Bailee Shepherd
Mrs. Blomme
Honors English I
3 October 2014
Fries’s Rebellion What would it be like to rebel against something unfair? What would it be like to go to war with someone who has a higher power? Well John Fries could answer both of those questions because he did them both in July of 1798 (Fries’s Rebellion). He rebelled against John Adams, who was the president of the United States at the time, and he fought to help get the freedom Americans have today. John Fries led a group of farmers in eastern Pennsylvania to rebel against property taxes on buildings, land, and slaves (Miller Center). John Fries was a brave man who led the Pennsylvanian farmers, rebelled against property taxes, and helped win the rights Americans have today.
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Adams wanted to go to war with France for the punishment he placed on American shipping. He sent men over to sign an agreement and when he didn’t hear back from them, he assumed they were going to war. To protect America from France’s forces, John Adams decided he would raise two million dollars by enforcing a House Tax which was “a direct tax on property, houses, and slaves” (Peggy and Pauline). He also decided to pass the Alien Act that allowed him as the president to arrest anyone who spoke or wrote false things against the United States Government, the President, or the House of Congress (Peggy and Pauline). Farmers were angered because they had to pay high taxes on their land, their houses, and slaves. Many of them began to resent John Adams and his administration for the unnecessary taxing on all homes, land, and slaves. Several hundred farmers from America decided to put up their arms under John Fries leadership to rebel against the taxes John Adams placed on them (Fries’s Rebellion). This rebellion was known as Fries’s
The Act of 1764, also known as The Sugar Act, lowered the taxes on molasses but also it had more ways to enforce the tax. In addition to the tax on molasses they taxed things such as silks, wines, and potash. The Americans were outraged with this new law. The colonists did whatever they could to ignore this new law. The British passed the Quartering Act which basically said that the American colonists have to house and feed British forces who were serving in North America. This inflamed the
Huge debts were owed to Great Britain for supplying the colonists with military support and supplies. To pay the dues, there was the establishment of the Stamp Act, the taxation on domestic goods and services. A tax on domestic merchandise brought even more anger to the colonists. The Sugar Act, the Townshed Duties and the Tea Act were also all introduced with the same fundamentals: applying tax on goods whether it be directly or indirectly, domestic or international. “British commercial regulations imposed a paltry economic burden on Americans, who enjoyed a rapid economic growth and a standard of living higher than their European counterparts” (McGaughy). Each act resulted in irritated colonists. Some even retaliated by tarring and feathering certain English tax enforcers living in the colonies.
The supporters of Shays’ Rebellion were doing what was right and letting the government know that they didn’t like the immensely high taxes that were in place. They fought for their rights, were illegitimately jailed, and the law enforcement misused their authority. Even if the odds were against them, the farmers still took action and protested. These signs of bravery and courage show that the protesters were not rebels, but freedom
The French and Indian war caused debts among the British. The British realized that during the war the income from the colonies was insufficient (document F). After the war, the British needed certain ways in which to gain revenue. They imposed taxes on the Colonists. These taxes, in turn, caused a stir among Americans. The Stamp Act was a tax imposed on the colonists without representation (document H). Their liberties as English citizens were being denied. Radical Whigs would go as far to say it
After the French and Indian War had ended in 1763, the British parliament passed various laws to collect more taxes in American colonies in ways to pay for their war debt. As a result, colonists outraged as they had been taxed unjustly without having any representation in the British parliament, which eventually led to an uprising known as the American Revolution. In the process of making a revolution, Thomas Jefferson, a revolutionist, and father of our modern constitution, effectively masters an appeal to ethos, pathos, logos, and strong dictions to inform King George III on reasonings behind American colonies’ justifications for becoming independent from the Great Britain.
The American Revolution was an unequivocal example of the ability of a nation’s people to rise and defeat an inadequate government. When a government fails to protect its inhabitants, citizens will grow uneasy and fight for their rightful cause. The British government’s rule over its colonies was erroneous and harmful to the colonists’ best interests. Best described by John Hancock, the British government’s rule caused many colonists to become despondent with their ruler. “As though they thought it not enough to violate our civil rights, they endeavored to deprive us of the enjoyment of our religious privileges; to vitiate our morals, and thereby render us deserving of destruction.” Evidently, the American Revolution was sparked by a
The Articles of Confederation were created in 1777, and ratified in 1781, soon after the war (American Revolution) had ended. The Articles of Confederation were created to preserve the independence of the states, giving them most of the political power. This meant that only the states had the power to tax the states, and their citizens, and did not have to comply with the government regarding taxes. Congress however was given some power. According to Digital History, Congress had the power to declare war, make alliances, sign treaties and appoint military officers.
