American Discontent Focused On Financial Grievances But The Chief Reason For American Opposition Was The Matter Of Authority How Far Do You Agree With This View Term paper
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American discontent focused on financial grievances, but the chief reason for American opposition was the matter of authority. How far do you agree with this view?
There were a number of causes that lead to conflict between Britain and the colonists in America during the second half of the eighteenth century. The question is whether an American rebellion was mostly due to a difference of opinion over how much independence the colonies were entitled to, or whether other reasons such as the difficulties imposed on America by taxation and control of trade were equally to blame.
Certainly, the argument that Britain did not have the authority to deny the basic right of liberty to all of the colonists was a major reason for opposition. American society was favourable to democracy, as there was little class distinction and few wealthy people. Many Americans believed that British legislation concerning the colonies was ignoring the rights and privileges that every man was entitled to. They thought that the taxes and duties imposed by the government of Britain were invading their social and political liberties. Through laws such as the Molasses Act of 1733, which taxes molasses imports from outside the Empire, many businessmen in America suffered. The Northern colonies were particularly badly affected. For example, Rhode Island imported 14 000 barrels and only 2 500 came from the British islands in the middle of the eighteenth century. Laws such as this meant that a man could not ‘enjoy the fruits of his own work’, and made a capitalist marketing idea, which was considered as important by many colonists, very hard to carry through. The fact that although most of America did not hold the religion of the Church of England and yet had to pay taxes to support the church, was considered an invasion of religious liberty. Through hard times caused by imperial legislation, the idea that it would be better for America to seek independence spread encouraging more opposition to Britain. The colonists, believing they had the right of basic liberty therefore opposed the authority the British had used to introduce legislation, which denied their privilege.
However, the financial difficulties created by the taxes and duties caused many grievances, which must have been the initial first step to cause people to object. Although arguments about how Britain should not have the authority to take away American liberties were convenient, financial grievances were what effected the people and the businesses in America more. Prices were high, as British goods were not as cheap as some goods from the continent, and tariffs made the initial price of non-British goods too high to buy. Most of America was badly affected as over 2/3 of people were farmers and merchants. For instance, duties of tea, paper, glass and painters colours led to non-consumption agreements from the merchants of New England, which lasted from 1968 to 1970. This opposition resulted in the dropping of all duties except those on tea. The financial problems caused for many businesses clearly led to massive opposition to British legislation and shows that financial grievances were what opposition was focused around. Without any financial difficulties, it is not clear whether there would be such opposition, therefore the matter of authority can be seen as an argument used to attempt to deal with the more important problem of finance.
On the other hand, such legislation encouraged the growth of the common opinion that there should be “no taxation without representation”. The Stamp tax imposed on newspapers and legal documents in 1764 is a classic example. It was resisted all over the colonies with a clear argument that if they were not represented in Westminster they should not be taxed. The opposition led to dropping of the Act, but also to the passing of the Declaratory Act, stating Westminster Parliament had the right to tax the colonies when and, as it felt fit. This only encouraged opposition such as the ‘Sons of Liberty’ and various other opposition clubs. Support for such groups rose because all sections of society were against the taxes. The sections that were particularly concerned over the matter of authority were the educated men, who believed they had the right to decide their own destinies. Also the working class labourers and merchants, who did not leave their own countries for a new land only to be taxed even higher by the nation they left. Neither group felt Britain should have the right to introduce such unwanted legislation. It is clear that there was widespread opposition to the right of the British Parliament to introduce laws without consulting the Americans, and therefore the matter of British authority was a major contribution to American resistance.
The question of why such great opposition to British authority did not arise earlier in the eighteenth century is an important one. The Navigation Acts from the period of Cromwell in 1661, which controlled colonial trade with rules such as American goods having to go to Britain before they departed for Europe, ensuring they posed no threat to British goods, were a major show of British authority. Yet, there was not as much opposition as when the export tax on any foreign good entering the colonies from outside the empire was increased from 2 %...
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