Before 1750, there was salutary neglect from Great Britain towards the colonies. Meaning Great Britain didn’t show any attention to the colonies, thus the colonies were self-governed and didn’t have to listen to Great Britain. Enlightened ideas that came to American colonies before the war gave the consists ideas of freedom and rights. In the time period 1740-1766, the relations between Great Britain and American colonies were altered drastically due to the French and Indian war because Britain started taking over the colonies, Britain was trying to get out of debt by using the American colonies, and lastly the American colonies thought they had freedom of the land they won in the war. The political relations between American colonies and …show more content…
The king’s treasurers, a.k.a the tax collectors, blamed the colonists for Great Britain being in debt and said that it was the colonies fault mercantilism weren’t working (doc F). In attempt to get out of debt, Britain enforced many acts such as the navigational act, sugar act, and tea act. The navigational act was enforced to prohibit the colonies from trading with anyone other than each other and Great Britain. The sugar act was enforced to try and stop the importation of molasses, so they taxed the sugar that the colonists imported. The tea act forced colonists to buy tea from the east India tea company. All these acts made the colonists very unhappy. Another act was the stamp act, which was enforced by Great Britain, and it made the colonies pay taxes on everything they printed. Benjamin Franklin wrote a letter to Hughs in attempt to tell Pennsylvania colonists that they are trying to get rid of the stamp act (doc G). Franklin urged Hughs to not do anything rash while they were trying to execute the stamp act. Also he mentions how the colonies will be very displeased and that Hughs would become “unpopular” if the stamp act continued to be enforced. Similarly (doc H), is a Pennsylvania newspaper talking about how the newspaper is going to end, due to the stamp act. This was an example of a …show more content…
This was an altered relation between the two because after the war the enlightened idea of individualism came about. For example, George Washington (doc C) shows individualism because he doesn’t want to serve for Great Britain necessarily, but rather to gain a higher social standing. This idea of trying to get a higher social standing was an enlightened idea that came about after the French and Indian War. Reverend Thomas Barnard also exemplifies some sort of individualism in his sermon to Massachusetts (doc E). He was a Massachusetts politician who was offering his belief that the colonies were to be praised because they are the ones who gained the new land and gained freedom. Reverend Barnard also shares these enlightened ideas that the colonies were the ones who won the war not Britain. For example, he mentions how the colonies gained liberty because “our Fathers purchased with the Toil of their whole Lives”. Meaning that the colonies gained liberty because they were the ones who fought against the Indians in battles such as the Pequot war, which was the war fought between the American colonies and the Pequot nation (the American colonies were the victors in this war and destroyed the Pequot nation). Therefore, the ideological relation between the two transformed due to the new
Salutary neglect was a colonial policy in which England relaxed its enforcement of most regulations in return for the continued economic loyalty of the colonies. As long as raw materials kept flowing into the homeland and the colonists continued to buy English-produced goods, Parliament did not supervise the colonies closely. The colonists were able to influence the king-appointed governors, from the approval of laws to the appointment of judges, since the colonial-assembly paid the governors’ salaries and not the king. It was because of their influence with the governors that they were able to develop a taste for self-government that would eventually create the conditions for rebellion.
The colonist wanted to be free, they wanted a government that favored its people not a foreign nation. Being taxed without and limited of your rights without anything in return lead to many unarrest and revolts. The Proclamation of 1763, which named Britain as the sole negotiator of land to the west which prevented the colonist from expanding to the west. The colonists saw the proclamation as a direct threat to the independence they originally had, no longer being able to expand to the west left the colonist with a strong resentment. Basically, the colonist were under tyranny being heavily taxed, while the echo of their complaints weren’t being heard by parliament lead to the popular slogan “No taxation without representation”.
