Stamp Act
What role did the Stamp Act play in the American evolution?
The Stamp Act of 1765 was enacted by British Parliament as an attempt to raise revenue that would help to pay off the debt that Britain had incurred during the Seven Years' War, also known as the French and Indian War. The Stamp Act required that American colonists pay a tax on "every piece of paper they used" (Summary of the 1765 Stamp Act, n.d.). While American colonials were used to being taxed by the British Parliament as they were still English subjects, they were most upset by the principle of the Act. The passage of the Stamp Act by British Parliament helped to bring attention to how American colonials were unjustly and unfairly being governed and helped to provide a political platform that would justify revolution.
One of the major reasons that colonials were highly against the Stamp Act…...
mlaReferences
No Taxation Without Representation. (n.d.). Accessed 11 November 2011 from, http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h640.html
The Sons of Liberty. (n.d.). Declaration of Independence. U.S. History. Accessed 11 November
2011 from, http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/related/sons.htm
A Summary of the 1765 Stamp Act. (n.d.). Colonial Williamsburg. Accessed 11 November 2011 from, http://www.history.org/history/teaching/tchcrsta.cfm
Forty-one years ago, President Kennedy had the occasion to honor Nobel Prize winners at the White House in late April. When giving the toast, he proclaimed: "I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge, that has ever been gathered together at the White House...with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone." Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence was our third President and considered the greatest President in United States history. However, the Embargo Act of 1807-1809 caused him to leave office resented by many Americans. Many of these people believe him to have violated the individual liberty of American citizens that he had championed throughout his career. A successful study of his motives in initiating the embargo and its eventual manifestation is essential to understanding Jefferson and the early history of American trade and foreign policy.
Jefferson was a classical liberal and perhaps…...
mlaColumbia Encyclopedia: Embargo Act of 1807
Reginald Horsman. The Causes of the War of 1812; University of Pennsylvania Press, 1962.
Louis Martin Sears. Jefferson and the Embargo; Duke University Press, 1927
Also, this should be seen as a short-term solution for people who are temporarily out of jobs in the U.S. And not as a long-term means to living comfortably.
Social Security Benefits
Social security benefits help many elderly and disabled people to live a reasonable life. In 2010, more than 53 million Americans received social security benefits that amount to a whopping $703 billion. Out of these, 34 million retired workers accounted for $40 billion and $1.7 billion went to 2.9 dependents of retired workers at an average amount of $1,170 per month. The eight million disabled workers and their $1.9 billion dependents received an average of $1,065 per month and this amounted to $8.5 billion and $0.6 billion respectively. The remaining $6.3 billion went to 6.4 million survivors at an average monthly benefit of $1,129. (Social Security Administration USA, 2010).
The Social Security Administration of the U.S. estimates that nine out…...
mlaReferences
USDA Food and Nutrition Service. (December 2010). State Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Participation Rates in 2008. Washington, DC:Author. Retrieved from: http://www.fns.usda.gov/oane/MENU/Published/snap/FILES/Participation/Reaching2008.pdf
DeParle, Jason. (November 28, 2009). Food Stamp Use Soars and Stigma Fades. New York Times.
Social Security Administration USA (2010). Fact Sheets. Washington, DC:Author. Retrieved from: http://www.ssa.gov/pressoffice/factsheets/basicfact-alt.pdf
Trumball, Mark. (2011, January 17). The Retirement Workforce. Christian Science Monitor.
Against the Patriot Act of 2001
What is the Patriot Act of 2001? The Act was passed in order to unite and strengthen the United States of America by providing all the appropriate and the necessary tools with which to fight terrorism. The President George W. Bush signed the Act on October 26th in 2001, after the devastating terrorist attacks that occurred on the nerve center of the United States of America, the World Trade Center, on September 11, 2001. (USA Patriot Act) These terrorist acts were a cleverly coordinated series of attacks on the Pentagon, which is the Headquarters of the Department of Defense of the United States of America and holds more than 23,000 civilian as well as military employees, and also more than 3,000 non-defense personnel, and on the World Trade Center, which is the center of global commerce that is responsible for providing network access to several…...
