Stirrings of Revolt (Essay Sample)

Stirrings of Revolt
Name
Course number
Instructor’s name
Date
The British imposed a number of laws that stimulated heightened opposition in the British colonies. The laws included the Stamp Act, the Townshend Act and the Tea Act. The acts stimulated colonists to engage in coercive actions (Murrin, Johnson, McPherson, Fahs, & Gerstle, 2011).
Colonists reacted by filing a complaint bashing the idea of taxation without representation of the stamp act. Delegates from varied colonies united to petition the king to nullify the act. Opposition to the act turned violent with an incident where Massachusetts colonists attacked stamp agents and royal representatives. They also boycotted items that attracted stamp act taxes. The colonists lashed out at the Townshend Acts through disseminating circulars to inciting boycott against the imported products that had attracted the Townshend tax. Colonists also launched violent attacks against British troops on patrol such as the Boston Massacre. The repeal of the Townshend Act lifted taxes on all the products other than tea. In 1773, the Tea Act was enacted with the aim of reducing tea prices from the British East India Company. Colonists opposed the act through boycotting the tea. Colonists demanded that the shipped tea be returned to England upon its arrival at the dock. The highlight of this opposition culminated in the dumping of three hundred tea cases into the harbor (Murrin, Johnson, McPherson, Fahs, & Gerstle, 2011).
The stamp act attracted much outrage in the colonies particularly because the revenue collected financed England’s war agenda rather than the colony’s commercial functions. The Colonists rebelled against the Townshend Acts as they generated external taxes that did not directly benefit the colonies. Outrage arose because the taxes were import based and the revenues earned from tea, lead, paint, paper, and lead o...