DBQ responses

1. According to the documents the fundamental causes for the American Revolution seem to be the outrageous taxation and control the British put on the colonies. The colonies just had enough and once they reached their breaking point the revolution was inevitable. The colonist reached their breaking point with the Stamp Act. As said in the Resolution of the Town of Braintree, Mass. about the Stamp Act,"We have called this a burthensome tax, because the duties are so numerous and high...that it would be totally impossible for the people to subsist under it...." The Stamp Act required a Tax on practically everything and the colonist could not bare it. The colonist could not stand the stamp act because it was completely unconstitutional, the tax was added without their consent and the colonist discovered they had no representation in the Parliament (Doc 8). The colonist believed if they had no representation in the colonies then the parliament should not be adding and taxes or acts. The colonist in the end discovered that they could not be under Englands control as stated in Thomas Paine Common Sense, “The injuries and disadvantages we sustain by that connection are without number; and our duty to mankind at large, as well as to ourselves, instruct us to renounce the alliance.”( doc 8)
2. The colonist believed that no one person should control all the power. As said in Thomas Paine’s Common Sense, it is not one person who makes the laws but the people. The constitutional views of the colonists were stated in the Articles of Confederation. In the Articles of Confederation the colonists state how they a want their government should be. The colonist believed that there should be a limited central government with most of the powers given to the states. The colonists believed in more democratic political ideas. They believed that the governed should have a say on how they should be governed. They believed that a distant central government should not have all the power because the colonist cannot play a role in their government if it is so far away that is why the believe the states should have most power because it was close to the people. The states had many powers including the right to tax which the colonist believed was the most powerful right. So, the colonist did not like the fact that the parliament which was very far away had the right to tax the colonies and that they were inflicting this right on the colonies without consulting with them.
3. Colonist from different sections and different social class most likely did not have the same political ideas. Colonists from new England had more liberal views while colonist from the southern colonies had more radical views. The political ideas of the people in America depended on the economic status and values of the different colonies. Some saw colonists as a whole while others saw America as separate colonies. For example Rev. Andrew Burnaby says, “For fire and water are not more heterogeneous than the different colonies in North America.” He sees America separated into many different colonies which are so different from each other that if America becomes its own then there will be war. Thomas Paine on the other hand see America as a united nation. Throughout the pamphlet, Common Sense, he refers to the colonies as one single entity not many different colonies. So, while Burnaby believes the colonists are very different from each other in all aspects, Thomas Paine sees all the colonies having the same ideas and goals.
4. I would classify the colonist grievances somewhere between reasoned and exaggerated. The colonists such as the town of Braintree, Massachusetts supported their arguments with the British common law. “We take it clearly, therefore, to be inconsistent with the spirit of the common law, and of the essential fundamental principle of the British constitution.” (Doc 4) The colonists of Braintree, Massachusetts say that they are disappointed with the stamp Act because it goes against the British constitution. This is a very reasonable explanation for their disappointment in England. In Document 7 Nicholas Cresswell was exaggerating when he said, “…Government is going to make absolute slaves of them.” 1. According to the documents the fundamental causes for the American Revolution seem to be the outrageous taxation and control the British put on the colonies. The colonies just had enough and once they reached their breaking point the revolution was inevitable. The colonist reached their breaking point with the Stamp Act. As said in the Resolution of the Town of Braintree, Mass. about the Stamp Act,"We have called this a burthensome tax, because the duties are so numerous and high...that it would be totally impossible for the people to subsist under it...." The Stamp Act required a Tax on practically everything and the colonist could not bare it. The colonist could not stand the stamp act because it was completely unconstitutional, the tax was added without their consent and the colonist discovered they had no representation in the Parliament (Doc 8). The colonist believed if they had no representation in the colonies then the parliament should not be adding and taxes or acts. The colonist in the end discovered that they could not be under Englands control as stated in Thomas Paine Common Sense, “The injuries and disadvantages we sustain by that connection are without number; and our duty to mankind at large, as well as to ourselves, instruct us to renounce the alliance.”( doc 8)