The Failure Of The Declaration Of Independence

On July fourth, 1776, The Declaration of Independence was signed and America became a sovereign nation. This separation was the first time in history a society of this scale had broken off from its parent country. A series of unique circumstances and missteps on the part of the British made the colonists’ actions inevitable. The United States’ existence nation boils down to money, missteps and what happens when an empire disregards and disrespects its subjects.
The French-Indian war established the American Colonies in the Eastern seaboard of the North American Continents. The war was funded and fought by the British Empire and often referred to as the “7 year war” though in actuality it lasted 9 years. Although most of the fighting took
Previously under the act, colonial merchants were required to pay a tax of sixpence per gallon when importing foreign molasses, but as a result of corruption and lack of enforcement, they mostly evaded the taxes. Without the tax, molasses from the French West Indies was cheaper than the English product, hurting the British economy in not only the market of molasses but also sugar and rum, which the colonies had been mass-producing with the cheaper French molasses. Seeing the failure of their current system, Parliament decided to make some modifications to the trade regulations. First off, they increased naval presence and instructed them to enforce customs more strictly. Then, in an attempt to make legitimate trade more appealing, the Sugar Act reduced the rate of tax on molasses by half (six pence to three pence per gallon); however, it also taxed more foreign goods including sugar, special wines, coffee, pimiento, and lumber and iron. The now enforced tax on molasses virtually killed the previously booming rum industry in the colonies and reduced overall foreign trade. By reducing potential markets the colonies could sell to, the British moderately disrupted the colonial economy. Obviously, this was negatively received and began to kindle the fire that would grow into the revolution. Luckily for the British, the backlash was not massive because it only affected a relatively small amount of colonists; however, it did spawn the Committees of Correspondence. This group’s almost sole purpose was to oppose these new taxes. Soon after, Britain imposed the Stamp Act on the colonies in 1765. This applied a small tax on every printed paper, including legal documents, newspapers, and letters. The colonists found this particular tax vile and unjust. Although some other taxes were in place, the stamp act was particularly offensive because it was not placed to regulate