Causes Of Colonist Conflict

olonist conflict. The British levied taxes against American colonists to, “pay for their own defense. Moreover, the funds received from American colonists barely covered one-third of the cost of maintaining British troops in the 13 colonies.” But many colonists believed they didn’t need and didn’t want the British troops to continue protecting the 13 colonies. They did not want to pay for troops to be around just to watch them. Major conflict arose when the British Parliament passed the Stamp Act in March 1765, placing a direct tax on the American colonies. Colonists reacted by enacting widespread boycotts of British goods. This two sided conflict led to a reluctant resolution on the side of the British; The Stamp Act was repealed the following
year. In this loop of conflict, response, retaliation, and reaction, the British Parliament introduced the Intolerable Acts. With these new set of rules set by the British government, conflict was at its highest, and, “For the first time since the Stamp Act Crisis, an intercolonial conference was called.”3 Once more, conflict leads to an organization of opposition. And with that organization of opposition, not in the far future is resolve.
In 1770, the first violent act of conflict occurred with the Boston Massacre. British troops fired into a Boston mob, where colonists were demonstrating against customs commission and the British troops which enforced them. Within the next six years, the continued cycle of action, reaction, and counterreaction transpired, eventually leading to the increasing conflict between the British Parliament and the colonists, especially the Boston Tea Party. With the second continental congress and the Declaration of Independence, colonists saw a pathway to possible reform. But with this hope of a colonial controlled America came a seemingly impossible war. To reach an uprising of peace, war and revolution must ensue. And so it did, with its expense as well. As Selby indicates, “many colonists suffered as they made decisions that frequently meant the loss of family, friends, home, and fortune,”. Revolution and war was not free of cost. And that cost can be the choice of peace, even though resolution is the end goal. The tensions of this war were higher than any. No matter the damage and destruction of American property and cities, they would not give in. Through this conflict, resolution was made in the Treaty of Paris 1783. The Americans had defeated the British, and were now independent.

Post American Revolution (1783-1800s)
Though the Americans may have declared independence, they had not achieved unity. From 1783 onward, there was more conflict and resolution than ever. The process of creating a new nation included much debate and reform, “by protesting British rule through legal and extra-legal actions; by waging a war to end America's status as a colonized territory; and by designing new forms of government for what Patriots hoped would become independent states.” The constitution was the center piece of conflict and debate in the 1780’s, coined the Critical Period due to the amount of diverse opposition in the directions the nation could head. The drafting and ratifying of the Constitution is another example of conflict and resolution.
In this Critical Period, the United States went through many constitutions, ever changing and adapting to suffice those who held it in suspicion.
The first constitution was the Articles of Confederation, which after being adapted by the Continental Congress was found to give, “too much power to the states and were especially concerned about state governments' vulnerability to powerful local interests.” The question was not how to revise the Articles of Confederation, but whether to revise it, start new, and how to do so. Many proposals were put forth, such as the Virginia Plan. But opposition was not kept at bay; Small states were at conflict with larger ones. In the case of the constitution, victory was won through compromise, not defeat. Peace in pursuit for a more perfect union would be reached through resolution not desolation. Even with this as the case, two opposing sides often formed around discussion, such as Federalism and Anti-Federalism. The discussion that these two groups formed around was the proposed Constitution, Federalists supporting it, and Anti-Federalists against. Ratification was another process of resolving conflict, just another step forward in
progress.
Through conflict and resolution, the United States strived for a more perfect Union, shaped by ratification, modification, and reform.
In 1791, The Bill of Rights was ratified. An installment of individual rights, a bill for the people, a, “symbol and foundation of American ideals of individual liberty, LIMITED GOVERNMENT, and the rule of law.” From the American Revolution, the United States was being shaped by what was in the peoples’ best interests: freedom, liberty, and civility. Quakers were an example of a group that fought for the abolition of slavery and for the equality of rights, “The human Race, however varied in Color or Intellects, are all justly entitled to Liberty, and it is the Duty and the Interest of Nations and Individuals, enjoying every Blessing of Freedom,” The United States flourished because of groups like the Quakers. It allowed for a perfect harmony of discord. If colonists that were discontent with the British did not revolt, they would not have been granted independence. If Anti-Federalists and Federalists weren’t in an opposition equilibrium, one would outweigh the other. The United States experienced progress in a rapid style because of its unique mix of conflict and peace, opposition and agreement, reform and stagnation, and those who fight for freedom and those who fight for a triumphant nation and government. Conflict resulting in progress. Imperfect resolution resulting in conflict. The loop which America launched its history
from