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Colonial Civil Disobedience
In 1765 the conclusion of the Seven Years War had effectively ended French political and cultural influence in North America. England gained massive amounts of land and vastly strengthened its hold on the continent; however the war also had subtler results. It badly eroded the relationship between England and Native Americans, forced Britain into incurring fairly large debts in order to win, and, played a major role in the worsening relationship between England and its colonies that eventually led into the Revolutionary War. Prior to the Seven Years War, Britain and France had been in competition for control of most of North America. Britain had an advantage because of its stronger Navy and its ability to encourage its citizens to settle in British colonies through the promise of land and wealth. Furthermore, the British military provided some protection for the colonists who bore virtually no tax burden to pay for this
... Government officials rationalized they had spent many years and much money developing these colonies into thriving societies, and now those colonies should begin to help out financially.
The colonies saw this very differently. They believed they had taken huge risks in building up the colonies and saw Britain's decision to levy taxes on them as a serious threat. They had seen the British government drain all the wealth out of other places such as Ireland and Scotland, and with no colonial representation in Parliament, feared the government would do the same to them. The colonies determined that they had to fight the taxes at the outset or they would soon be bled dry. The colonists thought that through boycotts and other resistance that they could get Britain to back down.
The British, however, decided they could not back down from colonial resistance. They had to establish their authority over the colonies or there would be constant friction and problems, thus the conflict escalated until British soldiers and colonial militia began shooting at each other.
Peaceful Protests -- Boycotts and Resistance
In 1767, in order to mitigate massive unemployment, riots over high prices, and tax protests Charles Townshend proposed a new series of Revenue Acts, placing tariffs on the importation of commodities such as lead,…
References
Faragher, J.M., Buhle, M.J., Czitom, D., & Armitage, S.H. (2009). Out of many: A history of the American people, Volume I (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall
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