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Reasons of the American Revolutions

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Par   •  25 Janvier 2017  •  Cours  •  699 Mots (3 Pages)  •  797 Vues

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How did new colonial implement by the British after 1763 change American attitudes toward the king, Parliament, the English constitution?

        After 1763, American attitudes toward the British government worsened drastically because of the British and American different views, as well as British laws. One of these nations’ disagreement was over which assembly should rule. British attached weight to the parliament, which governed the entire Empire and represented the interests of everyone. On the other side, Americans had faith in “actual representation”, where representation came out of elections, with representatives defending his community’s interests. Because of this view, Americans concluded that they were not represented in Parliament. This lack of representation opposed an American belief that taxation needed consent form the taxed people and that “Taxation without Representation” was wrong. This divided deeply British and Americans, with a British government thinking that their taxation was legitimate but not Americans. The concept of a constitution also opposed British and Americans. When British saw it was a changeable, flexible, and not a written document, American colonists saw it as a unchangeable document and were attached to written documents, such as charters issued to colonize North America. These diverging ideas set a justified Americans’ reactions to passed laws which started to decline when the Stamp Act was passed, in 1765, an act taxing every printed paper. This act differed from previously passed ones, such as the Sugar Act of 1764. Even if the Sugar Act angered some colonists, it did not affect all of them. On the other hand, the Stamp Act concerned everyone and angered colonists. Several actions showed this anger, the most famous one being Patrick Henry’s speech “Give me liberty or give me death”, showing the colonists’ disagreement with this policy. Some other actions, more popular, such as the Sons of Liberty’s violence towards stamp agents, showed the colonists’ emerging resentment towards the Stamp act and the British government in general. Americans’ feelings towards the king’s policies declined when, in 1767, were passed the Townshend Duties, series of acts disbanding the New York Assembly, among other policies. This policy was meant to force colonists to obey the Mutiny Act but was seen as a threat to every colony. In fact, colonies were scared that dissolving the New York Assembly was only a first step and that the final goal of the British government was to dissolve every colonial government. This scare turned into violence on the night of March 5, 1770, when a mob, called the “Liberty Boys”, started to throw rocks at the customs house of Boston, leading to the Boston Massacre where five protesters were killed. This event was used by resistance leaders, such as Paul Revere and Samuel Adams, to emphasize Americans’ resentment towards the British’s government. This common enemy started to link colonies and bonds between them grew thicker. The newly organized coordination and relationship between colonies was used after the Tea act of 1773, an act used to favor the Britain’s East India Company by removing taxes over their tea. Even if this act lowered tea prices in America, it also scared colonial merchants because of this unfair competition. This led to a mass protest, a boycott taking place in all colonies and synchronized by the “Daughters of Liberty”, a patriotic group of women. This boycott of English tea used strengthened links between colonies against the British government to have a bigger impact. The Coercive act of 1774, concussed the remaining links between British and American and accentuated colonists’ resentment. This series of acts, used to reduce the powers of self-government of Massachusetts, and to close the port of Boston. This law was passed to divide colonies but it linked them even harder, because of their solidarity to Massachusetts but also this remaining fear that the British government’s goal was to drive away colonies’ political powers. To conclude, British and Americans diverging ideas and British laws worsened Americans’ image of the English government.

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