French and Indian War

KeVarian Riley
10/13/12
1st Block
Essay

Dating all the way back to the French and Indian War, the American colonists were getting fed up with the British. Britain was trying to thrive through America and the colonists were not having it. Heavy taxation, restriction on civil liberties, British military measures, and the legacy of colonial religious and political ideas were major factors of the rebellion in 1776. The Americans were tired of being under British control and wanted their own rights, rules, and liberties. So the American Revolution began. The taxes that Britain was placing on America were unbearable. The Tea, Stamp, and Intolerable Acts were placed on the Americans because the British blamed America for its loss in the French and Indian War. More taxes came when the American colonists boycotted overtaxed goods. The Americans were eager to gain their freedom in 1765 when these Acts were put in place, but they were not quite ready. John Locke’s ideas on natural rights pushed the colonists even further to gain their independence. “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness,” was the quote that changed most of the American colonists’ minds into being a free country. Britain forced the colonists to house British soldiers, taxed the colonies without representation, and restricted free trade. The British even closed the Boston port and after the Boston Tea Party, colonists could not be tried in local courts, they were sent to a British admiralty court. The Americans were fumed by these restrictions and were closer to declaring for their liberty. During the “Boston Massacre,” a group of colonists began throwing snowballs at British soldiers, leading to the soldiers opening fire on the townspeople, killing five. Clearly, the people of Boston were outraged by this act of unfairness in response to the throwing of a few snowballs. The British imposed the Writs of Assistance, which were super search warrants that allowed the British to search Americans’ homes for anything at any time. These Acts were a obvious attack against Americans’ privacy. In 1775, seven hundred British troops were sent to Concord, Massachusetts, to destroy ammunition on a tip that the colonists were storing arms. The Committees of Correspondence were aware of this and spread the word throughout the countryside. Minutemen gathered to look out for the British soldiers at Lexington. The “shot heard around the world” was fired, and the Revolutionary War began. The colonists resisted British military interference. The legacy of colonial religions and political ideas served as the basic philosophy of the colonists. In 1607, the colonists came to America in search freedom from the Crown of England. The phrase, “No taxation without representation,” stated by Patrick Henry, was in reference to the Declaratory Act of 1766 issued by Britain. The Act made practical representation legal. Consequently, the colonists were not gaining any freedom at all, but were only an extension of Britain’s rule. The colonists decided that America would be a place where people could practice their religions peacefully and that they did not need Britain to order religious views. The colonists came to America in search of liberty and freedom. But Britain thought of it another way. The British tried to run the American colonies, but they did a poor job at it. The legacy of colonial religions and political freedom, British military measures, restriction of civil liberties, and parliamentary taxation were all important factors leading to the colonists’ decision to rebel. The American Revolution led to the American colonies become free from British rule and allowed them to make their own laws, rules, and constitution.