American Revolution Essays

American Revolution Essays American Revolution Essay American Revolution Essay Fearing the French gaining the per hand, the British not only tried to bribe the Iroquois to their side with goods, but also at tempted to create an international confederation, which they hoped would unify the colonies a ND provide a systematic and mutual defense system. As the Seven Yeas War began in America, one of the first British offensives w as an attack on Fort Duquesne by General Edward Bradford and his 2,200 men in 1 755. However, a coalition of French and Indian forces assaulted the British force, and after he ivy losses and the death of Bradford, the British forces retreated. With the retreat, Franchised Indians began attacking the borders Of the colonies, effectively halting both the war effort as well as expansion for three years. The French and Indians took both Fort Owes and Fort William m Henry, and with these gains, they now held a much better position over the British, both n Europe and America. However, the tides turned when the Iroquois began to fear that the French were getting too powerful, and they resigned from fighting, which also caused many of the other Indian tribes to stop and/ or switch sides. Also, William Pit became the leader of the military sect of the British cabinet. Pit rallied the colonists into fighting through offering to pay of r the war debt, which generated over 40,000 new soldiers. With fresh, new soldiers, the tide o f the battle turned, as the British took back their lost lands, and after driving the French out of the e colonies they captured Montreal in 1759. Don 2 These defeats forced the French to negotiate terms for land distribution in No Roth America. However, the French did try to launch a recapture, which failed miserably. Aft rewards, the British and French agreed that France was to give up all of the land east of the Mississippi to Britain. It was not only France and Britain in the talks, however, as Spain was also involved. A series of trades then began. Spain would take all lands west Of Louisiana from the French, and would give Britain control of Florida in exchange for Cuba. At the end of it all, both Britain and Spain had massive land holdings, and the French only had tiny spots of territory rye in the Caribbean and islands in North America. French subjects, who did not support their new British rulers, were forced out, and most of them went to Louisiana, and became Cajuns. 2. Imperial Revenues and Reorganization, 17601766 In the aftermath of the Seven Years War, the British sought a way to strength en and pay for their now much larger empire. The British government passed Acts, such a s the Stamp Act, to generate money. However, the colonists did not like these newfound taxes, and protested, sometimes violently. Throughout the war, there were tensions between British and Colonial troops , with each feeling that the other was somehow in the wrong. The British felt that the cool nail troops were unrecognized and ungrateful, and the Colonial troops felt the British were stuck k up. The British ere also angry that the colonists were free from paying the debts of the war, as the debt in England skyrocketed. However, because colonists were spending so much on British goods, the price of which had risen during wartime, they also fell into debt. With this cam e much suspicion of Britain purposely putting the colonists into this situation. These were not the e only tensions that arose after the war. Many Natives, fearing that the British would take their Ian d and enslave them, attacked British forts and raised an antibiotics sentiment. Pontiac Rebel lion, as it was now, was ultimately a failure, as the the British crushed them with help fro m smallpox and other factors. King George also proclaimed that all of the land west of the App Alsatians was now under royal rule, and that the Indians could either give them up to the British or leave. However, this Proclamation of 1763 angered the colonists in that it felt that the royal c rowan had suddenly taken all of their claims to the west, instead of giving them back to the colonies s. Finally, with this uprising came the governments decision to station 1 0,000 British troops n the new lands. This would cost a heavy amount of money, and Parliament wanted the colonic SST to help pay. This, combined with the colonists idea of the standing army in their lands, g eve way to more tensions between the colonists and the British government. To stop illegal trade with foreign nations, the British government allowed fort heir authorities in the colonies to apply a writ of assistance which allowed for the seizing of illegal goods (basically a search warrant). However, many colonists considered this d comment Don 3 unconstitutional as it did not require any evidence or suspicion, which mean t that anybody, at NY time, could be searched. Smugglers in Boston quickly reacted to this act, and appointed James Otis to argue against it. Otis argued that it was indeed unconstitutional, and thus that made the act void. However, Parliament ruled against Otis, and he lost the case. No nonetheless, this case brought forth a very important point; that the government had no power to in fringe the rights off man under the Constitution. The Sugar Act was passed in 1764 as another way to help raise money for the expenses of the war. The Sugar Act presented a tax on all molasses and sugar entering t he colonies from the West Indies. However, with the Navigation Acts already in play, the colonic TTS still decided to import the cheap molasses from the French. Even though Parliament knew the is, they did not immediately take action. The Sugar Act was also very complicated in its ways. First of all, it basically stated that any good that went through Britain first could then be shih peed to other countries, which effectively