DOI: https://doi.org/10.15368/theses.2011.37
Available at: https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/theses/483
Date of Award
3-2011
Degree Name
MA in History
Department/Program
History
Advisor
Thomas Trice
Abstract
Faced with an economic crisis following the French and Indian War, the British Parliament, along with a young and inexperienced King George III changed its longstanding policy towards the North American colonies. Prior to 1763, Parliament allowed the colonies to generally govern themselves. After 1763, Parliament began to pass legislation aimed at increasing revenue received from the colonies. As the colonies protested these new taxes on constitutional grounds Parliament began a process of implementing and repealing different attempts at controlling the economic system in the colonies. Due to differing interpretations of the British Constitution regarding Parliament's authority over the colonies, resistance to the change in policy by Parliament escalated in the 1760s and 1770s. It is this difference in interpretation that eventually led the colonists to open rebellion in 1775.