Historical Investigation IB

In 1773 the British passed the Coercive Acts; amongst these acts were the Boston Port Bill, which banned all colonists from the port until the crates of tea were paid for, and the Quebec Act, which extended the boundaries of Quebec far south into colonial lands, stopping any expansion of the colonies. They were passed in order to show to the rest of the colonies what would happen if you opposed Britain, and in response to the Boston Tea Party, which took place on December 16th 1773 when a group of Colonists disguised as Native Americans snuck onto British ships which carried crates of tea. They threw 342 of the crates into Boston Harbour in a boycott of the British retention of the Tea Tax. The colonies decided to take full political action against Britain after the passing of the Coercive Acts and for the first time all 13 colonies met in an official Continental Congress to discuss the future of the Colonies.  

In 1775 Britain passed the New England Restraining Act, which disallowed the Colonies from trading with anyone but Britain. This final act and the discovery of another ship of British troops headed for America was followed by the Continental Congress’s decision to officially declare war on Britain on July 4th 1776.

Evaluation of Sources

Thomas Jefferson, 1776, the Declaration of Independence, original document copied onto

This document was written by Thomas Jefferson, a member of the United States Continental Congress in 1776, with the assistance of other members of the Congress including Benjamin Franklin and John Adams. Its main value stems from the fact that it was written for the purpose of showing the Great Britain the exact motivation behind America’s withdrawal from the empire and it was written by the men who declared independence from Britain. It is the most specific document encompassing the viewpoint of a majority in the American government on this issue. It may be limited by the fact that the document was not signed by all member of the Congress, showing that their reasons for secession differed from that of the other congressmen and therefore creating some question as to whether or not the document is entirely correct in its claim to representing the views of all Americans. Also it could be said that the American Government did not stick to all of the doctrines included in the Declaration of Independence, therefore creating question as to whether or not the document was based entirely around the true intentions of the Continental Congress.  

Hugh Brogan, ed. 1986, ‘The Pelican History of the United States of America’, publisher- Pelican Books

Brogan uses many British primary sources relating to the American Revolution in this book. The value of this is that it allows a secondary viewpoint to be seen and allows for a broader view of the situation to be had. Whilst using many British sources, Brogan also refers to a number of American primary sources to give a better idea of the feelings of the American people. This broader analysis of America’s revolutionary reasoning adds value to the source. It is limited by the fact that it is secondary source, drawing it away from the accuracy of primary information. No matter how many primary sources are referred to, the end result is an analysis based on the opinion of Brogan. Although, this limitation can simultaneously be seen as a value as Brogan can, unlike the authors of primary sources, look back with hindsight and sift through a multitude of documents before coming to a final conclusion on the cause of American Revolution.

Analysis

The change in Britain’s taxation policies caused a great deal of unrest amongst the colonists. The light violent and political opposition to the Stamp Act showed the British that the colonies would not stand for their interference and thus heightened the tension between them, taking them one step closer to revolution. The opposition to the Stamp Acts set the ground for the more violent opposition of the other tax policies which followed.

The Townshend Acts show most clearly the anger which taxation drew out of the colonists. The fact that colonial opposition to the acts forced Britain to send military troops to assist in the enforcement of the taxes shows that taxation alone could have led to the heightened tension between the British and colonists which led to the eventual Declaration of Independence being made. Hugh Brogan argues that these acts resulted in the political unification which allowed the colonies to take action against the British before the outbreak of war in 1776. However, this view is inconsistent with the fact that the first Continental Congress did not meet until the introduction of the Coercive Acts in 1774 suggesting that taxation was not in fact the sole cause of the Declaration of Independence.

Even though the Townshend Acts were repealed, the retention of the Tea Tax was enough to set off another colonial boycott of British goods which would lead to the British introduction of the Coercive Acts. The Tea Tax was not particularly offensive in its demands but the colonists had at this point built up such an aversion to all British taxation policy that no matter what doctrines it contained they would stand against it. Brogan argues here that the largest mistake on the part of the British was their repeated introduction of similar acts which angered the colonists; a basic flaw in logic which would lead to the Declaration of Independence in 1776.

The argument remains that taxation was not the main cause of the Declaration of Independence. The Quartering Act forced the colonists into close proximity of the British standing forces. This compulsory interaction created widespread anger and worked in a similar way to the Stamp Act in setting the ground for colonial opposition to British political policies in the colonies. In the Declaration of Independence the quartering of British troops amongst the colonists is mentioned above the imposing of taxes without colonial consent. However the doctrines within the Declaration of Independence are not necessarily in order of importance. Despite this it can be said that sufficient blame was put on this act in the Declaration to consider it as important as taxation in the eyes of the Continental Congress.

The Coercive Acts were labelled the ‘Intolerable Acts’ by the colonists, showing the vehement outrage towards their introduction. They are seen by many to be what definitively ensured war would breakout between the colonists and the British. Eric Foner rightly suggests, unlike Brogan, that these were the acts which unified the colonies against the British. This is backed by the fact that the first Continental Congress (as aforementioned) met to discuss how to deal with the acts. Foner also argues that the colonies saw the restrictions placed on Massachusetts as indicative of the fate of the colonies as a whole and that this fear of being subjected to totalitarian rule led an impassable opposition of British rule which gave them the fortitude needed to declare their independence.

Conclusion

The change in British tax policy in America must be seen to be responsible at least in part for the American Declaration of Independence. There is enough evidence of a strong American outcry against the new taxation to deduce clearly that it would not be stood for. It must also be considered that the British’s continual introduction of new tax policies in the colonies in total ignorance of the Americans’ open and often violent opposition to them strongly assisted in pushing the American people into a vendetta for freedom. The mention of taxation as a complaint in the Declaration of Independence also solidifies it as one of the main causes of the revolution.

Still, the political and military changes must also be strongly considered. The Quartering Act put the relationship of the British and colonists to the test, forcing them into close quarters without the consent of the Americans. Even more problematic than the Quartering Act were the Coercive Acts, which cut off many of the few freedoms the colonists had been able to claim since moving to the ‘new world’ in an attempt to escape from the British bureaucratic structure of government. This attempt by the British to attain total control of the colonies only pushed them further away, and ended ultimately in total alienation.

What must be said is that without both the political and economic aggravation of the colonies there would most probably never have been enough grounds for a justified revolution to take place. Not every colonist opposed the tax acts and not every colonist opposed the political acts but together the majority (excluding the Loyalists) were adverse British actions in some way. Ultimately I would say that taxation itself can be seen to be largely accountable for the revolution, since many of the political actions were put in place merely because of colonial opposition to the tax acts.

Word Count- 1,999 words

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