Revolutionary Era DBQ

Around 1763, Britain was in immense debt from the 7 Years War (French and Indian War). They were looking for ways to make revenue and they decided that colonists were responsible to help them. Britain started taxing colonists by enacting many different acts until 1776. Colonists did not think very highly of these taxations and believed it was an infringement of their rights to tax them without their consent. Eventually, Colonists became so resistant to British Rule, that the Independence Movement was started. Many influencers of the time, were spreading the word to persuade all of America towards cutting ties with Britain. There were several acts that colonists did not favor, thus strengthening their resentment towards Britain. Acts affecting trade imposed by the British, had the most significant impact on Colonial America, and in turn led to the Independence Movement.
Thomas Paine, a British immigrant wrote a pamphlet in 1776 titled “Common Sense” regarding why he believes America should break away from Britain. Paine believes it is a disadvantage to depend on Britain because they will be dragged into any of Britain’s affairs and wars. Thomas also states that they will strongly benefit from this because they can trade with whomever they would like, importing and exporting would be much …show more content…
They had assemblies to spread the word about events and ideas. Influencers started to spread ideas of Britain being constantly in the wrong. For example, after the Boston Massacre a picture was sketched by Paul Revere. It depicted the colonists to be innocent while British shot at them. (Doc 3) This was a piece of propaganda that spread in favor of the patriot cause. This meant that values and ideas of influencers such as Thomas Paine and his views toward trade, could be spread out to the colonists quickly and affect the way they viewed Britain and led them to favor the idea of