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The Townsend Taxes (after the notorius Stamp Act) were quite low, but for a century, American's were used to ignoring unpopular taxes and doing business with smuggled 'untaxed' goods.
As part of the new taxes, the British were sending over (mostly from Scotland) Honest agents, to actually collect the taxes AND who were willing to live on their regular wages. thus less willing to look the other way when smugglers and complicit businessmen (most colonial political leaders were Lawyers, and their clients the Merchants and other business men) attempted to do business as usual i.e., bribery.
Although lower, the taxes cut deep, because they were being collected for the first time and from the howls of outrage from the Colonial Merchants and lawyers (the political leaders and voice of the colonies) it hurt.
Question: (And here I'll blatantly hijack the thread.) How much of the tax was designed to get some payment for defending the colonies, and how much of it was designed to pay for the expense of kicking the French out of Canada?
I too feel some sympathy for the Englanders. They had troops in country; they had just fought a war with enormous expense and they were entitled to a little help from the colonists. Seems that there was a stumble in the PR aspects.
ole
__________________ I never knew a man who wished to be himself a slave. Consider if you know any good thing that no man desires for himself. A. Lincoln
Dear Ole,
That was pretty blatant thread hijacking!
As far as sympathy for the English, in part, yeah. They weren't nutty or vicious in their policy before the war actually started.
However another way to look at it is that the Americans had also done a lot of the fighting, dying and spending for the French and Indian Wars. The British got a huge new colony, so its not like the war didn't benefit them, while the Proclamation Line of 1763 seemed like a gyp to the colonists(if not to the Indians).
As Americans resisted the new taxes, the British cracked down, and resistance got more serious. The last series of acts, the so called "Intolerable" Acts were an attack on New England self government itself: elections, the General Court, town meetings, trial by jury and so forth. There was no going back after that, only a contest to see who was stronger, or at least more stubborn.
And thanks for that, Matthew. Somewhere, I skipped thinking about the Revolutionary War and took the media's word for about everything. But I have watched Patriot several times. Who was it said, "One War at a time?"
ole
__________________ I never knew a man who wished to be himself a slave. Consider if you know any good thing that no man desires for himself. A. Lincoln
Common colonists? Well. When you think of what they lost, representation would have been cheaper. Nettlesome. But cheaper. Were subsequent colonies represented?
ole
__________________ I never knew a man who wished to be himself a slave. Consider if you know any good thing that no man desires for himself. A. Lincoln
That was the conclusive answer I was looking for, Matthew. Thanks.
ole
__________________ I never knew a man who wished to be himself a slave. Consider if you know any good thing that no man desires for himself. A. Lincoln
Given the distances involved, an American delegation to Parliament would have been inpracticable in the 18th century.
Besides Ireland, which with the Act of Union, became part of Great Britain, no colony ever had members in the British Parliament.
Yes, and in fact the colonists would have been in a bit of a pickle if the British had actually said, "OK, we'll give you a few seats." In theory, it would have satisfied their demand for "representation," but in the end that wasn't really what they wanted.
As for the fighting, dying and spending in the French & Indian War, the Brits justifiably complained that the colonists had not done enough of any of these things.
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