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George III
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Mentally
unstable and immature, King George would provide inconsistent leadership and prove
to be inflexible while failing to resolve problems at home and in the American
colonies; this created an incentive to break away from Britain.
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Sugar Act
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1764 Act that put a
three-cent tax on foreign refined sugar and increased taxes on coffee, indigo,
and certain kinds of wine. It banned importation of rum and French wines. These
taxes affected only a certain part of the population, but the affected
merchants were very vocal. Besides, the taxes were enacted (or raised) without
the consent of the colonists. This was one of the first instances in which
colonists wanted a say in how much they were taxed.
A shift in policy---taxes
now levied on the colonies intended to raise revenue rather than to JUST
regulate trade (revenue is a little easier to account for—not much is left
documented in smuggling, though these policies still regulate trade as well). Interesting note: the act cost 4X
the amount of revenue to administer/regulate than it actually generated.
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Mercantilism
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The
belief that the world’s wealth is limited, and therefore one nation’s gain was
automatically another nation’s loss, & therefore the goal was to gain as
much as you could to empower yourself while weakening others. This led Britain to pursue taxes that
enraged the colonies, which effectively sent money to Britain for little return
(and no representation).
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Quartering Act
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Law Passed by the British to force colonists to pay taxes to house and feed the British soldiers. Passed in the same few years as the Navigation Laws, Sugar Act of 1764, and the Stamp Act of 1765 this stirred up a lot of resentment against the British. The Legislature of New York was suspended for failing to comply with the Quartering Act in 1767.
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Proclamation of 1763
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Ineffectively
placed control of colonial westward expansion to England which demonstrated
both Britain reasserting control over the colonies while establishing a
precedent for colonists to disregard laws made in Britain they believed were
unfair, and also trying to maintain a viable trade between Indians (fur trade)
and the colonists (manufactured goods).
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Pontiac's Rebellion
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After
the French and Indian war, the defeated Indians (they had allied with France)
struck back against British colonists who were taking more land which forced
the British to establish the Proclamation of 1763 and establish political
control and avoid more costly military interventions.
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Paxton Boys
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They were a group of Scots-Irishman living in the Appalachian Hills that wanted protection from Indian attacks. They made an armed march on Philadelphia in 1764. They protested the lenient ways that the Quakers treated the Indians. Their ideas started the Regulator movement in North Carolina. This demonstrated the division within the colonies that existed (east vs. west).
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Regulators
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It was a movement during the 1760s by western North Carolinian's, mainly Scotts-Irish, that resented the way that the Eastern part of the state dominated political affairs. They believed the tax money was being unevenly distributed. Many of its members joined the American Revolutionists later. This demonstrated the division within the colonies that existed (east vs. west).
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