Colonial Stability Framework Essay

The colonial stability framework began to change after the Seven Years' War. This conflict between England and France was the result of a long dispute over the leading of overseas trade and colonial empire.
It began in 1756, when the two powers fought for possession of the Ohio region in North America. Soon, they started to dispute the sovereignty of the entire territory. However, thanks to the aid of the settlers, England emerged victorious from the conflict in 1763.
After the victory, the American colonists felt the right to populate the lands conquered in the war. England, however, economically exhausted due to military spending, decided to reserve the territory for exploration of the Crown, by restoring monopolies and creating new taxes.
From this point on, England began to impose a series of law repressing more and more and the American colonies. (1) In 1764, Britain established a law restricting the sale of sugar in the American colonies, favoring the trade controlled by British companies. (2) In 1765, the English created the Stamp Act, which demanded a fee (a stamp) on every printed material in the colonies. (3) In 1767, the English Parliament launched taxes on tea, glass, paper, dyes and lead. (4) In 1773 the English Parliament granted the East India Company the right to sell the product in the colonies directly to the consumer and with full exemption from tariffs. Although this measure promoted the cheapening of the product to the population, it seriously hurt local businesses.
Economically affected, businessmen spread the rumor that, after the Company had eliminated all competitors, it would raise the prices as much as it wanted.
Being so, when the Company's ships arrived in December of that year at the Port of Boston, settlers disguised as Indians threw the cargo of one of the ships into the sea. This episode became known as the case of the Boston Tea Party.
For that, Parliament increased pressure by approving in 1774, the Intolerable Acts, closing the port of Boston, demanding compensation for the lost tea, and setting the arrest and trial of the involved in the Boston Tea Party.
However, since the beginning of tensions between metropolis and colonies, a group of intellectuals and local merchants - inspired by Enlightenment ideas of freedom and equality - started to work with the population, promoting the political separatism.
In February 1774, representatives of all the colonies organized the First Continental Congress in Virginia. In it, a Bill of Rights was drafted, which demanded the restoration of freedom in the colonies.
King George III, not accepting the demands of Rights, ordered to intensify repression. There were violent clashes between British troops and settlers. Thus, from 1775 on, the colonies decided to organize themselves
militarily.
In May 1775, the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia took place, and the Committee of Five (leaded by Thomas Jefferson and composed of John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman and Robert Livingston), responsible for the writing of the Declaration of Independence, was created.
The document profoundly changed the legitimacy of the Independence War, led by George Washington, and inspired American people to fight for what they thought were right, not accepting any more being subjugated by a tyrannical government.