The Revolution in America Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

The Revolution in America - Essay Example In the evening of 26th August 1765, the home of the Massachusetts Lieutenant Governor and Chief Justice Thomas Hutchinson was attacked by a mob from Boston while he was eating dinner with his family. The group broke into his home and looted and stole a large number of possessions from there, however, the Hutchinson family manages to escape just in time to avoid a bloody disaster. The Stamp Act Congress was formed and met in New York where the conflict that took place in Virginia was resolved and this paved the way for the first united coalition of the North American colonies. A new series of colonial taxes followed suit in 1767 called the Townshend Duties and would be accepted by the colonists as they were in charge of controlling trade. In Boston, things had not been faring well as a Non-Importation Agreement was issued by the merchants and traders with a condition of not importing anything that was manufactured and came from Great Britain in order to protest against the taxes, spec ifically the Townshend Duties that had been levied by the Parliament. In 1768, the Boston riots broke out as John Hancock’s ship was attacked by the British royal troops, for having violated laws relating to trade. This made the Parliament strict in its attitude and posted more British troops near the ports and waters in order to regulate the law; however, these stationed troops were soon hassled by Bostonians and led to the death of some troops. It soon became a massacre as more and more people began to get involved and this entire episode.... He assembled people to raid the British and destroy their forts and buildings as a sign of protest. Before this however, in November 1763, a group known as the Paxton Boys that consisted of half a hundred Scottish and Irish men, massacred a formidably large Indian population in Pennsylvania and blamed the state government of being lenient and biased towards the natives. This enraged them and they aimed for equality, thus displaying their wants through a series of attacks. The British were extremely powerful and counter attacked Pontiac and his tribes which led to signing of the Proclamation of 1763 which forbade any American colonist from settling on Native American territory unless he had permission to do so by the means of either purchase or treaty. All these incidents led to the end of salutary neglect and subsequently, in April of 1763, the First Lord of the Treasury and Chancellor of the Exchequer took office in London – George Grenville. In the year 1764, he enforced the Navigation Act and also passed the Sugar Act according to which sugar would then be taxable as three pennies on molasses so that the costs that were incurred by the British government during the war with France could be undertaken in the form of payment and recovered so that the benefits would ultimately go to England. The colonial Americans however were taken aback by the amount of tax on the sugar molasses and expected it to be two pence per piece at the most because of which they began to then protest in order to remain in business. Apart from this, he also enforced the Currency Act by which he stopped the circulation of paper currency; the Stamp Act as per which taxes were imposed on printed materials; and the Quartering Act by which