Chapter 5

The reading of the chapter 5 has enlightened me on various significant events of the mid eighteenth century. I learned a lot about the time when most of the Anglo Americans considered it as their duty to assist Great Britain against its enemies. I was not aware that French people were also one of the ones who could threaten the American colonies because of their stronghold in Canada. The victory of Great Britain in Seven Years War and France ceded a larger part of its empire to British is an important event about which now I realize  became a major work of friction between Britain and its colonies.

I also learned a great deal about how Britain took up steps for its imperial reorganization. The way Britain attempted to increase revenues from colonies during 1760’s through Sugar and Stamp Acts was surely something that could raise hatred for the British by the Native Americans. I believe the open resistance which the colonists showed after the crisis of Stamp Act was a major move by them and proved to be a stepping stone to make British aware of the hatred that was present for them among the colonists. The increasing of tensions between both British and the colonists became more visible after the Quartering and the Townshend Acts. I was not aware about the creation of British board of Customs Commissioners and the corruption of the commissioners. The reading of the chapter really gave me a clear insight that how dishonest activities in the board became the target of the growing anger of the colonists.

The major event like that of Boston Massacre added much to the conflict. The British attempt to aid East India Company with regard to merchandising of tea led colonists to examine the imperial relationship and alarmed the Americans on a much wider level. The colonists who defied Britain’s continuous steps for raising revenue on behalf of imposed taxes showed their strong opposition through Boston Tea Party. It was interesting for me to see how colonists showed their anger towards British Parliamentary acts and how the Coercive Acts that were approved by Parliament in their response to Tea Party, triggered the action of  First Continental Congress which revealed the final coordinated start of action against the continuous colonial resistance. I also understood well that how the battles of Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775 transformed the conflict on both sides into a big armed resistance. The convening of the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia and the efforts of Americans for reconciliation with King George III raised my interest to learn more. I discovered that the Battle of Bunker Hill and the establishment of the Continental Army was enough to convince British that Americans do not want any reconciliation. The “Common Sense” by Thomas Paine was a direct attack on the British dominion. I believe the Declaration of Independence in July really came as a significant turning point for the future of American generations to come.