Acting Up!A Taxing Situation?

British attempts to deal with and control the Colonies located in North

America from 1650 to 1774

Presentation created byMr. Stephenson

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A Taxing Situation? Really?

• What are taxes? Define the term and the concept.

• Taxes are any sort of payment made to a government to pay for public goods and services.

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A Taxing Situation? Really?

• Do we really need taxes? Why or why not?

• Yes--Governments, practically by definition, have expenses. The only way to pay for those expenses is to raise money by creating taxes.

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A Taxing Situation? Really?• How does the government use taxes? What is the

money spent on?

• Thousands of answers exist. Here are just some answers: Build roads, run schools, operate the military, the CIA, the FBI, pay the salaries of government officials, the Post Office, Amtrak train service, police and fire protection, public radio and television (PBS), disaster relief (FEMA)

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A Taxing Situation? Really?• What different types of taxes are charged

and used?

• Again, there are TONS of possible answers. Here are some answers: Income taxes, Sales taxes, Personal Property taxes, Tariffs, Social Security (FICA) taxes, tolls on toll roads, tickets for busses, trains, or other types of government-sponsored transportation, sales of government lands, etc

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A Taxing Situation? Really?• When are taxes unacceptable?

• There are at least two different ways where taxes become unacceptable:

• 1) When too much tax is collected; the amount collected greatly exceeds government expenses (Government Surplus)

• 2) When taxes are collected without the people’s consent (Taxation without representation)

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A Taxing Situation? Really?• Now that you know something about taxes and how

taxes are used, did the colonists revolt against Great Britain because of taxes?

• Well, the colonists revolted against Great Britain because of the legal acts created by the British government.

• Those legal acts were efforts by the British government to control the colonists.

• Then were those legal acts actually taxes? Let’s find out by examining the British legal acts which upset the colonists.

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The British Acts

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Navigation Acts

The Woolen Act

The Hat Act

The Molasses Act

The Iron Act

The Sugar Act

Quartering Act

The Stamp Act

Declaratory Act

Townshend Acts

The Tea Act

Coercive Acts

The Quebec Act

The Navigation Acts

• Dates: 1650 - 1696• Description of this Act: Act said that only British

ships were allowed to carry colonial goods. This act restricted colonial trade by saying that Colonial trade had to go through Great Britain

• Was this Act a tax: NO!• British Reason for wanting this act: Control colonial

trade• Colonial Reaction to this act: They disliked, but

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The Woolen Act

• Date: 1699• Description of this Act: This act prohibited, or

stopped, the colonies from exporting, or shipping, wool to other countries.

• Was this Act a tax: NO!• British Reason for wanting this act: Control colonial

trade• Colonial Reaction to this act: Colonists were angered

by it and some people objected to it, but there was no widespread rebellion.

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The Hat Act

• Date: 1732• Description of this Act: This act prohibited, or

stopped, the colonies from exporting, or shipping, hats to other countries.

• Was this Act a tax: NO!• British Reason for wanting this act: Control colonial

trade• Colonial Reaction to this act: Colonists were angered

by it and some people objected to it, but there was no widespread rebellion.

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The Molasses Act

• Date: 1733• Description of this Act: This was a tax on

molasses, sugar and rum.• Was this Act a tax: Yes• British Reason for wanting this act: The British

wanted to control the sugar trade and to create a monopoly over all sugar related products.

• Colonial Reaction to this act: The colonists refused to pay the tax on the sugar products.

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The Iron Act

• Date: 1750• Description of this Act: The act restricted the

production of iron and the trade of iron products • Was this Act a tax: NO!• British Reason for wanting this act: Control colonial

trade• Colonial Reaction to this act: Many colonists

resented the act, but there was only local reaction against the law. Only those affected by the law cared enough to object to it.

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The Sugar Act

• Date: 1764• Description of this Act: A Different Tax on Sugar

and Molasses• Was this Act a tax: Yes• British Reason for wanting this act: The British

wanted the colonists to pay for part of the French and Indian War.

• Colonial Reaction to this act: The Colonists refused to pay the tax.

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The Quartering Act• Date: 1765• Description of this Act: The colonists must house and

feed the British soldiers living in the Americas.• Was this Act a tax: NO!• British Reason for wanting this act: This act made it

easier and cheaper for Great Britain to defend the colonies and placed on the colonists the cost of maintaining the British army in America

• Colonial Reaction to this act: For the first time, the colonies got together against Britain to protest the act.

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The Stamp Act

• Date: 1765• Description of this Act: This was a special tax on

printed goods such as legal documents and letters• Was this Act a tax: YES• British Reason for wanting this act: Pay for

French/Indian War debts• Colonial Reaction to this act: The colonists

reacted violently at times; they refused to pay it or to use stamps printed as part of the law

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The Declaratory Act

• Date: 1766• Description of this Act: This act stated that the

British Parliament had the right to rule and tax the colonists

• Was this Act a tax: NO!• British Reason for wanting this act: Control colonial

government• Colonial Reaction to this act: The colonists laughed

at this feeble attempt by the British to reassert British authority and rule.

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The Townshend Acts• Date: 1767• Description of this Act: Placed import taxes on paint,

glass, lead, paper, and tea items• Was this Act a tax: Yes• British Reason for wanting this act: Pay for

French/Indian War debts, Royal Governors and Judges plus other British government debts created because the British control the colonies

• Colonial Reaction to this act: The colonists revolted against these acts; the Boston Massacre occurs because of these acts.

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The Tea Act• Date: 1773• Description of this Act: This act gave the exclusive right to the

East India Company to sell tea without a tax on it in the Americas.

• Was this Act a tax: NO!!! Absolutely not… • British Reason for wanting this act: British wanted to save the

East India Company from bankruptcy--in a sense, this is an attempt to control colonial trade

• Colonial Reaction to this act: Colonists refused to buy any tea. They revolted by holding the Boston Tea Party to dump t the Tea into the bay. Those naughty “Indians” did it. (Yea, right!)

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The Coercive Acts

• Date: 1774• Description of this Act: Closed the port of Boston

until payment was made for the tea lost during the Boston Tea Party

• Was this Act a tax: NO!• British Reason for wanting this act: Control

colonial government and trade• Colonial Reaction to this act: Called these acts the

Intolerable Acts and angered almost all Bostonians.

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The Quebec Act

• Date: 1774• Description of this Act: Moved the southern

boundary of Canada (Quebec’s southern boundary) to the Ohio River.

• Was this Act a tax: NO!• British Reason for wanting this act: Control colonial

expansion into the Ohio River Valley• Colonial Reaction to this act: Leads to the creation

of the Continental Congress and the final attempts to deal with the British King.

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