Colonial Grievances In Colonial America

Colonial Grievances During the mid 1760’s through the mid 1770’s, the colonists of the British Empire began to form a list of grievances against the king and government. The grievances that the colonies had and the events that took place over this decade led to the American Revolution against Britain. These grievances included those accusing the king of being ineffective and wrongful, those describing the mistreatment of the colonists, and those explaining the anger and wants of the colonists. The people living in the British colonies grew tired and angry of the unjust an ineffective king of England. As described in Document 1, the king was not open to liberal thoughts and ideas. The king was greedy instead of giving, and was more of a master …show more content…
People were forced to follow unfair laws and obey the will of the king. Protests in colonial America were a normal occurrence, with people of all genders and races banding together against the government as shown in Document 7. These protests and tensions ran through each colony and population. As described in Document 3, tensions between the colonists and the British army escalated when children threw snowballs and were met with gunfire rather than civility. A crowd had gathered around the boys by the time the redcoats began to fire, and men fell to the ground. This day became known as the Boston or Bloody Massacre, on which three men were killed and more were wounded. This event jeopardized the ties between Britain and the colonies. The colonists would not stand for this unfair treatment much longer. John Adams wrote about the treatment of the British towards the colonists saying “ Nothing but equal Liberty and kind Treatment can secure the attachment of the Colonies to Britain.” (Doc 2). Only with fairness and kind treatment could keep the colonies from severing ties with Britain. The unwillingness of Britain to change its attitude toward the colonies prompted the start of the …show more content…
The anger surrounding the Stamp Act as described in Document 5 was violent in opposition of the law’s being passed. Threats to burn the stamp office row building and harm those who were in acceptance of this act ran rampant. The colonist’s anger was fueled by the laws being passed by parliament. Also, the taxes placed on goods in colonial America were expensive and overly priced. The colonists refused to pay these unreasonable prices and boycotted the goods being taxed. The colonists had given no consent on the raising of taxes and had not had a part in the passing of these new laws. John Hancock voiced his opinion on not having representation in government as being unfair by saying “ Taxes equally detrimental to the commercial interests of the Parent country and the colonies are imposed upon the People, without their consent.” (Doc 4). Hancock and many other colonists wanted colonial representation in the government so that the colonist’s will could be heard by Britain. The imposing of these laws and taxes on the colonists were unjust due to the lack of colonial