THE ROAD TO INDEPENDENCE

THE ROAD TO INDEPENDENCE

OUTLINE OF U.S. HISTORY

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The American leaders argued that their only legal relations were with the Crown . It was the king who had agreed to establish colonies be- yond the sea and the king who pro- vided them with governments . They asserted that he was equally a king of England and a king of the colo- nies, but they insisted that the Eng- lish Parliament had no more right to pass laws for the colonies than any colonial legislature had the right to pass laws for England . In fact, how- ever, their struggle was equally with King George III and Parliament . Factions aligned with the Crown generally controlled Parliament and reflected the king’s determination to be a strong monarch .

The British Parliament reject- ed the colonial contentions . British merchants, however, feeling the ef- fects of the American boycott, threw their weight behind a repeal move- ment . In 1766 Parliament yielded, repealing the Stamp Act and modi- fying the Sugar Act . However, to mollify the supporters of central control over the colonies, Parliament followed these actions with passage of the Declaratory Act, which as- serted the authority of Parliament to make laws binding the colonies “in all cases whatsoever .” The colonists had won only a temporary respite from an impending crisis .

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