Factors Contributing to the Rebellion of Americans in 1776 :: Revolutionary War British Puritans History Essays

Factors Contributing to the Rebellion of Americans in 1776 Imagine you are an American Colonists just making ends meet as a merchant. There has recently been a war between the French and the British. During the war, you continued to trade with the enemy and smuggle goods, while your colonial assembly repeatedly refused to provide military officials with men and supplies. The war eventually ends, leaving the British with debt and expensive responsibilities to administer newly acquired territory in North America, they received from the French. Believing that the Navigation Acts should be enforced strictly and that the lightly taxed colonists should pay a share of the empire's defense costs, Parliament in March 1765 passes the Stamp Act to raise revenue. Next thing you know Parliament imposes another act on the colonies, the Mutiny Act, stating that the colonists must house and maintain the British troops. Ok, you are a bit mad, but it is maintainable. Out of the blue, you hear about a shooting in Boston, where five people were shoot by th e British troops, there is a lot of propaganda surrounding. Your neighbors, along with yourself are enraged by what you hear. Following this incident there is much propaganda in pamphlets passed out concerning colonial religion and political ideas. These things and others happened to the colonists and impart enthralled and provoked them to rebel and in effect brought about the American Revolution. From the information I have gathered in class and from my own personal reading, I have concurred that Parliament taxation was the parent irritation to the other annoyances. The Seven Years' War Showed the British officials that the Americans had no regard for the Navigation Acts and imperial authority. Example of this were colonial merchants continuing to trade with the enemy and smuggle goods, while colonial assemblies repeatedly refused to provide military officials with men and supplies. The war left Great Britain with a considerable debt and expensive responsibilities to administer newly acquired territory in North America. As a result, Parliament in March 1765 passed the Stamp Act to raise revenue. This act required the colonists to purchase and use specially stamped paper for all official documents, deeds, mortgages, newspapers, and pamphlets. The Stamp Act provoked opposition among the colonists, who saw this as a violation of their rights. To the colonists, the Stamp Act violated the right of English subjects not to be taxed without representation; it also weakened the independence of their colonial assemblies.