All the taxation took its toll on the economic status between the colonists and Britain. Prior to the French and Indian War, the Wool, Hat, and Iron Acts forced Americans to ship materials to Britain to be built, but then later buying the products from them. However mercantilism was soon abandoned when the colonists decided to fight back. The Stamp Act enraged many of the elite colonists, and as Benjamin Franklin states, they wanted to "get it repeal'd" as soon as possible. They chose to boycott, and they chose not to import or consume the product Britain wanted them to, thus the relationship economically between the two places was significantly
Thomas Paine’s Common Sense written in 1776 compelled the American colonists to separate from their mother county, England. Paine asserted at the time that England only cared about its own economic status and cared little for the colonies (84). With this, Paine addressed that in the event of revolution, the colonies would prosper due to home field advantage and the heart and passion the militiamen have (123-124). Most importantly, after having dealt with England’s superiority, independence and a representative government would arise in the minds of the colonists (66). According to Paine, independence would not lead to inevitable war; independence would lead to a more unified America with a stronger economy and a centralized government that
Nick Sammartino December 3, 2017 Hist 405 Primary Source Analysis In 1765, as a result of one of the provisions of the Stamp Act, newspapers in Colonial America were now required to pay a tax on each piece of printed-paper they sold, using only imported and stamped paper from Britain. At this time, newspapers had already become a useful tool in generating public support against British control throughout the colonies. Individual motives often varied, and it can be seen quite clearly in “To Benjamin Franklin from David Hall, 14 October 1765,” as well as the following Pennsylvania Gazette article “No Stamped Paper to be Had.”
By the eve of the revolution the colonists had developed a sense of identity and unity as Americans, but suspicions in each other prolonged their ability to unify as colonists. Never the less these suspicions were removed when the colonists band together to fight for independence and the preservation of their right. To gain and preserve their freedom it was essential that the colonists put aside their differences to unite in the unlikeliest of events, like the French and Indian War, when they allied with the British. In1754, the first year of the war, a cartoon published in Philadelphia by Benjamin Franklin depicting a disbanded snake, it was meant to encourage the colonies to unify(Document A).
In 1763 conflicts began to occur between the American colonists and British policy makers. The issues began as George Grenville, prime minister, believed that the colonists should have to obey more laws and pay a part of the expense for defending and administering the empire (Brinkley, 2012). This was an attempt to apply the principles of mercantilism to the colonies (Brinkley, 2012). From 1763 until the Revolutionary War began, the British kept making decisions of enforcement that caused more and more resentment from the American colonies. On his quest for more control over the colonists and to gain money from them, the Sugar Act and Currency act were passed in 1764.
(Document K). It's a very good analogy and brings awareness to the truth even more. In his pamphlet he also says that when war breaks out between England and any other country the American trade suffers because their only connection is Britain. The system that the Americans were currently living under is too fallible and could cause catastrophic damage to it. He argued that it was much more easier to just have a government of their own with its own natural right.
This Act required Taxed Stamps to be placed on printed materials. These stamps had to be purchased using the British sterling coin, which was not prevalent in the colonies. Colonist saw the pitfalls of this act and began to seek equal liberty with British Parliament. Not yet seeking independence, the colonist wanted British leaders to rethink how government worked. Opposition continued to rise as these ideals were rejected by Royal Rule.
The French and Indian War left England with a debt of £130,000,000. To help pay off the debt Britain set up taxes, to collect money, on frequently used products by the colonists. The Molasses Act put a six pence tax on every gallon of molasses. The colonists thought this was a lot of money to pay so they did everything to avoid it. This act was not really enforced and the colonists did not really obey this act.
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.
The Quartering Act disrespected the privacy of Americans (Document 5). Moreover, this act allowed British soldiers to barge in on the colonists’ home life, forcing them to provide food, utensils, bedding, firewood, and other objects for the soldiers. In addition to this, the Quartering Act showed that the British were disinterested in how Americans lived their lives in their homes and purposefully sabotaged the colonists’ leadership in their homes, showing that the British controlled the colonists’ homes. The Stamp Act also demonstrated that the British were apathetic towards the colonists’ opinions (Document 6). The Stamp Act taxed newspapers and pamphlets, which outraged the colonists.
DBQ Between the years 1750 and 1776, England was locking down on the colonies, imposing lots of taxes against the colonists such as the Stamp Acts and Townshend Acts. Tensions were high between England and the colonies and the idea that a Revolution might take place wasn’t out of the question. And it was between those 25 years that colonists in America began to find a sense of unity and a sense of their own individual identities.
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.
Since the beginning of English colonization in North America, the colonists gradually adopted a more individualistic attitude towards England. The colonists began to view themselves as separate from Britain and felt victimized when they enforced numerous “policies” on the colonists. During the period from 1607 to 1745, the Enlightenment and the Great Awakening provided several boosts to the colony’s transition towards a democratic government. The Enlightenment helped the colonists to believe that they had natural rights and led to the challenging of British rule. The Great Awakening was a movement in the colonies that also contributed to the development of rebellious thoughts regarding the British and a desire for independence.