Britain+and+The+American+Revolution

__Issues of Governance__
The British Government controlled most if not all of the decision making that went on in the Thirteen Colonies. The citizens of the colonies consisted mostly of British and First Nations people. There were many reasons for the colonists to be frustrated with the Bristish government. The government inforced certain acts that caused this frustrations. The response to these acts provoked a change in tactics by the British. In an attempt to make an example of Massachusetts the British passed the Coercive Acts. In the Thirteen Colonies these were known as the Intolerable Acts.

__** The Stamp Act **__
The Stamp Act called for stamps to be placed on all newspapers and legal documents. This was the first ever tax levied directly on the colonies. The representatives of the Thirteen Colonies met in New York to discuss their course of action. The group decided to boycott British goods and to encourage the public to disregard the act. The Stamp Act Congress coined the popular revolutionary phrase “no taxation without representation”. The turmoil caused by the Stamp Act lead to its repeal in 1766. The British also passed the Declaratory Act which reasserted the King’s power over the colonies.

__The Quatering Act__
This act allowed the quartering of British troops in Private homes. This was widely practiced in Europe but had never been done in North America. The New York legislature refused to make arrangements for the quartering of General Gage and his men as they felt it violated their rights.

**__The Townshend Acts__**
These acts were also designed to raise money for the cost of colonial defense. Duties were imposed on imported goods such as glass, tea, paint, and paper. As they had done before the colonials organized a boycott of British goods. The Boston Massacre resulted when protesters clashed with British troops. Because of this the act was repealed except for a small tax on tea. Radicals encouraged by this show of “weakness” then raided British ships and dumped their cargo of tea into the Boston harbor. This was known as the Boston Tea Party.

The Coercive Acts were:
1. The Boston Port Act 2. The Massachusetts Government Act 3. The Administration of Justice Act 4. The Quartering Act 5. The Quebec Act

**__﻿The Boston Port Act__**
This act closed the port of Boston to shipping and trade and it effectively crippled the economy of Massachusetts.

**__The Massachusetts Gov. Act__**
This act revoked the Charter of Massachusetts. It also outlawed township meetings and limited the rights of the people within the society. This act also outlawed township mettings and limited the rights of the people.

__**﻿The Administration of Justice Act**__
This act allowed British soldiers who were accused of crimes to stand trial in England away from the hostile environment.

__**﻿The Quatering Act**__
This act had already been in place but was no strictly enforced. It made British troops more numerous and apparent in Boston

**__﻿The Quebec Act__**
Was an Act for making more effective Provision for the Government of the Province of Quebec in North America. Seen as proof the Britain was plannit to stifle Massachusetts. This act cut off Western expansion which was a prized dream of the Americans. It also reconized the the Catholic church in Quebec. The Quebec act did not prove the people with elected assembly which the British-Americans held so dear. The Act enlarged the boundaries of the Province of Quebec to include Labrador, Ile d'Anticosti and Iles de la Madeleine on the east, and the Indian territory south of the Great Lakes between the Mississippi and Ohio rivers on the west. The colony was to be governed by a governor and 17 to 23 appointed councillors. Religious freedom was guaranteed for the colony's Roman Catholic majority, and a simplified Test Oath, which omitted references to religion, enabled them to enter public office conscientiously. The Quebec Act has been interpreted in a number of ways. Some felt it was an attempt to rectify some of the problems created by the Royal Proclamation, which dramatically reduced the size of New France, provided an untouchable Indian territory out of the vast western interior and promised an elected assembly. Others felt it was an attempt to deal more fairly with the colony's French Catholics, perhaps with a view to ensuring their loyalty in the event of troubles with the American colonies. American settlers were enraged when Québec acquired the Indian territory, which they perceived to be theirs by right; they considered the Quebec Act one of the "Intolerable Acts" which contributed to the outbreak of the American Revolution.