Essay On How Did The British Gain Control Of The 13 Colonies

During the 17th and 18th centuries, the British government was in control of the North American colonies. The prime reason for the British government to control the English colonies was so Britain could trade with the colonies. The English colonies had crops like sugar and tobacco that couldn’t be grown in England so the British relied on the colonies to ship these products to them. The colonies were able to use the British ships in trade for the colonies’ crops. With the policy of mercantilism developing in the 17th century, Britain said they could help the English colonies become a strong country by trading, even though the trading mostly helped the British.

Even though the Stamp Act was repealed, parliament created the declaratory act which enforced parliament’s right to make rules to bring the people together. Britain furthered their grasp on the colonies by indirectly taxing them by adding the tax to price causing a rise in prices, known as the Townshend Act. Along with the indirect tax on imported materials there was also a tax of 3 pennies on tea. The indirect taxes caused anger within the colonies and they began to protest, they protested “No taxation without representation” and boycotted british goods, such as tea and british made cloth, and began to make their own. On March 5th, 1770, a group of Boston men surrounded British soldiers and began taunting them, as the group got more and more out of hand the British began firing at them killing several and wounding many (Document 4).

The act placed a considerable tax on all paper goods. At this time the colonies were not in the mindset of wanting to break away from the British crown. They would have rather reconciled with it. The colonists however did detest the new tax and they created a Resolution Of The Stamp Act Congress in 1765 in which they directly contacted the King himself to plead their case. The Colonists created a letter in which they sought to remove the taxation due to the fact that they had no representation in British parliament.

From 1763 to 1783 American colonist shifted the governing of the colonies from the British monarchy into the hands of the individuals elected by the colonies. Prior to 1763 the British Parliament imposed Navigation Acts following the ideas of Mercantilism, but due to salutary neglect these acts were never truly enforced by the British on the colonies. After the 7 Years War, which ended in 1763, the British finally turned their attention back to the colonies and worked to enforce their taxes and laws upon the colonies which lead to the changes seen in America in the following decades. The American colonist response to the British Parliament’s taxation of the colonies without a representative in Parliament can be seen in documents 1,

In the early 19th century many religious and racial groups migrated to the Americas due to persecution. From these groups formed the New England, Middle and Southern Colonies. Each set of colonies were based off of different natural resources and each allowed the regions to prosper. Whether they were proprietor, religious or royal colonies they each were original founded under the British government as a way to expand the country’s borders. In the end due to conflicts with neighboring Indians, different Religious groups, and later Britain itself.

In the mid-1760’s, several events occurred that would have a lasting impact on both the Americans and the British. Three different acts were implemented that began to spark conflict between the British and the colonists. The three acts were the Sugar Act, the Currency Act, and the Stamp Act. All three of these were implemented by Parliament to benefit them, but the new taxes had a significant negative impact on the colonists. Specifically, the Stamp Act effected the most colonists because everyone, no matter if they were rich or poor, would be impacted.

1700’s British colonies made up most of America. These colonists generated a lot of money by growing and exporting lumber, fishing, doing work as blacksmiths, and many other jobs. But when the French and Indian War had ended in 1763, Britain was heavily in debt. To pay off all this debt Britain started passing many acts, to make money off of the colonists. There were many different acts which included The Stamp Act of 1765, which required colonists to purchase postage and include the stamps with documents and paper goods.

The Spanish knew indigenous people were accustomed to paying taxes and agricultural work. They used this knowledge to form an economy and get rich based on the exploitation of Indian and African manual labor. Products from gold mining, silver mining, and agricultural work were the foundation of export trade. In order to attempt to tighten up the administrative system, the two crowns aimed to extract more wealth from the colonies through tax increases. However, the wealthy colonists did not see the wealth from the tax increase and wanted to depart from the mother countries restrictions on trade.

Britain had built up a great debt and the colonies were a financial burden to run, to try and resolve their problems the British instituted various measures

The American Revolution (1775-1783) refers to the time period when the thirteen established colonies rose up against the British monarchy (newworldencyclopedia.org). For years, the British had taken advantage of those who lived in the thirteen colonies by imposing extremely restrictive taxes, acts, as well as policies that gave the colonists absolutely no governing power. Instead, they were given no representation, which was only one of many reasons colonists decided that it was time for a change. One of the reasons that the British sought to colonize was because it would allow them to increase their wealth.

Attempting to gain control of a larger part of the new world and be stronger than France or Spain, beginning in 1607, the British devised plans that would allow them to profit from establishing new colonies. The new colonies in America were established as profit-seeking corporations (Tindall & Shi, 2013). Hidden under the guise as promoting religion to the natives, the intent of the corporations was to establish the colonies so the British could continue its search for gold and increase its profits. Any gold and other valuables were to be sent back to England to help free England from the dependence of Spain (Tindall & Shi, 2013). The different corporations chose their leaders based on strengths previously shown in other foreign wars.

This act was passed the same day the stamp act was repealed, which allowed Parliament to create laws that related to the American colonies "in all cases whatsoever. " The colonists relied on the long-standing English tradition that it was unfair for a governing body to pass laws on behalf of people who were not represented in it. Since the colonists were not represented in Parliament, they believed that Parliament did not possess the power to pass laws on their behalf. Because it put an end to rebellions and acts of violence against the stamp tax, the declaratory act is significant in

In result, economic changes would come to the colonies. Parliament met in 1763 and came to the conclusion that they were not receiving the profit they needed from the colonies (Document F). As a result, many taxes were passed by British Parliament upon the colonies, including the Sugar Act, the Stamp Act (Document H) and the Tea Act. The American colonies were not happy, to say the least. Americans protested, saying that these taxes were unnecessary and unfair.

British policies established in 1763-1776 greatly affected the colonists and pushed them towards developing their own republican values. All of the acts and taxes the British issued and how overly controlling the British were over the colonists was the starting point, also the increasing rebellions encouraged the colonists to break away from Britain’s rule, and finally the wars that resulted and seizing authority from the British was the final turning point for the colonists in eliminating Britain’s heavy-handed ruling over the colonists. The acts, and taxes that came with most of the acts, that the English imposed on the colonists was a substantial reason the colonists opposed British rule. After the French and Indian war the British found

Benjamin’s letter to John Hughes in Document G confirmed clearly that they wanted to get the Stamp Act “repeal’d”. Because of the failure to get it repealed, the Colonies began to Boycott