Stamp Act of 1765 was so unpopular and not liked by the people that they decided to send

In the Declaration of Rights and Grievances issued by the Stamp Act Congress, they claimed that Parliament lacked the power to tax the colonies because they had no representation. While the Stamp Act was repealed, the colonists were never given representation in Parliament. In the “Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms”, issued by the Second Continental Congress, this same issue was cited as a justification for fighting. “[The British declare] that parliament can ‘of right make laws to bind us in all cases whatsoever.’ What is to defend us against so enormous, so unlimited power?” (Document 5). After ten years of disagreement over Parliamentary representation, the British were still unwilling to grant the colonists this right. Before the Second Continental Congress decided to go to war, there was still hope of reaching a peaceful settlement. The Congress sent King George the Olive Branch Petition in the hopes of restoring peace. His lack of response is noted in “The Declaration of Independence”, which was adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, American Independence Day. The king is defined as having as his objective, “…the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States” (Document 7). The desire for the British to exercise complete control over the colonies, and an unwillingness to negotiate any peaceful compromise made war

A revolution is the bringing of a new start. Like many other revolutions throughout the years, the American Revolution is the perfect example of this. The effects of a revolution not only on the people but on society as well, can be detrimental. Many of these effects included closing the Boston harbor, passing the Intolerable Act, British government refused to address American complaints, and the colonists felt the British government was increasingly corrupt and autocratic empire in which their traditional liberties were threatened.

The colonists no longer considered it be a virtuous government. As Thomas Paine said, “Government is, or at least should be, designed to “supply the deflect of moral virtue”. It is evident that in the years 1774 to 1776 that British government had become corrupt and they were forcing laws upon the colonists that they did not have the authority to do. By enforcing these laws without giving the colonists proper representation in Parliament the British government had infringed on the colonist’s rights to life, liberty, and

In document C, John Dickinson explains to his fellow colonists that Parliament never considered imposing taxes in the colonies until the period following the French and Indian War. Document A implies that the reason being was simply because Britain had dug themselves into a pile of debt due to aid from other countries and the expenses of war, and because the British felt that the colonies owed them for enabling them to freely use the Mississippi River, Parliament believed that imposing taxes for revenue from the colonies was just. However, Patriots believed otherwise. Salutary Neglect has been an active law in the colonies since 1696, and up until now they have been perfectly fine not enforcing British acts and policies, but all of a sudden colonists are forced into paying revenue on everything from paper (Townshend Act) to stamps (Stamp Act). Parliament even placed tax on British tea imports. The Stamp Act caused a major uproar among colonists and was the reason for the forming of the Sons of Liberty; a querulous group of protestors who violently harassed British tax collectors, posted many broadsides and propaganda, hosted the British Tea Party, and many of the organizations leaders would soon become generals in many of the leading battles in the

Between 1761 and 1776, the British crown created and enforced various laws in an attempt to reinstate sovereignty in the British colonies. The colonists responded with petitions, grievances, boycotts, and violence in order to defend their unalienable rights, liberties, and privileges as British subjects. Colonists believed laws such as the writs of assistance, Stamp Act, and Navigation Laws undermined their rights. Though these laws dealt largely with economics, the root cause of conflict was rooted in the British attempts to establish sovereignty and the political controversies between the colonies and their mother