To What Extent Did The British Colonies Acquired Self Rule

During the 1600-1700s, a typical colonial planter felt there were problems with equality under the the British government, while they simultaneously disregarded the views of slaves and indentured servants, and American Indians. Colonial planters felt exploited by the British government. The document, “The Propriety of Colonial Subordination, a British View, 1726”, stated how Britain strongly condemned the “English plantations in America” in their defiance to the Crown. In 1764, the British enforced the Currency Act taking colonial currency out of circulation as a way to stronger enforce mercantilism. This angered the planters because they feared an increase of taxes and that they would not be able to pay their loans without paper money. Colonists were

Great Britain followed a policy of salutary neglect in its relationship with the American colonies in the years previous to the Revolutionary War to keep the Americans happy and loyal to Britain during their expansion. The Crown enforced the policy to restrain from enforcing strict laws of parliament; the colonists were allowed to violate the laws associated with the trade. After giving the Americans their first taste of freedom, the British attempted to reverse the policy in order to tax the colonists for Britain’s wars. However, this only angered the Americans and led to their

     The English hardly every interfered with colonial business. During the period of salutary neglect, the colonists started to think and act independently of England. They lived far away from Britain and had grown self-reliant. Laws, such as the Navigation Acts, were not strictly enforced,

During late 18th century America, there was much debate regarding the topic of the where the American colonies should stand: with Britain, or separate from them. The British crown, along with parliament, continuously imposed taxes upon the colonies and with each tax imposed the colonists grew increasingly angrier. Some might say that the British government behaved as a tyrant towards their American subjects. Opposing, there still was the debate that the British were justified for the taxes they imposed and their “tyrant’ behavior since they had supported the colonies in the French-Indian War and for many other reasons. While the British did have a good argument regarding their justification of their taxes and behavior the colonies were the

Originally, The English Government applied little restriction over their colonies by authorizing colonization to private interests. The Proprietors were allocated with the right to rule the colonists, with occasional royal supervision. Although, feeling the need to tax and monitor their commerce, the English Crown significantly tightened their colonial control during the late seventeenth century; in a move to turn all proprietary colonies into royal colonies. In addition, the English Government started to recognize the growing navel power of the Dutch, and ventured to eclipse their rivals in trade by establishing the Navigation Acts, and conquering key Dutch colonies. By only allowing English colonies to trade with English ships, the

During the 17th and 18th century, English residents felt that England was over-crowded and intolerable. They wanted to lessen these problems that rose up because of the large population increase and to establish more religious freedom (Horn). The English believed that the best way to go about this was to colonize the New World. Subsequently, many colonies began to develop, and of these colonies, Massachusetts Bay and Virginia were the most well-known. The early settlements of Massachusetts and Virginia were both established by similar groups of people at the same time; furthermore, their contrasting beginnings as a colony, views on religion, and method of economic stability all contributed to our American heritage today.

The American colonists were ruled by the British in the 17th and 18th century, and during this time Britain had the right to tax and manage commerce in the colonies as they saw fit. There comes a time when this strict enforcement of rules become a legitimate invasion of personal liberty. This is what happened in 1768 when Britain temporally dissolved the Massachusetts Assembly. From 1763 to 1768, Britain was acting reasonably in maintaining a decent relationship with the colonies. Indeed, many regulations such as the Royal Proclamation, the Stamp Act, and the Currency Act troubled the colonists, but they were required to obey because Britain held supreme authority. Britain created the colonies as an expansion of their own empire. However, starting

“Independence is my happiness, and I view things as they are, without regard to place or person; my country is the world, and my religion is to do good” (Paine, Rights of Man). In 1607, 100 English colonists traveled across the Atlantic Ocean from England to Chesapeake Bay in Jamestown, Virginia to settle in the glorious New World. This began what is now known as the colonization of America. Though being seemingly free from the religious restraints, overpopulation, and excessive crime, the colonists were still under Britain’s power. With many political conflicts and the military events between the ruling British monarch and the colonies of North America, the American settlers became rebellious and longed for independence.

