Waging a Revolution :: essays research papers

Waging a RevolutionA poor, twenty eight year elderly shoemaker named Ebenezer Macintosh led the Hundreds of people. Many people where mad about the Stamp Act and stormed the street in protest. They attacked Andrew Oliver a wealthy Boston merchandiser who had recently been made the Stamp officer for Massachusetts.I.Paying for SecurityBritains leaders celebrated the end of the war in Europe and North the States as heartily as did the Colonists. The British victory ended more than 70 years of fighting with France in North America. There was a agreement signed in February 1763 and king George III took possession of all French territory east of the Mississippi river, including lands in Canada.a.The Proclamation of 1763In May 1763, Indian resentment erupted in a bloody uprising led by Pontiac, an Ottawa chief. Within a few months, Indians captured or destroyed most of the British forts on the frontier and killed many settlers. In 1763, king George issued the Proclamation of 1763, in or der to prevent another war, which Britain could not afford. The proclamation issued that all land westernmost of the Appalachians were reserved for the Native Americans. The colonists resentment grew when Parliament demanded that they help pay for the army that was to defend the frontier. b.Sugar ActIn 1764, Parliament tried to collect a series of taxes from the colonies to ease war debt and strengthen the British Empire. The Sugar Act hurt Boston especially, since that city depended on shipping and trade. The new duties caused an increase in the price of goods in the colonies. These duties hurt business and customers as well.c.The Stamp ActIn 1765 Parliament passed on a tax on all semiofficial documents and publications in the colonies, like marriage licenses, mortgages, diplomas, bills of sale, and newspapers. The Stamp Act affected everyone and most colonists hated it. Colonists agreed that Parliament had the indemnify to levy and external tax, one to regularize trade in good s that came into colonies. The Stamp Act was an internal tax, one levied on goods within the colonies, designed only to raise revenue. Colonists argued that only their elected representatives should have the right to levy internal taxes. II.The Coming of the Revolution The Taxation crisis of the 1760s heated the debate between Britain and its American colonies. The Colonists argued that Parliament violated their cherished right as British subjects to consent to all taxes levied on them.