Most were outraged and spoke out against the injustice such as in the speech by Patrick Henry when he states, “We can under law be taxed only by our representatives. We have no representatives in the British Parliament...The Stamp Act is against the law. We must not obey it...King George is a tyrant” (Document 1). Speeches like this inspired the patriots to rise up and take action against the law. Many smuggled goods such as newspapers and letters while others made propaganda against the British. Colonists began protesting publicly and called much attention to the problem facing the colonies which the British did not like at all. The colonists showed so much revolt against the tax that the British Parliament repealed it only a year after it was passed. That battle had been won by the colonists but the war was yet to
Bacon’s rebellion was a popular uprising in the Colony of Virginia in 1676. It was led by the eponymous colonist Nathaniel Bacon against the governor of Virginia, William Berkeley. Overall, Bacon’s rebellion was a result of poor governing and consideration of the populace from Governor Berkeley and the Crown, as well as the desire to expand into the west of the colonists. The tipping point and direct cause of Bacon’s Rebellion was Berkeley’s refusal to exact retribution against the Native Americans in response for a series of Native attacks on colonial settlements, but the displeasure of the colonists inflamed the willingness of the colonists to take up arms against Governor Berkeley.
The alien and sedition act was a number of laws passed well John Adams was President. They were a series of laws that were passed by the Federalist Congress in 1798 and signed into law by President Adams. These laws included new powers to deport foreigners as well as making it harder for new immigrants to vote.
In my opinion, Bacon did commit treason. Despite the fact that his motives were meant to be good and to defend lives, he disregarded orders handed by the governor not to attack or pursue the Indians. Today, we would call this breaking the law. In Virginia, 1676 through 1677, Bacon Rebellion took place. Indians were coming into Virginia and taking over land by conquering and killing villages in cold blood. Sir William Berkeley was the governor of the colony at this time. William Berkeley, “showed a reluctance to retaliate, favoring instead a policy of keeping a strict boundary between Indian and colonial land…” The colonist there were not happy and wanted to do something about them being on there land and attacking their people. Bacon was a smart, young, and well-educated person.
Adams’ administration attempted to boost the country with a new policy to resolve its issues with France. This policy included the Alien and Sedition acts. However, the policy seemed to benefit the Federalists instead. The Alien and Sedition Acts was passed in order to protect themselves because Adams resisted the popular sentiment for war during the XYZ affair when it was necessary. American citizens only became infuriated with the acts. They claimed that the acts had violated their rights listed under the Constitution. They did not believe this policy to be acceptable, especially since it was not protecting them. Since this policy was not effective, Americans responded by creating their own resolutions. These resolutions were known and the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions. The result of the foreign policy was that it proved that it was created so that the Federalists could protect themselves, it did not protect Americans’ rights and it was so ineffective that it led people to create their own
John Adams a federalist had taken power. Instead of siding with the Federalist he had chosen a Democratic-Republican to be his vice president, Thomas Jefferson. Adams actually hated the most popular Federalist Alexander Hamilton. The most famous thing Adams is known for is the violent quarrels that happened with the French and the XYZ affair. The XYZ affair had angered many of the American citizens. It had caused clashes in the political system between the two parties. It had all started when the French were angered with Jay’s Treaty because it was a connection the United States were making with the British. This angered not only the French but also the Democratic-republicans. The mutual hatred had started, and there was no going back. The French had broken the Franco-American alliance and took the same action of the British and starting impressing American Sailors. To anger the Americans, even more, the French had refused the diplomat they appointed and threaten to arrest him. This fuel for hate was fired because of the betrayal. The French were really upset and wanted to get back at the United States for the dishonesty of their
First, one principal was the stamp act: a method for antagonizing and unifying the colonies. On the one hand, British men were collecting more than ten times as much revenue in America than they had been before in 1763. In a petition to the British government, the Congress denied that the colonies could rightfully be taxed except through their own provincial assemblies. Many New Englanders had stopped buying English goods to protect the sugar act of 1764 and the Stamp Act, causing the boycott to spread. Meanwhile, Townshend
This tax was different from the rest because the other taxes were to regulate trade. Colonists reacted by riots, boycotts, the forming of the Stamp Act Congress, and Sam Adams organized the Son’s of Liberty. The Stamp Act was the first external tax. The colonists felt that they were being taxed without representation.