American History to 1877 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

American History to 1877 - Essay ExampleEngland was able to maintain in question(p) alliances with many of the few remaining indigenous clans that had not yet been totally annihilated and wiped off of American soil restricting the colonist from entering the Appalachian territories. This must have made the monarchy feel confident that they would have little problem keeping their American colony in check. However by 1760, with the increase threat of slave rebellion and Indian insurrection1, the colonialist rich and poor were feeling rather antsy and insecure. Nonetheless, at that place had been no less than eighteen colonial uprising aimed at overthrowing British control (Zinn, 59). In time, this combination of British over-confidence and domestic insecurity would become an enormous political accelerant. It would take only the machinations of the elite and the will of a people to make revolution a fait accompli. What Brittan discovered was that it could not hold up the examples of t he Magna Carta (1215), and the English government note of Rights (1689) to their far-flung relatives overseas without expecting challenges to their indisputable right to govern from afar. In the colonies, the elites discovered that the rhetoric of liberation, cloaked in the hubris of patriotism, and adorned with religious zeal was the only spark that they needed in order to ignite the snowy working classes into full blown rebellionto bind that loyalty with something more powerful even than veridical advantage, the ruling group found in the 1760s and 1770s a wonderfully useful device. That device was the language of independence and equality, which could unite just enough whites to fight a Revolution against England, without ending either slavery or inequality. (Zinn, 1980)The aftershocks of the Great Religious Awakening (1739-1740) could still be felt on American soil, and people were increasingly ready to equate the religious hierarchy of the meridian with outright tyranny. No w that they had freed their souls, what would be next The courage, bravery, and expertness that had been expended on North American soil helping England to defend its possessions against the French, the Spanish and other colonial powers was in short to be turned upon England herself. While Great Brittan was shoring up its colonial presence around the world, the colonists were increment increasingly agitated at having to adhere to laws that they felt should not have been applicable to them on American soil. They were sick and tired of paying for initiatives of which they had no concern and they were growing increasingly upset at being taxed by a government of which they had no representation. Ironically, their situation was somewhat similar to the situation of nearly terce quarters of a million residents of Washington D.C. today.2 Nevertheless, anger had been mounting in the colonies for quite sometime. Consequently, From 1750 to 1776 four 100 pamphlets had appeared arguing for one side or another of the Stamp Act, the Boston Massacre, and The Boston Tea Party (Zinn, 69). From 1660 to 1764 there had been no less than 29 Acts of Parliament restricting colonial commerce in favor of the crown (Ramsay, 1811). Between 1764 and 1767 the English passed a series of taxes (Navigation Acts) on goods imported to the colonies, aimed at forcing goods to either be sell in England or purchased from England. The Sugar Act of 1764, the Stamp Act of