Which Best Describes The Colonists View of Their Relationship With The British Government?
| Answer In Short: We can understand the colonists’ view through their dissatisfaction over the rule of the British Government and King George III in the 13 North American colonies. |
But what was the main reason for this unhappiness?
The reason was something like this:
Actually, the colonists always wanted the British government to rule them as they were doing in the mainland of Great Britain.
They wanted the government to treat them as they usually treat common English citizens and provide them all the same rights as English citizens enjoyed.
But despite their expectations and requests, the British government never focused on giving them all those rights and treatments.
Contrary, most of the time, the government started doing some actions and bringing some laws which proved to be fully against colonists’ interests.
Especially, taxation acts made them very unhappy.
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Which Were The Main Actions of Britishers That Made Colonists Unhappy?
Here is a list of the main actions performed by the British government that made American colonists very unhappy:
1. Sugar Act (1764): This was the first taxation act by the British Parliament passed after the Seven Years’ War (1756-1763).
The Sugar Act was passed to end the smuggling in the trade of sugar and molasses to the American colonies from the Dutch West Indies and French colonies.
This was an indirect taxation act, which highly affected colonies’ merchants and shippers.
However, due to growing protests, it was repealed in 1766.
2. Stamp Act (1765): The Stamp Act was a direct taxation act passed by the British Parliament in 1765.
The act imposed a direct tax on many printed commodities; such as newspapers, legal documents, magazines, playing cards, etc.
This law widely spread dissatisfaction throughout the 13 colonies and caused some widespread protests.
During this time, colonists used the popular slogan “No Taxation Without Representation”.
In 1766, the parliament also had to repeal it along with the Sugar Act.
3. Townshend Acts (1767): Townshend Acts were named after Charles Townshend, which was more unfavorable towards American colonists.
It contained 5 laws:
- New York Restraining Act
- Revenue Act
- Indemnity Act
- Commissioners of Customs Act
- Vice-Admiralty Court Act
In 1770, Boston Massacre took place while protesting against the series of acts. The same year, parliament had to repeal it.
4. Tea Act (1773): To create a monopoly in the 13 American colonies’ entire tea market, the English parliament passed it on May 10th, 1773.
This decision led the colonists (patriots) to execute the Boston Tea Party incident on 16th December 1773.
5. Coercive Acts or Intolerable Acts (1774): To punish colonists for the Boston Tea Party, the parliament again passed a series of punitive laws in 1774.
The series of laws included 5 punitive laws:
- Boston port act
- Massachusetts government act
- Administration of justice act
- Quebec Act
- Quartering Act
English authority’s this one action led the whole struggle into the Revolutionary War of independence.
What Result Did This Unhappiness Give Birth To?
Due to this sour relationship between the British government and the colonists, the results that came out did not prove to be good for the British Empire.
Because the colonists who were initially just agitating against these decisions of the government and king, later became armed rebels.
And finally, it gave birth to the historic American revolution and revolutionary war.
The war completely uprooted the British governmental rule from the 13 colonies.
After that, the colonists established their own rule there and founded the foundation of a great democratic nation.
Of course, we know it was our nation, the United States of America.