mlaReferences
Bergen, Jennifer Van. "The U.S.A. Patriot Act Was Planned Before 9/11" Truth out Editorial. (20 May, 2002) Retrieved From
Accessed on 25 November, 2004http://www.truthout.org/docs_02/05.21B.jvb.usapa.911.htm
Dinh, Viet. E. (1 June, 2004) "How the U.S.A. Patriot Act defends Democracy" A White Paper. Retrieved From http://www.defenddemocracy.org/usr_doc/USA_Patriot_Act.pdf
Accessed on 25 November, 2004
Patriot Act and Constitutional Freedom
Thomas Jefferson said: 'The price of freedom is constant vigilance.' Unfortunately in a large nation dedicated to the individual freedom and liberty of all its citizens, the only time when the nation learns that is has not been vigilant enough is when a person, or group of persons take advantage of that freedom, and abuse the liberty of others in order to further their own destructive purposes. The tragedy of 9-11 is the most recent case in point of how a nation can take its freedom and liberty for granted, which ultimately makes a doorway for others to tear down that which has taken over 200 years to build, protect, and defend.
When our country endured similar acts of threat or war, such as the bombing of Pearl Harbor, or the expansion of communism into the Western Hemisphere in Cuba, the government has oven reacted with…...
mlaBibliography.
The Alien and Sedtion acts. (2001) Folwells Laws of the U.S. Early America.com Accessed 1 Jan 2004. Available from http://earlyamerica.com/earlyamerica/milestones/sedition/ .
Dempsey, Jim. (2003, Jan 3) Cyber Security. Center for Democracy and Security. Accessed 1 Jan 2004. Available at http://www.cdt.org/security/000404amending.shtml
Henderson, N. (2002) The Patriot Act's impact on the government's ability to conduct electronic surveillance of ongoing domestic communications. Duke Law Journal, Vol. 52.
Japanese-Americans Internment Camps During World War II. Special Collections Department, J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah. Accessed 1 Jan 2003. Available from http://www.lib.utah.edu/spc/photo/9066/9066.htm
Though Jefferson played a major role in the development of the United States he preferred to be remembered for the things he gave the people and not the things the people gave to him. His final request was that his tombstone read: HERE AS BURIED THOMAS JEFFERSON, AUTHOR of the DECLARATION of INDEPENDENCE, of the STATUTE of VIRGINIA for RELIGIOUS FREEDOM, and FATHER of the UNIVERSITY of VIRGINIA.
The Townsend Acts were a series of laws passed by the Parliament of Great Britain beginning in 1767. These acts were intended to raise revenue to pay the salaries of governors and judges, enforce compliance with trade regulations, punish New York for failure to comply with the Quartering Act, and establish a precedent that Parliament had the right to tax the colonies.
The Stamp Act of 1765 was a direct tax imposed by Parliament on the American colonies. The act required that printed materials…...
mlaWorks Cited
"Brief Biography of Thomas Jefferson." Thomas Jefferson's Monticello. Web. Accessed 31
March 2011.
"Short History of the University of Virginia." University of Virginia. Web. Accessed 31 March
2011.
Revolution War
What led to the Revolution War
This paper aims to discuss main ideas that led to the Revolution War as explained by Edmund S. Morgan in the third edition of his book "The Birth of the Republic' (993). This book was initially published in 956 and then republished another time in 977 and then in 993. It provided a tremendous overview of the major events of the history of America during the revolutionary period.
Morgan in the first part of the book examined the relationship between the 3 U.S. colonies and British Parliament. He emphasized primarily on the unjust taxation that was imposed on the colonies by the English and other violations of liberties committed by British Parliament. In fact, Sugar and Stamp Acts of 764-765 turned out to be a great shock to the colonists, that declared that in future additional taxes will be taken from the colonists. In…...
mla1. Explained by Daniel K. Richter, Before the Revolution: America's Ancient Pasts, Belknap Press of Harvard University Press; First Edition, 2011, 500- 510
2. Quoted in Edmund, S, and Morgan. The Birth of the Republic, 1763-89 (The Chicago History of American Civilization), University of Chicago Press; Third Edition, 1993, 27
3. Explained by Edmund, S, and Morgan. The Birth of the Republic, 1763-89 (The Chicago History of American Civilization), University of Chicago Press; Third Edition, 1993, 52.
During the 18th century there was a fierce competition between the British and the French colonial empires which ultimately led to The Seven Years War. The final result of the conflict favored the English who, nonetheless, were forced to make appeal to the force of the American colonies in order to defeat the French. Following such an action, the opponents of the British rule over the American territories would later on recall and use in supporting the cause of independence the aid the Americans provided the British in tackling the French threat.