England was under major economic stress and still had troops stationed in America to protect the colonists. The only support the colonies provided to the empire was through customs revenues, and the cost on the customs revenue hardly covered the cost of the collection. In the eyes of the British, colonists were indebted to England for the cost of “their” war and current security. When George Grenville became prime minister in 1763, he first tried to enforce stricter trade regulations to collect some of these dues. The collection efforts were taken a step further as a series of Acts were passed that would enforce taxes on the colonists. The taxation upset the colonists due to their nonexistent representation on the

During the seventeenth century, colonial America was welcoming many newcomers, several from England. Quantities of these newcomers were seeking land for economic purposes as others were longing for religious toleration. Many of the English colonists settled in the New England region for religious freedoms, to escape the English king, and leave adversaries of other religions behind. Settlers who resided in the Middle Atlantic region were affected differently. Although the Middle Atlantic was more

This list also reflects the ardent belief of the colonists that the British Empire was slowly eroding their rights related to citizens after the Indian and French wars ended during 1763. Although this declaration did not name the specific legislation, they point towards the attempts made both by the King and the Parliament to gain more control and power over these 13 colonies. These attempts start with the Proclamation of 1763 when the Parliament stripped the rights of the colonists to settle between the Mississippi River and the Appalachian Mountains (Mulhall, 2005). After that, the Parliament enacted some successive acts such as the Sugar Act (1764), the Stamp Tax (1765), the Townshend Acts (1767) and the Tea Act (1773) (Mulhall, 2005). The main focus

The colonists who originally came from England in the early colonial century, faced many acts that took away their rights to make a sturdy profit and acts that taxed them to an extent that was not even reasonable for the people. “Imperial reorganization, many people in England claimed, would increase the profitability of the colonies and the power of the English government to supervise them.”(60) Colonists found it easy to trade with the French, and Dutch for goods that the Mother Country would not supply them with. A good trade relationship formed with the colonies and their foreign trade partners. “For a time, the English government made no serious efforts to restrict this challenge to the principles of mercantilism.”(61) England in 1650 then started passing laws that would regulate colonial trade. The government passed a major law that would keep the colonists from trading with the

Obtaining the colonies from their former rulers would not be enough, however, to keep them under the British Empire. They could easily revolt, or end up causing massive issues for the British once their backs were turned. The British needed to find a way to hold on to this power, which they did by “converting” the colonies from their former ideologies to a more English system, which makes sure that they would stay English for centuries. This helped to keep the British Empire strong, regardless of how far away the colony would be. By introducing more English customs, the colony would become a “child” of the parent country, England. One such custom would be the religion: Protestantism. One could see the results of this in modern day Britain, consisting of Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland came to become British due to the Ulster Plantation. The Ulster Plantation was a method that the English used to send people from England to Ireland to, in part, develop a non-Catholic, more Protestant culture . By doing so, and developing the anti-Catholic sentiment, the British were able to create a Protestant base in Ireland, which is the modern day Northern Ireland. Areas far from England were also being influenced by the religious British. While North America was developed as an opportunity for the British to extract resources and money, North America was also an opportunity to develop religious change in the New World. The British colonies that were developed in

Around the seventeenth century, the North American settlers were dependent on their Mother Country, Great Britain. The colonies were dependent economically and politically. Great Britain maintained the colonies dependence with mercantilism. Mercantilism was an economic system used in early colonialism that allowed the government to regulate all trade and provided wealth to the Mother Country. By using mercantilism Great Britain was able to control the colonies with the closed system of trade. (Tusan, 1001, Feb 4). King George III, who was the ruler of the British Empire attempted to control the colonies with Stamp Taxes, Townshend Acts, and the Intolerable Acts. The taxations forced the American colonists to go against the British Empire and declare their rights as Englishmen. “That it

As the first colonists arrived in Jamestown, West Virginia in 1607, they carried with them their hopes, dreams, fears, and most importantly, the individual liberties and established rights that were their birthright as Englishmen. By the 1600s, these colonists—subjects of England—had enjoyed political freedoms, such as trial by jury, largely unheard of elsewhere in the world. The Magna Carta, signed centuries before on the plains of Runnymede in 1215, had established the principle of limited government. That meant that the power of the king was not absolute. According to the principles of mercantilism, the colonies’ main function was to bolster the “mother country,” both economically and politically. The American colonies were set up as a source of raw materials for England. They were expected to export valuable commodities, such as cotton, lumber, tar, gold, and silver, among other things. They were regarded as English subjects and possessions of the mother country. Over time, the colonists, forced to straddle two worlds, both England and America, rebelled. Their primary source of anger and frustration was that they were being severely taxed without having a voice in Parliament. After the Sugar Act passed in 1765, Samuel Adams, who saw it as a violation of their birth rights and liberties, won the support of the Massachusetts Assembly and declared: “If taxes are laid upon us in any shape