Revolutionary Viewpoints

Revolutionary Viewpoints

Beginning in 1773, the Tea Act, Boston Tea Party, and the Coercive Acts directly brought about the split between Britain and its American colonies. These events were a series of causes and effects and were viewed from extremely different viewpoints by the two sides. Because of these viewpoints, both sides saw force as the next logical step.

The Tea Act was passed by Parliament in 1773. It gave the British East India Company a virtual monopoly on the tea trade in North America while keeping the Townshend tea tax. The monopoly lowered the price of tea, but it hurt colonial businessmen. Soon the colonies started to boycott tea. For the British, the Tea Act sounded like a wonderful idea because it lowered the price on tea. The Tea Act could also let the colonies show that they are Englishmen and it was good for the whole empire.

But on the other hand, the colonies thought the tea act was slowly taking away their rights, ruining their 150 years of tradition. Their tradition was that they only were taxed for local reasons.

Since the Tea Act was going on, people were boycotting tea coming from England. This led to the Boston Tea Party. The Boston Tea Party was when 3 ships full of tea had arrived from England and the townspeople were refusing to pay the tax. So the ships could not be unloaded. Then the group, Sons of Liberty boarded the ship dressed as Native Americans and dumped Ј15,000 worth of tea into the Boston harbor. For the Americans this was shocking but it was to them a necessary protest because the British Parliament wouldn't listen to the peaceful protests. It was a direct action to try to keep their tradition. But for the King this was disgraceful. It showed that the colonists were traitors; the action proved that they weren't loyal, it was a criminal act, and criminals must be punished.

In retaliation for the Boston Tea Party, the King and Parliament passed the Coercive Acts in 1774. This act was made for the colonies to make sure that they would obey these 4 laws. The 4 laws were: the first law stated that the Boston harbor was closed until the tea was paid for. The second law took away the elected Massachusetts legislature and the King sent a royal governor. The third law moved all the trials of the royal colonial officials to Britain, where they could get away with something with the help of the English citizens. The fourth law was the