American Revolution Social Problem

Throughout history man has fought over politics and social problems. The American Revolution is no exception. After the French and Indian War Great Britain had gotten control over land east of the Mississippi River, in particular the colonists, and this lead to tensions. Previously the colonists had salutary neglect for one hundred and fifty years where they survived without anyone else’s intervention. which lead them to gain a taste of enlightenment ideas such as natural rights by John Locke, which led them to want to rebel. For those involved they had their own conflicts such as the Stamp Act, the Boston Massacre and Common Sense. Although it could be said that social tension was the primary cause of the American Revolution, the political …show more content…
A tax was then levied on Britain itself and its colonies. The Stamp Act specifically was used in the colonies on paper goods. This angered some of the colonists, however not in ways one might expect. The fact that poor colonists could afford to pay the tax meant there was no reason for economic struggle. Moreover, the taxes in Britain were much higher than those in the colonies. So the question becomes what significance does the Stamp Act’s problem hold. The answer does not lay with the Stamp Act itself but rather what it represents. Those in power and wealth were angered by the Stamp Act. In principle it showed that the powerful colonists were not nearly as powerful as they thought nor of equal to those in Britain. In this respect the anger that was put forth by the Stamp Act was purely in principle. From the perspective of those Colonists with influence it was a political struggle for power. The politics of this lead to those few colonists to exercise their power and convince others below them to rally in support. However, they used distortion of the truth in order to make the problems more common to everyday people. This intern led to the social tension that would help spark the Revolutionary war.One reason for the general colonist to be angered was that the Stamp Act no longer allowed one to by paper goods from any other market then those with stamps namely from Britain. This limited their freedom of the market. Furthermore the phrase no taxation without representation comes from enlightenment thought which was used as a rallying point for the colonists. Many of those powerful colonists had knowledge of enlightenment ideas and used them in their rebelling to widen the scope of those angered by the British. Thus, the political aspects of what the Stamp Act stood for led to the social tensions that would push them toward the

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