Week 2 Discussion 1: The American Revolution
Required Resources
Read/review the following resources for this activity:
- Textbook: Chapter 5, 6
- Lesson
- Minimum of 1 scholarly source (in addition to the textbook)
Initial Post Instructions
For the initial post, pick two (2) of the leading causes of the American Revolution.
- The Proclamation Act of 1763
- The Navigation Acts
- The Stamp Act
- The Declaratory Act
- The Townsend Act
- The Boston Massacre
- The Coercive Acts
Then, address the following for your selections
- Analyze the cause and effect of two acts passed by the British Parliament on British North America. Which of your two selections do you consider the most significant and why?
- ·Examine and explain the significance of the Declaration of Independence to the development of the American Revolution.
SOLUTION
Analyze the cause and effect of two acts passed by the British Parliament on British North America. Which of your two selections do you consider the most significant and why?
The two leading causes of the American Revolution selected for this discussion are The Navigation Acts and The Declaratory Act. The Navigation Acts were mercantilist policies created in the second half of the 17th century in an attempt by England to gain better control of the trade within the American colonies (Corbett et al., 2017). These acts included the 1651 Navigation Ordinance, the 1663 Staple Act, and the 1673 Plantation Duties Act. The acts imposed limitations on colonial trade and increased the customs duties, which effectively barred trade between the American colonies and other European countries. As a result, colonial merchants and manufacturers who were affected by the Navigation Acts responded with hostility and significantly contributed to the growing anti-British sentiments that later led to the outbreak of the American revolution. The Declaratory Act of 1766, on its part, came along with the repeal of the Stamp Act, declaring in no uncertain terms that the power of Parliament was supreme and that laws that colonies had passed to tax and govern themselves would be null and void if they were deemed to run counter to the parliamentary law (Corbett et al., 2017). Please click the purchase button to access the entire copy at $5