The British Parliament’s first actions that could be considered to set the stage for punitive measures is the Declaratory Act that was debated and enacted in conjunction with the repeal of the Stamp Act. The resistance to the Stamp Act was widespread and had the members of Parliament concerned with whether it was treason or the beginnings of rebellion against the empire. The decreased trade that resulted from boycotts of English goods in part contributed to a depression affecting English merchants. As a result, the new leader of the Parliament Rockingham was faced with a situation where Parliament felt it needed to assert its authority over the Colonies while finding a way to repeal the Stamp Act to reestablish the flow of trade. The resultant …show more content…
Even though the taxes were all considered to be external the colonists chaffed under what they considered to be unfair taxation. This resistance was less impassioned and spontaneous as the resistance which had occurred during the Stamp Act. In part, this was due to the weariness of the populace after the depression caused by the boycotts of British goods. Eventually in 1768 the colonial legislatures began to correspond and attempt to unify their actions in response using “circular letters” (Middlekauff, 2005 p. 156). Much like an incident that occurred during the Stamp Act, the reinvigorated customs service attempted to seize a ship, the Liberty, for carrying contraband. As had occurred before in reaction to enforcement of unpopular acts, a mob formed to prevent the ship’s seizure. Boycotts of British goods were put back into place much as they had been to oppose the Stamp Act (Ernst, 2012). An escalation that was new was the request by customs officials for British troops to occupy Boston, and the dissolution of the legislature in Boston by the Governor for their refusal to rescind their previously approved circular letter (Middlekauff, 2005
The colonists had one interest. They wanted to be treated fairly. However, they believed the new laws were unfair, so they took action. The colonists resisted and wanted to be free because they thought the British weren’t treating them the way they should be treated.
After the French and Indian war England was left in debt putting taxes on the colonies. All families were affected by the Stamp Act no matter their profession. Professions such a merchants, lawyers, and politicians. Professions were affected by the Stamp Act in the same way, but the ways they rebelled were different. Merchants held a boycotts, lawyers The first reaction of the Stamp Act was from the merchants and their wifes.
The date was March 22, 1765, the Stamp Act had just been passed, and the colonies were outraged. One Massachusetts family in particular was discussing it. The Miller family had a complex view about the Stamp Act. The mother, Maribeth was a patriot, and hated the stamp act, the father, George however, still disliked the Stamp Act, but this made his job very difficult, for he owned a mail and delivery system. The older, sixteen year old daughter, May was very rebellious against her parents, and thought the Stamp Act was very necessary, and because of this, she didn’t get along well with her family, since they were patriots, and because of her father’s job.
This surprised the British government. The colonists even threatened tax collects forcing them to quit their jobs or to even leave the colonies. Protests spread into the streets and groups like the Sons of Liberty encouraged the colonists to boycott British products. These boycotts soon hurt British businesses in the colonies. The British government was forced to repeal the Stamp Act.
The act placed a considerable tax on all paper goods. At this time the colonies were not in the mindset of wanting to break away from the British crown. They would have rather reconciled with it. The colonists however did detest the new tax and they created a Resolution Of The Stamp Act Congress in 1765 in which they directly contacted the King himself to plead their case. The Colonists created a letter in which they sought to remove the taxation due to the fact that they had no representation in British parliament.
In 1765, the Stamp Act was placed on colonists, which placed a tax on many types of printed materials. As a result of the sudden tax placement, almost all of the free colonists were furious and began to riot. Groups such as the Loyal Nine opposed the Stamp Act and expressed their anger through violence. English colonists were determined to have freedom since they believed that the Stamp Act imposed by Great Britain “violated their liberty” (Foner, 179). The determination to achieve colonial liberty established a huge divide between the colonists and Great Britain.
This was alarming to the colonist because they familiar with the “no taxation without representation”. This Act resulted in a strong unified violent response from the colonists. The colonist issue was not with the tax itself, it was the fact that parliament was trying to tax them with no elected representatives in Parliament.
The way the colonists reacted to the Stamp Acts is that they boycotted British goods. King George III reacted by repealing the Stamp Act and put the Declaratory Act in to that same day. The Declaratory Act is a law that stated that Parliament had the right to tax the colonies
(The Quartering Demonstration, n.d., para. 3) The Stamp Demonstration forced an expense on each archive or daily paper printed or utilized as a part of the provinces (Stamp Act Forced, n.d.). The expense was endorsed with no civil argument. Both acts alone would not have prompted war, yet the two together, alongside numerous different insults including the "Boston Slaughter," helped radicals like Samuel Adams, Paul Worship, and other New Britain nationalists prompt anti British conclusion that would in the end
The Navigation Acts restricted foreign trade to competition with other countries, while reducing the chances of the colonies becoming an independent nation; in addition, all British products that were to be sent to the colonies were heavily taxed in order to create more profit. The Sugar Act placed tax on sugar, wine, and coffee, and denied any colonist accused of smuggling trial by jury, eventually leading to a drastic plummet in the rum industry. Finally, the Stamp Act, an act that was passed without the consent of the colonists, that taxed any paper or document in order to gain money from the colonists for Britain, ultimately leading to the colonists revolting against Britain, and writing newspapers that promoted the idea of independence from the imperialist nation that had repeatedly denied them their liberty, democracy, and
Wealthy colonial families, mostly reacted writing angry letters or threatening anonymous letters to the British. Colonist is insulting their majesty. Families saying the Stamp Act was unfair and unconstitutional. People who were protesting made a new secret organization the Sons of Liberty. New secret organizations often turned violent and massacres became involved.
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.
The stamp act taxed even the littlest of things such as newspapers, documents, licenses, molasses and even playing cards. It angered the colonists, so they responded with violence.
When the war ended they were wore down and weak. This made the actions of the colonists more effective. Because of the debt, Britain’s economy was not strong. To help pay for the debt, Britain passed the Stamp Act. The Stamp Act put a tax on every printed item they used and required them to buy a government-issued stamp for legal documents and other paper goods.
Later on the colonists started to protest against paying taxes on paper products. The tax collectors were threatened and were almost forced to quit their jobs. The colonists that protested burned the stamps on the streets to show their aggression toward the tax collectors. Overall the colonists were not very happy with this “new