Stamp Tax On The American Colonies example essay topic

The American Revolution There is much controversy about how and why the American Revolutionary war took place. As I studied and pondered this crucial event that took place in our nation's past, I came to the conclusion that this war contained many battles within. The American Revolutionary war was a war fought for national independence, a civil war, and was caused by a series of events in which the British parliament tried to control the American colonies. According to John Adams, the American Revolution began before the war even got started. Adams stated that the revolution was in the minds of the people and he concluded that the American population began shifting their allegiance from Britain to America because of different outlooks on specific political issues. This radical change, in the minds of the people, helped lead our thirteen colonies into an insoluble conflict with the English.

According to Mary Beth Norton, there had been significant tension between the colonies in America and Britain during 1760's and 1770's. As the colonies were divided on internal affairs, their focus began to shift onto their relationship with Great Britain. Great Britain was treating the colonists differently from the way it treated Englishmen in England. The colonists saw themselves as Englishmen and came to America with the intention of creating a duplicate of England on the American shores.

The colonists insisted on calling themselves Englishmen so that they might claim the same traditional rights that Englishmen in Britain could claim. As the colonists desired to obtain these rights they also began to think of themselves as being different from the people in the mother country. These beliefs, in the American minds began a snowball effect that forever changed the American continent and the struggle to become independent from Britain's Parliamentary power, was on. Great Britain, however, did not change their way of thinking. They still saw the colonists as serving the interests of England. Since England was a small island nation, it made it very easy for people, goods, news, and ideas to travel around the country.

American colonies, on the other hand, were weeks and even months away from England. The colonists, being aware of this fact, built their own form of legislature in order to settle certain matters by themselves. However, it was understood that the king of England could overturn these laws that were passed by the legislatures. The main problem was that the only way that the king could enforce his rulings in America was by sending troops over to make sure that the people were doing what he wanted. This was very expensive and would take away from the profit that they received from the colonies. Therefore, England primarily left the colonists alone and they tended to their own matters.

However, the colonists had to follow a few rules that the English Parliament had set up. These rules were, that they only trade goods with England and that they pay import taxes on these goods. After sometime the Americans wanted to be able to trade with whomever they wanted, specifically countries that could help them gain the most economically. The Americans started to disagree with England's rules and the events that took place over the next several years caused the Americans escalated.

Great Britain's victory in the Seven Years War, established by treaty in the year of 1763, forever changed the balance of authority on the North American continent. According to Mary Beth Norton, France was ousted from the continent, the Spanish territories were confined to the area west of the Mississippi, and the Indians lost their diplomatic tools, which were the European countries that they often played off of in order to get what they wanted. In order to win this war, Britain had gone into substantial debt. In order to recuperate, they imposed taxes on Britain and the colonies in North America. England believed that they were justified in doing this, because they had fought to get the French off of the American's backs. Parliament's decision to impose these taxes began a revolt in some of the American peoples minds.

The Americans had gotten used to a government that had limited authority over them. According to Mary Beth Norton, a government who governs least is a good government. Parliament's decision to impose taxes on the colonists made a lot of Americans upset. They believed that the taxation was unfair, to extreme, and could ultimately destroy their freedom. The American Revolutionary War was a civil war, as well. Rather than a whole country divided against the British, American colonists were divided over whether the colonies should leave the British Empire.

There were a group of British writers, called Real Whigs, that believed a government run by a monarch was extremely dangerous. They believed that the power should lie in the hands of the people and they should get rid of the monarch, altogether. As Britain raised taxes and tried to tighten the reigns of control over the colonies in America, some of the colonists began to agree with the Real Whigs way of thinking. Americans began to fight Americans over this particular issue. As the rulers of England continued to place taxes on the colonists, the political leaders of America tried to come up with a plan that would allow them to remain under British rule but give them the power to control the American colony.

The relationship between the American colonies and the mother country was waning due to a series of taxation events placed on the American colonies by the British. In 1765, the British government decided to establish a stamp tax on the American colonies. Many types of legal documents, newspapers, and other papers had to have a specific stamp placed on them. Americans decided to fight the Stamp Act and agreed to establish a boycott on British goods, insisting that they would do without them until the Stamp Act was repealed. The British repealed the Stamp Act but they issued a Declatory Act that stated that the parliament had the power to tax the colonists as it saw fit. As a result, nothing really got settled between the colonists and the mother country.

Sure the Stamp Act was removed but the Americans felt that the British Parliament was trying to secretly tax them. The British people were heavily taxed due to the huge war debt and felt that the American colonists should pay more taxes. As a result, the Townshend Act was passed in which the colonists were being taxed on trade goods such as, tea, paper, and glass. The Americans were disgusted because it was the same old story Taxation without Representation. The Americans, once again, placed a boycott on British goods. The battle between the colonists and the British parliament continued.

There was little hope for reconciliation, after the Boston massacre occurred. British troops shot and killed three Americans and wounded two others. Things seemed to settle down for a short period of time but the British seemed to search for ways to assert their authority over the American colonies, once again. The British decided to let their tea company sell tea directly from East Indies to America for a price lower than it could be bought anywhere else. Therefore, the British parliament created a monopoly and the Americans would have to pay tax on the cheap tea. Committees were formed by Americans to prevent ships that carried tea to land on the American continent.

Governor Thomas Hutchinson, of Boston, decided he wanted a showdown. Three ships entered the Boston harbor and were taken over by patriots. Some Americans believed that this tea should be sent home, some wanted to bring the tea ashore, and some sought compromise. There was no compromise in sight.

On December 16, 1773, American colonists had a meeting in an attempt to convince Hutchinson to send the tea back to the mother country, but failed in convincing the Boston Governor. About 60 men disguised as Indians dumped the tea in the harbor. These historic events brought the colonies of America and the British to battle. The British parliament wanted to stay in control of the American colonies and tried to tax them.

The American colonies began to see things differently and eventually sought to become independent from Great Britain's control. The American Revolutionary war was inevitable in my eyes. The American Revolutionary war forever changed the lives of the American people. I am truly grateful for the people that fought for my freedom.