AP US History
5th Period
Many elements influenced the American rebellion that lead to the American Revolution, specifically taxation, mercantilism and the First and Second Continental Congress.
Mercantilism is an economic theory which argues that a nation must strive to attain a favorable balance of trade so that the country will accumulate gold and silver, which made the country wealthier and safer. In the Navigation Acts raw materials were taken from America and sent to the mother country, Britain, to help manufacture goods to trade with other countries. The Navigation Acts were established to increase exports and collect metals in return to improve the national capital and power. The Sugar Act reduced the rate of tax on molasses from six pence to three pence per gallon. The act also listed more foreign goods to be taxed including sugar, wine, and coffee, among others, regulated the export of lumber and iron. The enforced tax on molasses caused the almost immediate decline in the rum industry in the colonies. Trade Acts were laws that provided aid to workers who lost their jobs or whose hours of work and wages were reduced as a result of increased imports. Mercantilism was seen as a form of wealth which made possible the development of larger markets and armies. The idea was to protect the markets, but it also helped maintain the agriculture and those who were dependent upon it.
The colonists had not been highly taxed prior to the French and Indian War. All money collected from them was used to pay the debt left from the war. They were very strong in believing that much of the taxation imposed on them by Britain was imbalanced and unreasonable. The colonists could not even afford to pay many of the taxes that were enforced. The Stamp Act, for example, taxed nearly everything. It taxed newspapers, pamphlets, leases, deeds, college diplomas, dice, playing cards and many more. The British finally repealed the Stamp Act in 1766, but they