Advanced History
As the population of the American colonies grew in the 1750’s and 60’s, so did the demand for land. After the French and indian war, Britain had gained all of what would later be called Louisiana. As the original colonial regions were being overcrowded. People began to settle west of the Appalachian mountains in the newly gained territory (Wood).
The French and Indian war, or the seven years war, left Britain in enormous amounts of debt. The King had already sent a standing army to the colonies to help local officials enforce law (Wood). However, this standing army had a very difficult time enforcing laws west of the Appalachians. In fact, law and order was mainly enforced by vigilantes, who later turned to crime to …show more content…
The King had passed laws that the colonists hated such as taxes, thinking that it was only fair that they pay for the war they fought, but didn’t know that the colonists hated taxes until it was too late. By the time the King learned that they hated these laws, many riots were probably organized, and tax collectors were already tortured with tar and feathers (Text). First he tried the Sugar Act, a tax on sugar and molasses. The colonists were taken aback by this tax; they were so angered that the King had the audacity to tax them. So a year later the Sugar Act was repealed, but was soon replaced by the Stamp Act (Text). The stamp act was a tax on a legal/written documents, where a stamp must be placed on all said documents showing that the tax had been paid for. This particular tax made the colonists furious. In fact, on August 14, 1765, the Sons of Liberty, a very pro-revolution rebel organization, tore apart a court office and demanded that they stop enforcing the stamp act (Wood). The next day they got what they wanted: the stamp act was no longer being enforced, but still wasn’t repealed. The colonists were upset over the fact that they didn’t get a vote on these taxes and wanted actual representation. Jeff James stated in a lecture, “the colonists argued ‘no taxation without representation!’ and Britain was like, ‘Oh we get it dudes! We feel your pain. Don’t worry we are virtually representing you.’” The Stamp Act was eventually repealed. The King, only slightly annoyed, passed the Tea Act, stating that the East India Tea company could now sell to America. The colonists didn’t know the specifics for this bill, but seemed okay with it. That was until the ever so paranoid Thomas Jefferson thought “we need to show strength against the Tea Act, or the King is totally going to crush us all” (James). So on December 16, 1773, Thomas Jefferson, and one hundred-fifteen other men