Colonists' attitudes toward British rule in the 1760s and 1770s

Colonists' attitudes toward British rule in the 1760s and 1770s

Introduction

The Stamp Act crisis of 1965 was a major event in the history of the British rule over the colonials. From then onwards there can be seen a change in the attitude of the colonials towards the British rulers leading down the path towards war and eventual independence of the colonials in the later years. The American colonists, from then onwards opposed and protested the policies and legislations of the British rulers strongly considering them to be a threat to their economy, while printers contributed to a large extent to add fuel to the fire.

Discussion

The American colonies under the British rule in the 1760s had contributed to a considerable extent to the recently won French and Indian War while Britain overall was also in a lot of debt. There was a need felt by the British government to raise money and thus Stamp Act in the year 1765 was passed to help pay off the debts. This came as a blow to the colonial economy which was already under debt, since it required every paper to be stamped including those of official and legal documents and also of newspapers which was to affect a large number of people of the colonies.

The Stamp Act affected the print and newspaper industry to a considerable extent and since there were many newspapers in the colonial areas because of the interest in the French and Indian War, they used the medium henceforth to oppose the tax. They started to call those living in America as Americans from then onwards instead of British citizens and this opposition from the printers continued till the law was repealed a year later (Copeland, 2000). The Act though in the meantime was a major turning point that brought a change in the attitudes of the colonists since that time such as a letter appearing in the Boston Gazette and Country Journal (7 October, 1965) equals accepting the rules of the British to that of slavery and states America as a 'Land of Liberty' while also suggesting that British as 'enemies of truth and liberty' which indicates that the writer of the letter believed that the British were violating American rights by passing the Stamp Act. This was a common sentiment in those times and this letter is a representative of ...