British Oppression: the Straw That Broke the Camel’s Back
Entry for the SAR Essay Competition
by Shawn-Michael Kern
1024 West Fern Avenue, Redlands, CA 92373
(909) 528-4028
[email protected]
Junior at Redlands High School, Class of 2018
840 East Citrus Avenue, Redlands, CA 92374
British Oppression: the Straw That Broke the Camel’s Back
The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries were encumbered considerably by constant
reform and rising tensions for European powers in the New World, particularly between Great
Britain and its New World counterparts. From the first colony of Jamestown, Virginia in 1607 to
the dawn of the new nation in 1776, the British crown and its subjects in the New World
continuously clashed. Meanwhile, the colonists were deciding between repairing relationships
with their government and revolting to initiate a government of their own. However, the course
of events continuously pushed colonial Americans. The fire of revolution was fueled further with
every British act of oppression, ranging from a flurry of frustrating tariffs passed by Parliament
to even military-enforced blockades, eventually leading to the consequential Revolutionary War
beginning in 1773. Each British failed attempt or utter disregard for reconciliation with the
American colonists further motivated the future American people to call for war, finally resulting
in the birth of a new nation.
Beginning with the Navigation Acts passed in 1651, the British Parliament passed an
onslaught of duties and laws that continuously aggravated Americans in the New World. The
Navigation Acts were passed to regulate and protect commerce by banning any foreign trading
ships from entering British colonies. Although these acts were directed primarily at Britain’s
economic rival, the Dutch, American colonists were frustrated by the restrictions considerably,
due to their thriving sugar trade being shut down by the laws (“British Acts on Colonial
America”). British Parliament continued to restrict trading freedoms with the Molasses Act in
1733, which placed a heavy duty “aimed at squelching North American trade with the French
West Indies” (Kennedy 85). This Act was met with heavy colonial resistance in the form of
increased smuggling and frequent bribery to exploit the corruption of tax collectors. In 1764, the
Molasses Act was replaced by the Sugar Act, which lowered the tariff on molasses from six
pounds to three pence and introduced a new tax on coffee and wine from Madeira and French
and West India. However, this act too was met with frustration and resistance, as many colonial
Americans believed the amended act had transformed a protective tariff into a
revenue-increasing tax. After only a year, the British Parliament issues one of the most grievous
and destructive Acts to come between the government and its colonies: the dreaded Stamp Act of
1765. This despised law, which had succeeded considerably in Britain, was designed to exact tax
revenue in the form of a stamp to be placed on a wide variety of documents, even including
playing cards. American colonists, predictably, protested profusely. All of the tension from the
previous acts had begun to boil the blood of many colonial Americans, and began creating a
sense of unity in their oppressions. One of these colonists includes revolutionary John Adams,
who wrote: “That enormous engine, fabricated by the British Parliament, for battering down the
rights and liberties of America - I mean the Stamp Act - had raised and spread throughout the
whole continent a spirit that will be recorded to our honor with all future generations”
(Dickinson 3). This common resentment of Parliament’s merciless taxing lead colonists to band
together around the cause “that if a tax must be laid on America, the colonial assemblies should
be allowed to levy it”(Dickinson 31). It is from the reaction to the Stamp Act that American
colonists create the slogan “No taxation without representation”. Further Acts continued to
increase tensions between the British Parliament and its colonies, but few were as devastating the
Stamp Act of 1765, until one fateful event caused the Intolerable Acts of 1774. On December 16,
1773, the revolutionary Sons of Liberty crept into the Boston Harbor and poured three hundred
and forty-two chests of tea into the Atlantic in the legendary event known as the Boston Tea
Party (Kennedy 121). In retaliation, Parliament passes the Coercive Acts, commonly referred to
derogatorily by the American colonists as the “Intolerable Acts”. This despised five part law
simultaneously: shut down the Boston Harbor until the tea was paid for, eliminated colonial
resistance to Parliament’s laws by banning committees of correspondence, increased the
province of Quebec, and allowed for British soldiers to take shelter in colonial houses, as well as
be nearly exempt from crimes against colonists by being tried in British courts (“British Acts on
Colonial America”).
However, it was not exclusively the merciless onslaught of Acts passed by Parliament
that pushed the American colonists towards war. The direct actions of British soldiers and
military against the colonists frequently caused conflicts to spark to the breaking point. Under
the hated writs of assistance, which British soldiers could easily obtain from a superior
provincial court, said soldiers could search any house for smuggled goods, even without
specifying the house or goods (“Writ of assistance”). Trouble continued to brew in the event of
the Gaspee affair of 1772, when American colonists began to exhibit less peaceful forms of
protest. The Gaspee was despised by the colonists, as it had “patrolled Narragansett Bay and
inflicted daily outrages upon the inhabitants”(Blum 105). These outrages included annihilation of
orchards and livestock for their own needs, as well as seizing small boats in traffic. Thus, when
the opportunity came on June 9th, a group of colonists under Abraham Whipple took their
chance to ignite and destroy it. (“Gaspee Affair”). The combination of these toxic treatments
towards the American colonists and aforementioned restricting Acts repeatedly urged colonial
America towards revolution.
The era before the Revolutionary War was rife with strife and conflict, with each event
building upon the other until the tower of tension toppled into the birth of a new nation.
Considering the amount of trauma the American colonists suffered through, there is nearly no
argument as to why the Revolutionary War began. Even throughout continuous attacks by
Parliament, continually restricting trade and raising tariffs as efficiently as colonial frustration, to
constant tyranny on their own turf by British soldiers, colonial Americans still attempted to
reconcile with the British crown. When all else failed and British oppression did not relent, the
colonists united to fight the source of the problem and break into their own nation: a nation of
freedom, of human rights, and of liberty.
Bibliography
Blum, John M., William S. McFeely, Edmund S. Morgan, Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., Kenneth
M.
Stampp, and C. Vann Woodward. The National Experience. 8th ed. San Diego: Harcourt
Brace Jovanovich, 1989. Print.
"British Acts on Colonial America." British Acts on Colonial America. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Nov.
2016.
Dickinson, Alice. The Stamp Act. New York: F. Watts, 1970. Print.
Kennedy, David M., and Lizabeth Cohen. The American Pageant, AP Edition. 15th ed.
Stamford: Cengage Learning, 2013. Print.
The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica. "Writ of Assistance." Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 1 Dec. 2016.
"Gaspee Affair." Gaspee Affair. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Dec. 2016.
Biography
My name is Shawn-Michael Kern, and I am a Junior at Redlands High School. I am
happily enrolled in the HEART Academy, which is easily one of the best occurrences to ever
happen in my life. I continuously challenge myself with Honors and AP classes and always excel
in such an environment. I have known my entire existence that I will be a doctor, and strive to be
a genuine and intelligent person so as to help people of the world, both now and in the future.
Academic Achievements:
- Four counts Distinguished Honor Roll
- Class Rank 60 of 576
- Academic Weighted GPA of 4.2381
School Activities:
- Member of HOSA, 2015 - Present
- Treasurer of HOSA, 2016 - Present
- Creator of Fencer’s Organized Interest League
Community Activities:
- Peer Tutor, 2014 - 2015
- Volunteer at Loma Linda Valley Care Center, 2016 - Present
College Plans:
- Four-year University
- Major in Health and Medicine
- Move on to Medical School