American Colonist’s Resistance to British Taxation After 1763
Abstract
The overall purpose of this study is to understand the resistance of the taxes that were applied by Great Britain towards American colonists to cover up for debts that rose from the French and the Indian wars. This study is based on the book: “The American Journey: A History of the United States” Chapter 5, and it has a framework that talks on the facts and some acts that were implemented to the Americans for paying more taxes. The fundamental findings are based on the resistances that the Americans applied toward achieving these new taxes. In the 1760s, several laws were introduced to the American Colonists, for example, the British Trade laws, which were applied to prevent the smuggling of goods by the colonists, thus leading to loss of some revenue in taxes that could be used in paying debts. Another law that was enacted was the Sugar Act; which taxed on molasses imported by the colonists to convince the colonists to pay the taxes rather than smuggling. The Act also allowed the British to seize the goods from the smugglers without any court action. Other laws included The Stamp Act. These laws made the colonists to be angered since they saw them as a violation of their rights as Englishmen. This led to various protests and revolts against these laws since no consultation was done when these laws were implemented. The resistance mechanisms applied by American colonists toward these laws by Britain was justified since these laws were not fair and precise.
Discussion
I think the American resistance towards the British taxations after 1763 was justified. This is due to several reasons which include:
Some of the law acts were unfair and unethical. Although the British applied small taxes on imported molasses, no consultation was done on the methods used to select the amount of payable taxes. Furthermore, the Sugar Act law allowed officers to take the goods from the smugglers without going to the courts was a violation of their right to going through a jury trial and get a significant ruling. This could help the colonists to prove their innocence, and these smuggled goods could be used by the colonists rather than being taken by the British. This was a contradiction of the British Law, stating that the accused is innocent until proven guilty (The American Journey). Otis, who was a young lawyer in Boston, said that there were no colonists of England that could be taxed without their consent.
Moreover, The Stamp Act, which was a law on the majority of the printed material in the colonies whereby a compulsory stamp was supposed to be applied on written or published resources, was also not consented appropriately. The Stamp Act was implemented without consultation of colonial legislatures; the Parliament disregarded the colonial custom of self-government. In the Virginia House of Burgesses, young Patrick Henry mobilized the burgesses to act against the Stamp Act (The American Journey). The Virginia Assembly made a resolution that expressed their thoughts, stating that the exercise in laying taxes was entirely their duty. In Boston, members from an organization called Sons of Liberty protested against the Stamp Act. During the summer of 1765, the protesters scorched the sculptures that represented the usual tax collectors, and they damaged the residences that belonged to the royal officers and moved to the streets in big crowds shouting that only Americans had the right to tax themselves.
Many of the colonists felt that they should not pay taxes since the Britain Parliament implemented them, and they violated their rights as British citizens. These taxes favoured Britain and not Americans since the taxes were used to pay debts that had accrued after the end of the previous wars. The laws that were implemented showed an illegal act in the way of formulating policies for the colonists, and they also affected many people were changed since essential goods such as glass, tea, were taxed at the import entries. This called for action by the colonists as these laws showed a lack of credibility in implementing the regulations as the local parliaments were entirely ignored. The implementation of these laws was a violation of the British laws as seen by the American colonists, and they needed to resist these changes that were done in their absentia.
References
The American Journey. Chapter 5 Retrieved From http://www.yourhistorysite.com/The%20American%20Journey/chap05.pdf