Colonial Settlement Essay

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During the beginning of colonial settlement, Britain did not enforce strict laws upon the colonies because it wanted them to prosper. Once war broke out between the French and the British in the French and Indian war, Britain began to enforce harsher laws and greater taxes on the colonies to draw revenue for the war. This in turn, angered the colonists and they began to think twice about having another country rule them. The colonists at the time also violated the same ideals of equality of rights and rule of law when they discriminated against the African Americans, Native Americans, and the poorer white settlers by forcing people into slavery with terrible conditions and taking land just because the colonist needed it. When the French and Indian War broke out between the British and the French, Britain hoped to use the colonies as an extra source of wealth to fight the war. As the area for war expanded from India to North America, the cost of the war increased dramatically. This lead Britain to impose new forms of taxes such as the stamp act which put a tax on legal documents and the sugar act which put a tax on sugar (which at the time was a commonly used product used in the colonies), and new regulations like the navigation acts, to prevent the colonies from trading with foreign nations. The colonies did not agree with Britain’s imposition of the new laws as they were not fighting the war. The colonists believed that they should have separate laws from Britain because they are not directly represented in parliament. When the colonists continued to disobey the new laws, Britain enforced a harsher set of laws, known as the intolerable acts, to show the colonies that Britain was angry for the Boston Tea Party. This further angered the colonists and caused them to rethink the idea of a rebellion. The colonies as well violated the rights they were fighting for, by
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