Why Did Colonists Gain Their Independence

Improved Essays
Acts like the Sugar and Stamp acts taxed colonists without representation in British Parliament, this along with other previous events lead to tensions between the crown and colonists which erupted into riots and boycotts. A majority of colonists had a well developed sense of identity and unity as Americans leading up to the revolution. They felt they were no longer treated equal to British citizens overseas or were people unwanted in Europe because of religion and this united them against the crown in search or rights and freedom.
Many colonists believed strongly in their rights and felt that England was limiting or taking away these rights. They felt they were treated as second class citizens by the crown and parliament. They had no representation

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Tea Act Dbq

    • 485 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The colonists believed that their rights as englishmen were being infringed on by British regulation, although they weren’t pleased, they weren’t “all in” on a full scale revolution. This was until the The Tea Act was passed by parliament in 1773, which acted as the impetus for the revolution. The Tea Act lead to hostility and rebellion against British tea coming into the colonial ports, and to violent confrontations between the colonial militia and the British army. Therefore, The Tea Act was the point of no return, when the American Revolution was inevitable.…

    • 485 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Thirteen Colonies Dbq

    • 304 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The Thirteen colonies in North America struggled for independence from Britain. There were many situations that caused aggressive and resistant feelings in Britain and The 13 Colonies. Britain passed many aggressive laws to keep order in the colonies, and the American Colonists resisted the laws. There were many aggressive laws that Britain made that upset the Colonists. The Stamp Act was a tax on all printed materials.…

    • 304 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Apush Dbq Research Paper

    • 229 Words
    • 1 Pages

    The British government did many things that harmed the colonists; after unsuccessfully attempting to negotiate changes, the colonists became impatient and revolted. As stated in document one and three, the colonists were upset, because Britain was taxing them without their consent. They could not vote for the people who passed taxes. According to the colonists, the legislatures had sole jurisdiction to tax them. As declared in the Magna Carta, each person has the right to a trial by jury.…

    • 229 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    After the French and Indian War ended, the British started imposing taxes and passing acts on the colonist because they were in debt after the war. The American colonists could not do anything about this because up until the American Revolution, Great Britain controlled America.. America, being a new place where people thought they could be free, was in turmoil. There were secret meetings against the British; people were ready to stand against the taxes and the new laws being passed.. Some of these laws, called the Acts of Parliament, were the the Sugar Act, the Currency Act, Stamp Act, and the Quartering Act.…

    • 855 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Even though the colonists were given the same rights they would have been had they still been in England, they continued to revolt which only elevated the tension between them and…

    • 949 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    It all started in 1607, when men were sent to the new world in search for gold and religious freedom, but ended up creating colonies. The colonist lived by themselves with little to no control from the government but then in 1760 when King George the third became king of Great Britain, they started to tighten their control over the colonies. The British government started passing out new laws and acts that would tax and control the colonist trade. This enraged the colonist, the colonist’s felt like the laws threaten the right they had to govern themselves. This went on, the colonist continued to grow more and more annoyed, they did not have anybody to help them voice their grievances, because the colonist didn’t have the right to vote for people…

    • 397 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    The colonies were justified in declaring independence because they felt they had to rebel. Another reason was the king of England treated them unfairly. The third reason was the king only cared about what's best for himself, and not for everyone. These are the 3 reasons that the colonies were justified in declaring independence.…

    • 269 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Stamp Act Of 1765 Essay

    • 902 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Additionally, they boycotted British goods. As mentioned earlier, the Stamp Act was unfair to the colonists. Not only did this act demand more than what most people were able to afford, but these taxes were enacted by a government where the American people had no representation. Therefore, I believe that they had the right to protest and use violence against the British…

    • 902 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Us Constitution Dbq

    • 1075 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The United States Constitution was written over the course of nearly four months and quickly became the most important document in U.S. history. Many of this historic document’s ideals can be found in two very important documents from the past. Both of these documents contained public rulers transferring their power to the people.…

    • 1075 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Why Colonists Won The War

    • 188 Words
    • 1 Pages

    The three pry marmy reasons that the colonists won the war are the battle of saratoga, the geography, and George Washington’s motto. The battle of saratoga was very important not because they weakened the british army but because of the britishes enemy france helped us because we proved that the colonists had a fighting chance so the french provided us a navy. Geography was in the colonists favor because the british resources were an ocean away and communication was slow for the same reason, not to mention that colonists climate was much more harsh. Washington's motto is what made the war go on so long because the colonists “lived to fight another day” the war stretched to long for the britishes budget it virtually won the war. 4.0…

    • 188 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    British Missteps Analysis

    • 808 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The colonists believed Britain was trying to stifle their growth and slowly take away the freedom they had. One consequence of the tea tax was the Boston Tea Party, which resulted in a loss of profit for Britain. The colonists in America did not believe in the Virtual Representation Prime Minister Grenville claimed they had. If Britain had given the colonists representatives in Parliament it would have appeased them and a huge conflict might not have occurred. The irony was that British representatives could have easily outvoted the Colonial representatives in Parliament.…

    • 808 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    The movement of wanting to be free was fought so hard for by the patriots, at last they achieved their goal and were separated from Great Britain, the thirteen colonies gained their independence so What now? The newly formed America began to thrive and expand its boundaries, perhaps even crossing them. The industry is booming, we have farms that produce cotton but who is working on them you may ask? A people from the tribe of judah were abducted by these Americans, put on a boat for months without being able to move because they were held down by chains. They defecate, urinate without it being cleaned so i bet you could imagine how bad the accumulation of feces is.…

    • 179 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Decent Essays

    America wanted to gain more power than they already had, so they got involved with many territories. One example can be the overthrown of the Hawaiian Queen, Lilioukalani. She wasn't happy about Americans controlling Hawaii. She thought it was unfair, but Americans didn't care, and they decided to overthrow her. Then, they added it to the U.S, but the Hawaiian people weren't happy; they didn't favor the annexation.…

    • 147 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Superior Essays

    After the taxes were set in place, the colonists began to get very upset and began to have meetings about, what they would do to either be able to survive after the new British legislature being passed or what they would do to retaliate against the British control. The British continued to pass more and more laws that the colonists abhorred because the laws made their lives incredibly more expensive and much harder. One of the new laws was that they could not meet in private anymore so that they could not plot to revolt and try for independence. Another piece of legislature put into practice by the British Parliament was the tax on tea. This tax made the colonists furious and they decided to disguise themselves as Native Americans and unload…

    • 1927 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The British empire had to increase revenue in order to recover from the enormous debt it had accumulated and it also had to gain control over a recently doubled in size Empire. The answer to these problems came in the form of a series of taxes and acts on the colonists. However with every act or a newly imposed tax without representation, the colonist began to put their own differences aside in order to unite against a common enemy in the British. Most of the colonists had come to the west with the promise of self governance and having some separation from the Empire, however due to the social and economic constrains placed on them after the war, the colonists were left with no choice but to fight for their independence by means of the American Revolution, leaving England’s attempts at greater control…

    • 770 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays