FREE ESSAY ON AMERICAN HISTORY

AMERICAN HISTORY

Although Britian's North American colonies had enjoyed considerable prosperity during the
late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, beginning with the Stamp Act in 1765 the
British government began to put pressures on them, largely in the form of taxes and new
trade restrictions, that drew increasingly resistance. (Out of Many, 133) One big reason
that the loyal British citizens in North America were transformed into rebels is because
of the taxes. It was not the prices of the tax, because Britain had one of the lowest
taxes in the world at that time, it was the fact that Parliament had so much
representation over them. The British empire was a mercantile market. They wanted to
control everything that was going on in the country. They also wanted control over the
people. The whole purpose of the Parliament was to exploit the colonies. 
Here is a famous example, I took from the book, of the Parliament exploiting the
colonies.
Parliament had passed a tea act, and colonists were major consumers of 
tea, but because of the tax on it that remained from the Townshend 
duties, the colonial market for tea had collapsed, bringing the East India
Company to the brink of bankruptcy. This company was the sole agent
of British power in India, and British Parliament could not let it fail. The 
British then transformed a scheme in which they offered tea to Amer-
icans at prices that would tempt even the most patriotic back on the 
beverage. The radicals argued that this was merely a device to make 
plateable the payment of unconstitutional taxes-further evidence of the 
British conspiracy to corrupt the colonists. This was called the 
"Boston Tea Party."(Out of Many, 150)
Another reason that led to rebellion was the persistent source of conflict between troops
and townsmen over jobs. There was a point when British soldiers were permitted to work
jobs off duty. This in turn put the colonials in competition with the people that already
disgusted them. Here is an example I took from the book on this issue.
In early March 1770, on off-duty soldier walked into a ropewalk in search 
of a job. The proprietor told him using an obsceity-that he could clean 
the outhouse. The soldier left but returned with his friends, and a small
riot began. On March the 5th a group of colonials gathered around the 
Customs House and began taunting the soldiers, throwing rocks and 
snowballs at the soldiers, and without warning they began to shoot into
the crowd, and became what we know today as the "Boston Massacre."
(Out of Many,148)
These are just some of the reasons that added up during this vulnerable time in our
countries history that led to the "loyal British citizens in North America being
transformed into rebels." Of course, these issues go much more into depth than what I 
have interpreted, but they give a good example of what our ancestors delt with on an
every day basis. Try to put the past events like the Boston Tea Party into perspective
and into the present day. I can not relate to what happened to them in those days but i
can understand why they pursued so persistently for their independence from the "Mother
Country."
Examenation I
Question 3
I think a good place to start would be the population and economic growth of North
America prior to 1760. This would be a good place to start seeing that the modern day is
vastly made up of these two characteristics. 
In the colonial days the regions of North America experienced an unprecedented growth in
the eighteenth century. "Our people must at least be doubled every twenty years," wrote
Benjamin Franklin. In 1700 there were 290,000 colonists North of Mexico; fifty years
later they had grown to approximately 1.3 million, an average growth rate of about 3
percent. (Out of Many, 119) This is an important time in our countries history because a
good amount of people are being dispersed about the country side. Leading to new ideas
and revelations, as well as exploration. Without the expansion of people there is no need
for exploration. And a large part of Americas history comes with expansion.
One of the most important differences among North American colonial regions in the
eighteenth century was the economic stagnation in New France and New Spain compared with
the impressive economic growth of the British Colonies.(Out of Many,121) This in what
would become the American way proved that compared to New France and New Spain the
colonies grew an annual rate of .5 percent. This is an important issue in the history of
our country because at the time it kept our ancestors afloat, and it outlined a good
economic basis for the years to come. As economic growth steadily increased the size of
the economic pie, most middle and upper-class
British Americans began to enjoy improved living conditions. This was good because it
made the Americans love what they had. Improving standards of living and relatively open
access to land encouraged British colonists to see theirs as a society where hard work
and savings could translate into prosperity, thus producing an upward spiral of economic
growth. (Out of Many, 121) This was an important issue in the history of America because
it was in a hidden way laying out the groundwork for the era of industrialization.
Last but not least, an important issue in North American history was the Seven Years War.
The first attempt at cooperation among the leaders of the British colonies had taken
place twenty years prior, in 1754. Representatives from a select few of New England
colonies met to figure a joint approach to the French and Indian challenge. (Out of Many,
135) While the delegates met , there was bloodshed between French Canadians and
Virginians. In North America , this war-which Americans remembered as the French and
Indian War became the final most destructive of the armed conflicts between the British
and the French before the French revolution.(Out of Many,135) This war is important in
our North American history because it decided the imperial future of the vast region
between to Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River, and it laid the groundwork
for the conflict between the British and the colonists that led to the American
Revolution.(Out of Many,135)
Without the rapid population growth, the women that on average , bared approximately
seven children. Our four fathers and their innovations and new ideas that led to our
strong economic leadership. And the war that made westward expansion possible. Without
these instances in time where would we be now.