What Role Did Virtual Representation Play In The Revolutionary War

The chapters of our textbook, America: A Narrative History, written by George Brown Tindall and David Emory Shi, takes us on a historical yet comparative journey of the road to war and what caused the American Revolution, an insight into the war itself, and a perception to what life was like in America after the war was over. The essays of the book, America Compared: American History in International Perspective, collected by Carl J. Guarneri gives us a global context and a comparison between the North and South Americas in the dividing issues of labor, slavery, taxes, politics, economy, liberty, and equality.

Let’s begin with the American revolution the conflict arose from growing tensions between residents of Great Britain’s 13 North American colonies and the colonial government, which represented the British crown. Skirmishes between British troops and colonial militiamen in Lexington and Concord in April 1775 kicked off the armed conflict, and by the following summer, the rebels were waging a full-scale war for their independence. France entered the American Revolution on the side of the colonists in 1778, turning what had essentially been a civil war into an international conflict. After French assistance helped the Continental Army force the British surrender at Yorktown, Virginia, in 1781, the Americans had effectively won their independence, though fighting would not formally end until 1783. For more than a decade before the outbreak of the American Revolution in 1775, tensions had been building between colonists and the British authorities.

The British government was not looking for the best of the people. They were only thinking about what they wanted; the government was not interested in what the people wanted so they decided to make decisions on their own, which resulted in changes that form the United States today. Because of this, they were justified in rebelling and declaring independence.

At the dawn of the 1770s, American colonial resentment of the British Parliament in London had been steadily increasing for some time. Retaliating in 1766, Parliament issued the Declaratory Act which repealed most taxes except issued a reinforcement of Parliament’s supremacy. In a fascinating exchange, we see that the Parliament identifies and responds to the colonists main claim; Parliament had no right to directly tax colonists who had no representation in Parliament itself. By asserting Parliamentary supremacy while simultaneously repealing the Stamp Act and scaling back the Sugar Act, Parliament essentially established the hill it would die on, that being its legitimacy. With the stage set for colonial conflict in the 1770s, all but one

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

Prior to the American Revolution, history had shown cases of tyrannical governments taking advantage of the people. In most cases these tyrannical governments were shown no mercy and many times they were overthrown. For the American Colonies and the British Government this was completely different. It was different in the way that the American Colonies had shown great dislike for the lack of representation, taxes, and its plain disrespect from its mother land. The American Colonies attempted many times to catch the attention of the King in order to prevent anymore disliking for the crown and his government. These dislikes would soon grow into tensions as the British government ignored the American Colonies solutions.

Settling in the New World provided both the American settlers and the British government with many opportunities. For the colonists, North America provided an opportunity to improve their lives and escape religious persecution. For the British, settlers in North America provided access to raw materials and new markets in which to sell finished goods. This mercantilist relationship continued for several years, until the colonists began to question Parliament’s right to treat them differently than other British citizens. Taxes were imposed on the colonists as a means of helping to pay the debt Britain had incurred fighting the French. Troops stationed in North America were viewed with suspicion by the colonists, often resulting in hostile encounters

When the colonists broke off from Britain they made it clear that they wanted nothing to do with them, and that they basically strongly disliked them. It also enabled them to “...levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts and things which independent states may of right to do,” (Document 2). When this happened, the political system was shaped into the political system that every country wants, besides slavery for

Soon after the Seven Years’ War, the British and the colonists learned that victory came with a rather expensive price (Kennedy, Cohen, & Bailey, 2010). Great Britain tightened its grip on the colonies in North America, expecting colonists to pay for their financial struggles. In order to make colonists pay for the war, Great Britain reminded the North American colonies who had authority by controlling the colonists to submit to various ordinances ratified by British Parliament. This action only showed that arrogance leads to rebellion socially, economically, and politically.

In 1756 the French and Indian War began. At this time European nations were exploring and taking over the new world. Spain controlled South America while Britain and France dominated North America. Britain and France were fighting over land and trade. Britain wanted to expand the colonies so the colonies would produce more raw materials and buy more finished goods from Britain. After the war Britain wanted to be more involved in the colonies. They felt more of a British presence was needed but the colonist thought the opposite. Colonist did not want British soldiers, tax collectors and law enforces controlling their towns, they did not want British laws telling them what to do. The French and Indian War changed the relations between Britain

The French and Indian War altered the relations of the American Colonies and Britain through political, economic, and geographical issues.

The colonists were mistreated from the start the British forced them to pay their war debts basically and controlled them harshly this caused the colonists to rise up and take back power. These events eventually led to the American Revolution and colonists

During the first years of the English settlements of North America the people who immigrated from England they formed colonies that with the support of the British government. The colonist didn 't pay a lot of taxes on their trading benefits to the government. Through the years, the King and the parliament started raising taxes on almost everything that the colonist was producing in the colonies. The colonists weren 't happy with the new taxation that the king was charging to the colonies, and it led the colonist to protest at British empire. There are several reasons why the colonists revolted against the British government. The settlers felt that the British government were treating them unfairly, and their rights were violated. The conflict between the British Government and settler helped to gather political ideas to break away from the British Government and declare their own independent nation.

The people of America (colonists) were tired of being controlled by England. They wanted to be free and independent. They believed that they were able to control themselves and be their own country. They wanted England to let go of their control and to view them as independent and their own country.

“No Taxation without Representation.” This would be a heated topic over people not having a say over the issue of taxes.The first war fought in the American Revolution was the french and Indian war, which was between the colonists and the natives over who should attain more land.Britain had a concept of Virtual Representation which meant that people did not get to have a say in the government there was also Actual representation which meant the people did get to have a say in the government.The British used virtual representation as they were taxing the colonies yet they weren’t actually living in the colonies. These were some of the issues that would eventually lead to the start of the American Revolution.