voided the Navigation Acts. Parliament saw this as beneficial to Britain, as they believed it would bring in more trading out of British ports rat her than say French ports. Also, because there were newfound requirements, such as a m altitude of papers and forms that a captain had to fill out, many ships could be searched due to a technical error, not necessarily for the captain doing anything wrong. Because the Sugar Act was enforced so heavily, many ships were searched. In the end, Parliament lowered the tax to I sees than a penny, which helped to deter some smugglers. The impact of the Stamp Act was that many colonists were now aware of the growing number of policies and bills pushed onto the m by Parliament. Although the Sugar Act did raise some revenue, Britain was still in massive De bet. So, to try to relieve more debt they passed the Stamp Act in 1765. The Stamp Act WA s an act that required any colonists who wanted to create or sign a document (newspaper, licenses, buying land etc. ) to buy a stamped paper. The Stamp Act immediately had a much liar egger impact on the colonists as compared to the Sugar Act, as it applied to almost all of the colonic SST, instead of just merchants and traders. William Pit argued that Parliament couldnt tax British h subjects who did not have representation in Parliament. George Greenville, the British Prime Mi mister, agreed, but also stated that they had Virtual representation in Parliament, and thus cool d be taxed. Colonists agreed that this act infringed on their political autonomy. Obviously Parliament and the colonists had different ideas about the sloganeering of the colonies. Note heelless, the Stamp Act caused much backlash within the colonies. Many colonists had similar opinions on the Stamp Act. The majority of colonic TTS were upset by the tax itself, and the trivial idea of Virtual representation. Patrick H energy, a lawyer out of Virginia, sparked more support against this act. Henry requested that the Vi ragging House of Burgesses to deny parliaments taxation Of the colonies through a series Of w ell worded resolutions. Henry drafted some of these resolutions, and passed them to Par lineament, but he did Don 4 not have much success. Parliament was unimpressed and somewhat offended d by Henrys strong language towards them. However, to the everyday man not involved in politic s, Henrys resolutions sounded very strong. In Boston, where common people were in a poor situation, these resolutions brought forth a revolutionary fire. Many of the citizens of Boo stone had seen dramatic decrease in profits and overall wealth, due to numerous factors. So me of these factors were taxes, like the Navigation and Sugar Acts, as well as the loss of industry t other colonies. Bostonians heavily, and sometimes violently, resisted the Stamp Act. Through out the colonies, groups of men, known as the Sons of Liberty formed to help foster more pr tests, although they did keep the protests from getting too violent. In 1765 some colonial rep restoratives met at the Stamp Act Congress, to discuss the authority of Parliament over the colonic sees. They agreed that Parliament did lack authority to tax the colonies. As riots continued, royal agents as well as stamp distributors were rejecting to do their jobs. Colonial elites, fearing a ever y violent outcome, ride to restore businesses and local trade to how it was. Many colonists tried to force the Stamp Act to be repealed, as was seen in New York, where merchants decided to not buy any British goods. These boycotts and riots caused panic in Britain. In Parliament, the prime minister was reluctant to repeal the law because so many of the British elites were furious at the colonists refusal. Parliament attempted to s WAP out the Stamp Act for a Declaratory Act, which stated that Parliament could in fact legislate f or the colonies. In Parliaments eyes, this was an affirmation of their power over the colonies. Ho waver, the colonists interpreted this Declaratory Act as that similar to Ireland, where the y could be exempt of taxes. However, Parliament argued that it should not be taken so literally. I n the end, most colonists were simply happier at the repellent of the Stamp Act than the pa sing of the Declaratory Act. In the wake of the chaos caused by the Stamp Act, many colonists began to q question the authority of Parliament. Because of the common mans involvement in govern meet affairs during the Stamp Act, many of these common people began to actually pay at attention to the government. The writings of En lightened thinkers, such as John Locke, and the ideas in his writings, became more common and widespread throughout the colonies. A g roof called the opposition sits arose, who questioned the motives of Parliament, and argued t hat they did not adequately embody the ideals of government. The combination of Enlighten meet ideas as well as the hatred of the British helped to spread antibiotics feelings around the cool nines. Samuel Adams combined the ideas of republicanism with religion, which bolstered his following. Puritan Church leaders cried for God and liberty which further boosted the message f revolution. With almost every colonist surrounded by these constant ideas about the Tara any of the British, it was hard not to be sucked into the revolutionary feel. Don 5 3. Resistance Resumes, 17661770 As the resistance to the Stamp Act died down after its repeal, more problems were instigated by other acts. For example, the Quartering Act required the colonies s to pay for housing and goods for soldiers. Because the colonial assemblies had agreed that only they could create unreasoning ventures, this act furthered the idea of Britains tyranny, as Bruit main was forcing another act upon the colonies. New York in particular boycotted this act, but P reliant was swift to pass the New York Suspending