In this section, we as readers learn about how Americans resisted taxation by British Parliament and how the colonies finally started to break free from Britain's rule through the idea of sovereignty. Sovereignty is the idea that the government of a country (or colony in this case) is governed by its own people, and the people of this country get to vote these people into office. Many events led up to this idea and revolution. First the Stamp Act was heavily resisted in 1765 and 1766. Americans did not believe that they should be taxed without representation. Wood says, "the crisis over the Stamp Act aroused and unified Americans as no previous political event ever had." This was only the beginning of what was to come with Americans taking action against these taxations and eventually the British government as a whole.
More taxes were eventually put down on the colonies, and Americans were going against them as well.
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United StatesThey stuck with their idea of "no taxations without representation". Many writers released pamphlets of their ideas, which only strengthened Americans ideas of resistance towards the British. The Boston Massacre was another act of resistance towards Parliament, where "a party of eight harassed British soldiers fired on a threatening crowd and killed five civilians." More and more controversy was stirring up and it kept building into bigger things.
The Tea Act of 1773 would be pushing the limit for America. To help out the East India Company, which was nearing bankruptcy, British decided to tax on the tea from this company. "The Tea Act spread an alarm throughout the colonies," Wood states. Finally, Americans decided to do something about it. On December 16 of 1773, patriots disguised as Indians dumped huge amounts of tea into the Boston Harbor. The British were outraged.