The British considered the Americans as being the closest political ally and colonial region. Moreover, the historical context determined such an approach. This special treatment protected the American colonies from any external and foreign threat; in return, the British sought to maintain a preferential trade connection with the American colonies who were, without a doubt, one of the most…...
They were seen as being more punitive than pragmatic. Certainly the British needed revenue after the French & Indian War to support their standing army in the colonies, but to tax the colonists in order to police them with multitudes of Redcoats, was absurd, and caused the colonists -- many of whom had tried to stay loyal to the King -- to become cynical, skeptical, and in the end, very angry.
FOUR: How did the colonists respond?
Certainly -- as the text reports on page 138 -- the colonists thought they were British subjects, and of course they were. But when the Sugar and Stamp Acts were handed down, many colonists it seemed unfair and "in deep violation of what they perceived to be their rights and liberties" as British subjects. In time, large street protests were helping to build the demand for new policies. One of the colonists' most dramatic…...
George Hewes
iographical Moments
George Robert Twelves Hewes was an interesting figure in the American Revolutionary period was born in oston, on September 5th 1742. The environment in which he lived saw many transformations throughout his life and Hewes also experienced more inward transformations as well. Hewes life can be defined by some of the more significant events that we personally witnessed and/or participated in. These events also happened to be defining moments in American History. One such incident that worked to transform Hewes as a person was undoubtedly the oston Massacre in 1770. During this period the city was occupied with a large concentration of ritish troops that were stationed in oston to enforce and collect tax obligations from the colonies.
Hewes worked as a shoemaker and one day he had made shoes for a soldier who claimed they were for the captain and then refused to pay for them. The tensions…...
mlaBibliography
Young, A. The Shoemaker and the Tea Party. Beacon Press, 2000.
Many colonists had come to the new world in search of a lifestyle infused with greater freedom. The colonists' ideas about government differed greatly from their English counterparts. hile the English still focused on the power of the monarchy, the colonists had been holding popular assemblies since 1763 ("The American Revolution: First Phase"). They began to believe in rights that they saw the English and their stationed guards as there to violate. In addition, they believed that they, not a country across the ocean, should have the right to control or at least have a say in the political decisions that would affect their lives.
In addition to these highly popularized economic and ideological causes of the revolution, social causes also added fuel to the fire of revolution. As the 1700s wore on, More and more Americans came from European countries other than England. As these people began to immigrate…...
mlaWorks Cited
American Revolution," Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia
1997-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved.http://encarta.msn.com©
The American Revolution: The First Phase." 2005. 9 December 2008. The American
Revolution. http://www.americanrevolution.com/AmRevIntro.htm
These Acts, along with the Quebec Act, which extended the southern boundary of Canada into territories claimed by Massachusetts, Connecticut and Virginia, proved to be the last straw and hurtled the country into the Revolutionary ar ("Intolerable Acts").
Conclusion
Although it is still debatable whether the American independence from the British was inevitable, there is hardly any doubt that the required the series of legislation enacted by the British Parliament between 1764 and1774, outlined in this essay, served to greatly antagonize the American colonists. Almost all measures taken to tax the American colonies and tighten British administrative control met with resentment and, ultimately, open hostility. These measures proved to be a major reason for the Revolutionary ar, and eventual independence of America.
orks Cited
America During the Age of Revolution, 1764-1775." The Library of Congress. http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/continental/timeline.html
British Actions After the French Indian ar." Multied.com. November 26, 2008. http://www.multied.com/Revolt/sugart.html
Cogliano, Francis D. "as the American Revolution…...
mlaWorks Cited
America During the Age of Revolution, 1764-1775." The Library of Congress. http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/continental/timeline.html
British Actions After the French Indian War." Multied.com. November 26, 2008. http://www.multied.com/Revolt/sugart.html
Cogliano, Francis D. "Was the American Revolution Inevitable?" April, 2001. November 26, 2008. BBC Web site. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/empire_seapower/american_revolution_01.shtml
Intolerable Acts." Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia 2008. November 26, 2008. http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/refpages/RefArticle.aspx?refid=761579222
This strategy also permitted the more speedy management of local dealings. Basically the purpose of this strategy was to centralize of colonial affairs; however, it simply solidified the idea that the colonies needed a system of self-governance that was not inclusive of the British government. Because of the behavior of the British government, the English colonies that revolted in 1776 had in common: "representative assemblies and this institutional affinity laid the foundations for the concerted resistance without which the American evolution would have been impossible."
