Duggan 1 Paul Duggan APUSH-3 10-20-10 American Revolution DBQ During the period from 1775 to 1800, American’s views toward Britain began to change. British policies between 1763 and 1776 intensified the colonial’s resistance to Britain and commitment to their new Enlightenment ideals. The policies involved many taxes which the colonists’ resisted due to their belief that such taxes without representation abused their rights. Americans began to look for political, economic, and social freedoms that Britain continued to deny them. They felt that the king was abusing his power as a monarch and therefore their rebellion was for a just cause of declaring the independence they wanted.
The American Revolution did not satisfy the colonial goals for civil, political, social, and economic rights; however the Constitution did. All the American Revolution did was drive the British out of America. With the British gone the Americans had the ability to strive for civil, political, social, and economic rights, but the Articles of Confederation became an obstacle in their path to their rightful goals. During the American Revolution the American people wrote a lot about what they wanted to accomplish and attain. In Document A, the Declaration of the Causes and Necessities of Taking Up Arms, it is written that the American people feel they have been wronged by England because their rights are restricted and wish for these basic rights to happiness and such.
In short, this essay will examine both Burke and Paine’s views of human nature, natural rights, and the rights of man to overthrow their government. Burke and Paine came from two opposite ends of the political spectrum. Burke was an archetypal conservative, valuing history, tradition, and the status quo. Paine was a firebrand of the left, advocating revolution and popular democracy. Ironically, Edmund Burke sympathized with the colonists in North America during the period of turmoil there, but he did not support the complete social revolution which took place in France during the last years of the 1700s.
“Give me Liberty or Give me Death” Patrick Henry presented this powerful speech to the House and British ministry on March 23, 1775. The speech, given before the Virginia convention gathered in Richmond, Virginia, was delivered to express patriotism in the American colonies and failed efforts to reconcile relations with Great Britain. The great addressed about the hesitancy of many in the colonies to confront the possibility of armed conflict with Britain. He argued that hope for the peaceful resolution of differences with Britain was futile, pointed to Britain's preparations for war, and urged that the colonists arm and organize themselves without delay. Patrick Henry was born on May 29, 1736, at Studley, a small village in Hanover County, Virginia.
Socially they developed an identity by uniting because of hardships of British taxation, and regulation. Constitutionally they developed identity through coming together by drawing out freedoms, in which Britain did not allow, creating a sense of being their own nation. Thus, throughout the revolution colonists created a sense of identity as Americans through conventions like the Albany Conference, unity because of British oppression, and creating freedoms which physically set them apart from Britain. Politically the colonies developed identity by unifying through conferences like the Albany conference. The Albany conference of 1754 which adopted Ben Franklin’s plan of union, which proposed that Indian affairs, Western settlement, and other items of mutual interest be placed under the authority of one general government.
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
The money raised from the indirect tax was used to raise revenue for The British Army and Navy. The colonist asked Parliament to repeal the tax; parliament rejected the request for the repeal. This caused irritation instilled in the colonists, which will lead to greater resistance later in colonial history. This also made the colonists want to start a centralized government. The Quartering Act of 1765 greatly intensified colonial resistance to the British.
After the French Revolution though, the republic slowly began shifting to a totalitarian regime, first under the Committee of Public Safety and then completely under Napoleon Bonaparte .The facts show that the American Revolution was more successful in establishing a stable and long-lasting republican government that started a precedent for Europe, while the French Revolution’s republic failed to last, being turned into a totalitarian regime. Events leading up to the American and French Revolutions occurred for a similar reason: unfair representation. The people in the American colonies became progressively upset with Britain and its Parliament when they refused the colonists’ representation, while still imposing many different taxes on the colonists. Upset over this tax on one of their most valued imports, the colonists dumped all the tea into the Boston Harbor during the Boston Tea Party. This showed that the colonists were willing, and able, to live without depending on the British government.
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.
At the end of the American Revolution the Articles of Confederation established an Anti-Federalist paradise in the United States. A weak league of friendship was formed between each state, angering Federalists who sought a stronger central government and causing political, economic and social problems. Shay’s Rebellion, inability to collect taxes and the worthless state currency were all problems that lead to the formation of a new constitution. After becoming free from the tyrannical rule of the British crown the Anti-Federalists were hesitant to establish a strong central government. This set into motion the forming of the Articles of Confederation which created a weak bond between states and a congress with essentially no power to put any law into motion.