The colonists began off acting as their own countries. They were not unified at all. However, because of the new taxes imposed by Britain, such as the Stamp Act, the colonists started to come together and revolt against Britain. They figured out that they must not only become unified, but they must also create their own sense of identity, unique to Americans. This identity and unification is what led to the eve of the revolution.
Once the colonies had been set up, and people started to trade among themselves, indians, and other countries, a way of trade and life was being created. This is the foundation for the new American Image that the colonists portrayed at the end of the revolution. This new image was so different than that of the British, that they started to try and take control of the situation in America. They started to impose new taxes and acts designed to keep the major income to Britain, while letting out as little as possible. Among these taxes were the Sugar Acts and the Stamp Acts. Both of these acts created new tax laws on certain goods. The Stamp Act imposed taxes on all printed documents. This made it so that in order for the colonists to send letters or get anything printed, they must pay more than they had been before. You can imagine how this would possibly piss many people right off. The other act, the Sugar Act, was enacted in order to stop the illegal sugar trade among colonists. It increased the duty on Sugar, and decreased the duty on Molasses. Apart from these acts, there were other actions taken to try and stop the colonists from doing what the British didn’t want them to, for instance the Vice Admiralty Courts. These courts were set up as a way to try smugglers in the new world. Britain was afraid that the smugglers were being tried by their own comrades, and therefore being set free, so they brought in members of the British Parliament to try the smugglers.
Britain started to make enforce many new laws