The Tea Act and the Boston Tea Party [pic] The Tea Act and the Boston Tea Party What were the events leading to the Boston Tea Party? The Boston Tea Party did not just happen because there were three ships in the harbor that carried tea from Britain, and the people just decided to throw the tea overboard. The Boston Tea Party happened after many years of decisions by Britain that the colonists did not like that affected their economy and ways to make a living in a bad way. These are just some of the decisions by Britain that caused the colonists to start to protest, to build up resentment against British rule, and to think of themselves as a country. These decisions led to the Boston Tea Party.
The colonies however, felt that they fought the war side by side with the British, causing the two groups to have different political ideas. British politics felt that it would be just to impose taxes on the Americans in order to pay off their war debt that had accumulated. Taxes were imposed on nearly everything in the colonies in order for Britain to payoff debt; these taxes simply outraged the colonists which is the start of the conflict between America and Britain. Taxes such as the Stamp Act, which placed a tax on any printed document that was purchased, and the Tea Act, which placed an insane tax on tea in the colonies, and basically cutoff colonists from finding a cheaper price for tea, pushed the colonists overboard, leading them to rebellions. One of these rebellions was the Boston Tea Party, where colonists dressed up as Indians and threw the entire stock of British tea into the Boston Harbor, which was one of America’s first major acts of independence towards Britain.
April 5, 1764: The Sugar Act: The Molasses Act of 1733 placed a high tariff on sugar. As a result, American importers found it difficult and avoided paying the tariff. In order to prevent bribery and corruption that resulted from not wanting to pay this tariff, the Sugar Act of 1764 was introduced. Its significance, apart from to stop American importers from bribing the custom collectors, was to lower the tariff and to ensure that the lower tariff was being collected March 5, 1770: The Boston Massacre: The Boston Massacre caused tensions to rise enormously between the Americans and British because this was the first killing that occurred. The Americans realized that the British were not there to help them, but instead to put an end to their liberty.
The situation became very dangerous for the East-India Company. Since colonists were not buying their tea, piles of boxes were left to rot in their warehouses and the company was leading itself into bankruptcy. The British Empire responded to their problem with a program designed to help them and challenge the American colonists. The tea act targeted American colonists on their taxations. The attempt to drastically reduce the price of the East-India Company’s tea in order to attract buyers did not please the colonists.
A seven-year conflict between the French and Indian soldiers gave Britain the victory. However, the war left the colonial leaders financially broke. In order to compensate for the financial losses, they imposed massive amounts of taxes on the settlers. The levies paid were sent directly to the British treasury and were used by the British military in North America. Besides this, the British also passed various laws that limited the movement and freedom of the settlers in an exceptionally discriminating manner.
Restrictions on what colonist manufactured angered the merchants because they were not allowed to produce certain items in the colonies, just as they were prohibited from distributing paper currency, and the ability of having any legislation passed in the assemblies nullified. These laws made smuggling an honest profession and more common, and encouraged the idea of independence because colonists believed trade could be regulated by the states instead of a central government. The back-to- back laws of the Sugar Act (1764), Quartering Act (1765), and The Stamp Tax (1765) worked to exacerbate the colonists. The Sugar act raised tax revenue on foreign sugar, specifically from the
Benjamin Houston History 103 Tom Christen February 21, 2013 Chapter Five Essay--Explain the Stamp Act of 1765, its effects on the colonies, and their response The Stamp Act of 1765 was and act on the colonies to tax any businesses or important documents. This act was to gain money from British parliament and for the government. Even though many people were a part of the function of the act, they to did not want to be taxed on everything official that they do. The act was started by a man named Grenville to gain revenue from the colonies provisions. The people of the colonies obviously did not like this and began to come up with ways to stop the act.
This act affected nearly all residents of the colonial ports. The colonies suffered a constant shortage of currency due to the creation of the Currency Act. This act banned colonials paper currency in which it caused a much bigger issued for the colonies because they was not allowed to used their own paper money to repay debts. An act that affected colonists that was rich, poor, merchants, farmers, and artisans was the Stamp Act. The reason that the Stamp Act affected this group of colonist because it placed a tax on printed material.
Shortly after, the Stamp Act was passed through Parliament that required taxed and stamped paper on legal documents, publications, and playing cards. This tax had to be paid in hard money, which was difficult for people to do at the time. The majority of colonists felt wildly oppressed with taxes, saying they took away their liberty (Document H). Jointly, these two taxes caused damage to the economic relationship between Great Britain and North
Declaratory Act The British colonies and America were bristling under the rule of Britain. They thought the rules and regulations of their government were unfair and left little behind to develop the respective countries. Britain implemented many Acts, including the Declaratory Act, during this time in the 1700s. The colonists eventually boycott them due to their severity. As such, many fought against such Acts, as they did the Stamp Act, which was eventually overturned.