The colonists had many reasons to leave Britain, one of them being political freedom. They initially came to the colonies to be free from the rule of Britain. When they reached America, …show more content…
The colonists thought that these taxes were unfair because it was, what they called, “taxation without representation.” This meant that in Parliament, the British law making body, there was no representation for the colonists. No representation in Parliament meant there was no one to voice their opinions on the different taxes and laws, making them unfair. Though the British knew this, as it was their law making body that was missing a representative for the colonists, they continued passing taxes, various different laws, and joyfully relieving the colonists’ of all their money, thus deepening their resent for the British. One of the taxes created to drain the colonists of all their wealth was the Stamp Act, which made the colonists purchase special stamps and put them on various documents such as newspapers, marriage licenses, and even to playing cards . This drove the colonists into a troublesome state of economic instability, as the price on items colonists once bought on a daily basis, such as a newspaper, went up so far that the colonists no longer had the money to buy basic things necessary for daily life. Another, more prominent tax, that continued to relieve colonists of money they no longer had was the Sugar Act. Due to the Sugar Act, taxes were put on sugar related products, such as molasses, and imported goods. This drove the colonists mad …show more content…
The severely harsh treatment by the British had been going on ever since the end of the French and Indian War. After it ended, the British created the Proclamation of 1763, which banned colonists from settling West of a line drawn down the Appalachian Mountains. The colonists felt this was unfair because they were being told where they could and couldn’t settle by people in another country. Additionally, the British Parliament forced the early American colonists to house ten-thousand British soldiers that were there to help enforce the Proclamation of 1763. Lastly, the British Parliament created the Intolerable Acts as punishment for the Boston Tea Party. The most severe act was the Boston Port being closed so the people in the New England colonies couldn’t get food. This act brought colonists closer to unity as people from the lower colonies brought food up to the colonists who could not have any due to the closed port. The British were overly harsh, and ultimately, it cost them the