It was under the auspices of the English government's attempt to control the colonists that the idea of American independence began to be viewed as necessary. The colonist felt that they had the right and the wisdom to rule and to develop a governmental structure that would be conducive with meeting the needs and the goals of those living within the colonies. The structure of…...
mlaReferences
Becker, Carl Lotus Schlesinger, Arthur M. The History of Political Parties in the Province of New York, 1760-1776. University of Wisconsin Press: Madison, WI. 1960.
Declaration of Independence. Online Available at http://www.archives.gov/national-archives-experience/charters/declaration_transcript.html
Miller, John C. Origins of the American Revolution. Boston: Little, Brown, 1943.
Priest, Claire. "Currency Policies and Legal Development in Colonial New England." Yale Law Journal 110, no. 8 (2001): 1303.
Hidden Revolution
In his analysis of the American Revolution, Nash refers to the "enshrined, mythic form" the event has taken on in human consciousness (59). Like the creation myths of religion, the story of the founding of the United States of America has become what Nash calls a "sacralized story" that nearly deifies the founding fathers (59). Taught to children in schools and propagated beyond the borders of the Untied States, this version of the American Revolution in which a unified group of colonists rose up together against the mean British tyrants is little more than a "fable," (Nash 59). The real story behind the American Revolution is far more complex and nuanced, testimony to the already diverse and heterogeneous population dwelling throughout the colonies. Even when the emphasis remains squarely on the events taking place in Massachusetts that precipitated the Revolution, it is clear that there was no one American…...
mlaWorks Cited
"A Dialogue Between Orator Puff and Peter Easy," (1776).
Adams, Abigail. [Correspondence between Abigail and John Adams] 1776.
"Antislavery Petition of Massachusetts Free Blacks" (1777)
"Blacks Protest Taxation." 1780
As a result, the 1764 Currency Act was signed. The Act forbade colonies from issuing paper currency. The colonists found it extremely difficult paying their debts and taxes.
After the Currency Act had been passed, the then British Prime Minister proposed a stamp tax that obligated colonists to purchase government issued stamps for legal documents and other paper goods. When the bill was brought before the floor of the house it sailed through. The Parliament therefore had a duty to tax the colonies. The Stamp Act did not go down well with the colonies. In fact, the Virginia House of Burgesses passed a resolution that sought to deny the British Parliament the authority to tax the British colonies. ioters visited destruction on the house of stamp distributer in Boston. There were protests all over America.
The Stamp Act acted as a common cause that united at least 13 colonies against British…...
mlaReferences
Age, M. (2010). From Revolution to Reconstruction. Retrieved September 12, 2012 from http://www.let.rug.nl/usa/E/7yearswar/fiw03.htm
Department of State Office of the Historian. (2012). Milestones 1750-1775. Retrieved September 12, 2012 from http://history.state.gov/milestones/1750-1775/ParliamentaryTaxation
1. The Struggle for Autonomy: The Impact of British Colonial Policies on Colonial Identity
Discuss the British policies that restricted colonial autonomy, such as the Navigation Acts and the Stamp Act.
Analyze how these policies fostered a sense of collective grievance and the desire for independence.
Examine the ways in which colonists resisted British control through boycotts, protests, and the formation of political organizations.
2. The Economic Foundations of the American Colonies: Agriculture, Trade, and Manufacturing
Describe the various agricultural practices and products that formed the backbone of the colonial economy.
Trace the development of trade networks between the colonies and....
I. Introduction
A. Hook: Begin with a compelling question, anecdote, or statistic that captures the reader's attention and introduces the main topic.
B. Thesis Statement: Clearly state the argument or main idea of the essay, concisely summarizing its focus and scope.
C. Road Map: Provide a brief overview of the essay's structure, highlighting the main sections and their purpose.
II. Body Paragraph 1
A. Topic Sentence: Introduce the first major supporting point that directly relates to the thesis statement.
B. Evidence: Cite specific historical events, documents, or scholarly sources to support the topic sentence.
C. Analysis: Explain how the evidence supports the argument presented in the topic....
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