Act, which said that New York would n to be able to pass laws. Although New York did come to terms with the Quartering Act, it shows d that British officials were becoming much more stern in how they would enforce these AC TTS. Britains problems with taxes and debt posed problems for the colonies too. B cause Britain still wanted to raise more money to soothe their debt, they tried once more to take advantage of the colonies demands. Parliament passed the Revenue Act in 17 67 which taxed the imported goods to the colonies. Earlier, the colonists were more concerned a bout direct internal taxes, but had not stated much regarding import taxes. The colonists saw this Act as similar to the Stamp Act in that it acted simply as a way to increase prices to get more m none. However, the main point of the Revenue Act was a way to pay for royal officials in the co Monies, so that they would be exempt of the colonial assemblies power. This would then tip t he balance of power from the colonial assemblies to the relationships officials. At first, the colonists had little resistance to this act, until John Dickinson wrote e a number f points saying why it was unjust. He stated that it was unjust to tax something nag simply to make revenue. Following Dickinson writings, James Otis urged the Massachusetts c nuncio to oppose the Revenue Act. The resolutions were drafted by Samuel Adams, and stated t hat taxation without representation was unjust and that there was a threat to sloganeer once by the independence of royal officials. This was then passed to the Virginia assembly , which also agreed to the points. However, a new British official, Lord Hillsboro, was a appointed to get the assemblies to destroy the letter. This backfired, as many of the other cool sees assemblies took up the letter as a sign of protest against Hillsboro. To get Parliament to repeal the Revenue Act, Bostonians once again boycotted, this time against importation. As this non importation agreement? spread, more and more people backed the repeal NT of the Revenue Act. The Sons of Liberty also resumed in their efforts. Ultimately the boycott o f imports pushed colonists to resist more and more British policies. Merchants and traders in Britain were very upset with the American boycotts, as around 40 percent of their exports to America were effectively nullified. Now that Poe pale in England ere affected, a movement against the policies Of King George arose, and was led by John Don 6 Wilkes. Wilkes wrote his newspaper which shamed and defaced King Georges policies, and multiple warrants went out for his arrest. Wilkes fled England, but when he re turned, he ran for Parliament. After a series of escapes from the King, Wilkes was elected to Partial amend but then arrested. People in America, after hearing what he did, raised money to pay f or his debts. He became famous in America for his defense of liberty. As the colonists upheld their policy of non importation, white women and thee r role in society began to change. Because the number of white women in churches o outnumbered the men, the Church was a great area for women to gather spread ideas. Women also s purported their husbands in their endeavors, such as boycotting drinking tea. Women enforce d the boycotts of the colonists within their own households, which helped the spread of these ideas. When the colonists began to boycott English clothing, women took charge to make their own clothing, with one example being that they organized spinning bees. It was evident that the us port of women behind men really bolstered the feeling of resistance within the colonies. Apart from the Revenue Acts, the British Parliament also sought to further Neff Orca the Navigation Acts. Parliament passed an act that allowed for more customs office ills along the docks, and these officials, along with informers, were given quite a bit of pop err over the merchants. Because these port officials could simply search and seize any s hip, many merchants, who were trying to boycott English goods, found it hard to smuggle e any foreign goods in. Merchants looked down upon these informers and commissioners, as they received heavy fines if they were caught smuggling. In Boston, merchants rebelled gaga SST these commissioners after John Hammocks ship was searched. 4. The Deepening crisis, 17701774 Hammocks backlash against the Acts provoked a worse response from Britain. Later on, Britain sent 4,000 troops to occupy Boston, and the citizens frowned at their a arrival. Bostonians now did not feel independent, rather like prisoners of war. Soldiers looked do win upon the citizens, and vice versa. Tensions grew between the two sides, and at one poi NT a child was shot by a customs informer. This escalated tensions to the point of the Boston Mass sacred, where Crisps Attacks led a group to protest at the customs office. Attacks and four other people died after the guards fired upon the crowd. Afterwards, the guards who had killed the citizens only received a slight punishment. The colonists began fabricating ideas that the the e British government would begin to suppress their freedom through brute force. With a change Of prime ministers, Britain tried to ease tensions with the colon sits a bit more. The new prime minister, Lord North, offered to repeal most of the Tow unshed Acts, but Don 7 would keep the tea tax. The colonists, however, still boycotted the tea. Partial meet decided to pep the tax on tea despite the continual resistance of the colonies. To try to fund the paychecks Of the relationships ambassadors, parliament t decided to fund them through the money made off customs. The colonists knew that have ins independent governors was not beneficial for their own internal governments, which is who y they created committees of correspondence which exchanged information regarding cool animal rights with one another.