Question

Which decision by the British government made the colonies want to declare independence, according to the Declaration of Independence? Britain allowed the colonial legislatures to have too much power. Britain forced people to move to the United States. Britain enforced unfair taxes on the colonists. Britain refused to defend the colonies when they were attacked.

Answer 1

The decision by the British government that led to American independence was a range of abuses, including taxation without representation, interference in trade, denial of trial by jury, and deprivation of self-rule, as stated in the Declaration of Independence.

Step-by-step explanation:

The British government's decisions that ultimately led the American colonists to declare independence were multifaceted. According to the Declaration of Independence, primarily drafted by Thomas Jefferson as a cornerstone document of the American Revolution, it was a combination of abuses that prompted the colonies to separate from Britain. Central to the grievances were that the British monarch taxed the colonists without the consent of their locally elected representatives, interfered with trade, denied them the right to trial by jury, and deprived them of self-government.

Jefferson outlined that these actions violated the principles of sovereignty and natural rights, which were rooted in the Magna Carta and the British Bill of Rights. The colonies had developed their system of self-rule through legislative assemblies during a period known as salutary neglect, which the British government ended following the French and Indian War. A series of revenue-raising acts, including the Stamp and Sugar Acts, along with punitive measures like the Intolerable Acts, underscored the lost autonomy and escalation towards the desire for American independence.

This path to separation was also fueled by a spirit of intercolonial cooperation and growing resentment towards legislative decisions made across the ocean. The First and Second Continental Congresses were instrumental in formalizing American rights and, eventually, the unanimous (excluding New York) decision to adopt the Declaration of Independence. With this act, the colonies committed themselves to creating a new form of government free from British tyranny.

Answer 2

Answer: Why were the American colonies unhappy with the British government? By the 1770's, Great Britain had established a number of colonies in North America. The American Revolution was precipitated, in part, by a series of laws passed between 1763 and 1775 that regulating trade and taxes. This legislation caused tensions between colonists and imperial officials, who made it clear that the British Parliament would not address American complaints that the new laws were onerous. British unwillingness to respond to American demands for change allowed colonists to argue that they were part of an increasingly corrupt and autocratic empire in which their traditional liberties were threatened. This position eventually served as the basis for the colonial Declaration of Independence. Boston Tea Party

In 1763, the British government emerged from the Seven Years’ War burdened by heavy debts. This led British Prime Minister George Grenville to reduce duties on sugar and molasses but also to enforce the law more strictly. Since enforcement of these duties had previously been lax, this ultimately increased revenue for the British Government and served to increase the taxes paid by the colonists. The colonial governments of New York and Massachusetts sent formal letters of protest to Parliament. The end of the war had also brought about a postwar recession, and British merchants began to request payment for debts that colonists had incurred buying British imports. Moreover, they wanted payment in British pounds sterling rather than colonial currency of more questionable value. The result was that the British Parliament passed the 1764 Currency Act which forbade the colonies from issuing paper currency. This made it even more difficult for colonists to pay their debts and taxes. Soon after Parliament passed the Currency Act, Prime Minister Grenville proposed a Stamp Tax. This law would require colonists to purchase a government-issued stamp for legal documents and other paper goods. Grenville submitted the bill to Parliament for questioning, and only one member raised objections to Parliament’s right to tax the colonies.