A successful revolt of the British thirteen colonies in North America was an extremely important historical event leading to the establishment of an entirely new country, the United States of America, across the Atlantic Ocean. The victory of Britain in in the Seven Years' War of 1756-1763 turned the British Empire into a dominant power in the North American continent. As a result of the war, Britain reclaimed its position as the ruler of the thirteen colonies along the Atlantic coast up to Georgia in the south, as well as seized control over the French Canadian territories in the north. Nonetheless, the British government enjoyed its power in the colonies not for long, as soon enough their inhabitants realized British protection in return for burdensome taxes was no longer needed.
Residents of the British colonies got accustomed to their opinion carrying a lot of weight with the policy makers, which led to the gradual deterioration of relations between the colonists and the government in London. As the British rulers were too far away from their overseas territories, they could not fully assess the needs of the settlers and did not have much desire to meet them halfway. They, as well as other European countries, considered themselves fully legitimate to make final and vital decisions in the colonies, which led to the imposition of severe restrictions on trade of the colonies on this basis.
In 1765 the Parliament of the United Kingdom introduced two laws. The first law was named the Quartering Act and demanded the provision of the best conditions for the British military forces, and the second one was the Stamp Act that introduced an additional fee for registration of any document and printed materials, including newspapers. Both laws caused outrage in all social groups and led to the creation and activation of radical associations, such as the Sons of Liberty. Riots started to take place all over the colonies, while American traders refused to buy British goods. Colonists adopted a new slogan that said, “No taxation without representation”, which meant that they refused to collect and pay taxes to Britain without being represented in the British Parliament. Meanwhile, the support of the colonists’ cause gained ground in Britain. In 1766 the opposition came to power and abolished the Stamp Act; however, a special declarative act still indicated that the Parliament reserved the inviolable right to create and enact laws for the colonies.
However, the changes were short-lived, as in 1767 a new Minister of Finance of the United Kingdom gave order to impose taxes on the colonial import of all goods. In response to such actions of Britain, inhabitants of the colonies started a number of revolts with the central ones happening in Boston, Massachusetts. In March 1770, English soldiers clashed with the angry mob and opened fire killing several people. The news about the bloodshed in Boston shocked the representatives of both sides. As a result, all fees and taxes were cancelled, except for the tax on tea, but the latter led to the development of tea smuggling instead of reduction of the settlers’ resistance..
Attempts to reach common ground, however, did not seize the conflict between Britain and the colonies, and, as a result, another outbreak occurred three years later when the government decided to provide aid to the East India Company that was experiencing difficulties at that time. The government took a number of emergency measures, including imposing a tax on tea. Such actions met strong resistance in the colonies where people blocked ships with tea as a cargo from anchoring in their ports. In December 1773, the governor of Boston decided to unload one ship. In response, several townspeople dressed as Mohawk Indians entered the ship and threw bales of tea into the water. Britons immediately punished the colonists for this demarche that is known in history as the Boston Tea Party. They closed the port demanding the payment for the damaged goods by the local people, but the latter did not agree to such conditions. As a consequence, the local authorities lost their real powers. The British General Thomas Gage became the governor of Massachusetts and received instructions to stop the turmoil.
At the same time, Americans became willing to take decisive actions more than ever before. In September 1774, the Philadelphia Congress brought together delegates from twelve of the thirteen colonies. In April 1775, General Gage gave secret orders to his troops to take two radical leaders into custody and destroy weapons depot in Concord located nearby. Colonists learned about these plans and sent Paul Revere to warn locals about the upcoming events (Carp; Tourtellot).
After receiving the news about the possible danger, the leaders of the rebels fled. Shots were fired killing eight Americans in Lexington, a town where the troops wanted to disband the militia. On their way back from Concord where they completed the order of General Gage, the troops came under accurate fire of the colonists that applied the tactics of guerrilla warfare. These events caused by the British policy marked the beginning of the American Revolutionary War.
Works Cited
Carp, Benjamin L. Defiance of the Patriots: The Boston Tea Party and the Making of America. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2011.
Tourtellot, Arthur B. Lexington and Concord. 1963: W. W. Norton & Company, New York.
Young, Alfred F. The Shoemaker and the Tea Party: Memory and the American Revolution. Boston: Beacon Press, 2000.
