HIS 322 M1 Responses

Respond to the following posts in 100 words or more. There are 4 posts total. Be thought provoking and use references provided. There must be NO plagiarism and must be complete by 6PM PST today!

The posts are as follows:

POST 1:

the British are coming

During the mid 1760s the American colonies were going through quite an ordeal from the "far away parliament" and "crown" (Stept, 2006). These included "The stamp act of 1765", "The Boston massacre" and "The Boston tea party" (Stept, 2006). The stamp act, put in place by parliament, want to colonists to affix stamps to virtually every piece of paper they touched. Then of course came Patrick Henry Who is most notably known for No taxation, without representation. During the Boston massacre the first colonist reportedly killed was the African-American male. Although it may have been blown out of proportion it was still another feather in the hat so to speak for the colonist to revolt against the Crown. And of course the Boston tea party where they were putting heavy taxes on the Tea that was being sold to merchants. These are just a few issues that led up to the revolution of America. 

Reference

Stept, S. (2006). Boston, Bloody Boston. Retrieved March 01, 2017, from http://search.alexanderstreet.com.vlib.excelsior.edu/view/work/1786012

in Revolution, 1 (New York, NY: A&E Television Networks, 2006),

POST 2:

British Financial Plan

The consequences of the French and Indian War were of little concern to the American colonists. For England, however, the war was a significant financial drain on the British economy. The actual cost of the war to England was around £70,000,000, which brought their national debt to a staggering £140,000,000 (Ladenburg, 2007).

In an effort to defray the cost of the war and the debt incurred, the British parliament first passed a law known of the Currency Act. This act would require that the colonists pay their debts to England in the form of British pounds rather than the new currency developed by the colonists. This was undoubtedly due to concerns of the stability of the region and their currency. After the Currency Act was passed, England enacted what was known as a Stamp Tax. This law would require the colonists to pay taxes on paper goods and legal documents (Office of the Historian, 2017).

References

Ladenburg, Thomas. (2007). The problems that England faced after the French and Indian War. Retrieved from http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/teachers/lesson_plans/pdfs/unit1_6.pdf.

Officer of the Historian. (2017). Parliamentary taxation of colonies, international trade, and the American Revolution 1763-1775. Retrieved from https://history.state.gov/milestones/1750-1775/parliamentary-taxation.

POST 3:

The colonial response to the new British regulations and taxes was not very cooperative. Understandably, since the colonies had been ruling themselves, taxing themselves, and generally taking care of themselves without the need for England for quite some time. They governed how they wanted, they developed a freedom of press through their own printing presses, and even developed their own religious freedoms. Over the course of time, the American colonies were developing their own identity, independent of that of England. As tension grew between the two, the British continually attempted to alienate the colonies under British rule. They closed the Boston port, restricted Massachusetts’ self-government, and began quartering troops in the colonies. The British called these “coercive acts” (Library of Congress, 2017). However, these acts continued to push the colonists away, which contributed significantly to developing their American identity. The colonists felt that they were being ruled by a body far away, which had no rightful interest. Additionally, the increased attempts at taxing the colonies led to the ever popular phrase, “taxation without representation”. Once pushed to the point of armed conflict with the British, the foundations of the ideology of “American” not “British” was already set.

References

Library of Congress. (2017). The colonies move toward open rebellion, 1773-1774. Retrieved from http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/presentationsandactivities/presentations/timeline/amrev/rebelln.

POST 4:

Colonial Responses

One of the first responses of the colonists to the new taxation was the Virginia Resolves, five of which were passed on May 30, 1765 (Middlekauff, 83).  By the end of 1765, eight other colonies had also approved

resolutions denouncing the Stamp Act and denying Parliament the right to tax American colonies for revenue (Middlekauff, 87).  Also, these responses to the taxes produced violence as well, with a small group of men

from Massachusetts calling themselves "The Loyal Nine", willing to take action. They recruited mobs to harass the stamp distributor, Andrew Oliver, as well as any others that sided with the rulings of the Parliament.  

These mob-induced riots came to a head on August 26, 1765, when even the house of the Lt. Governor, Thomas Hutchinson, was destroyed. These actions, though taken too far with the burning and destruction of

house and property, had started a movement.  The colonists were now seeing themselves as Americans instead of British  that were removed from home. They started to band together in order to fight what they

considered unfair taxation and restriction of land growth.

References:

Middlekauff, Robert. The Glorious Cause, The American Revolution, 1763-1789. 2nd edition. Oxford University Press, 2007.