British Colonies

In the 18th century the British claimed more territory across the globe than any other nation. These victories led the British to become very conceited about their status in the world. They became overconfident and believed they could force people, even in other countries, to live by their rules and beliefs. When the British found that their colonies in North America were beginning to establish independent beliefs and moral standings, the British unjustly forced their own rules and regulations on the colonies.

The types of people in these colonies were not the normal British citizens. They were mainly people who had come to the colonies to get away from something they did not like about England, such as the strict religious beliefs and stubborn government rule. The colonists wanted to live by their own rules, and not be punished or criticized for it. Many of these colonists had to endure through very harsh conditions to survive in these scarcely populated areas that eventually formed into the colonies. They earned the right to be a self-governed society. Though the British did not agree they simply let the colonists do what they pleased, as long as they were helping toward British revenue, in a practice known as salutary neglect.

The British had gone through many long and costly wars all around Europe, the Caribbean, and North America. They were the ones who made the decision to wage these long wars and should have paid for it with their own income. Instead they decided to tax the colonists in many new ways to help with the massive war debt. The thing that the British did not understand was that it takes money to make money. The colonial market had been growing strong and had plenty of room for expansion. The British decided to tax the colonists on nearly every aspect of their life not realizing that they would have gotten more money had they let the colonies earn it their own way through international trade.

The money hungry British were trying to take away the colonists ability to trade with the other nations by taxing goods sent from nations such as France, the Caribbean, or Ireland. They even required trade of certain materials like rice, molasses, and hemp to be directly and only through England. The colonies were making enough money through open trade to pay England back much more than these taxes they were trying to enforce. If the English would have simply let the colonies earn whatever amount