The Role of Propoganda in the American Revolution :: Essays on American Revolution

The colonists during and before the Revolutionary War believed that they had many well-thought reasons to rebel against England. Some of the most popular reasons would have to be the concept of "Taxation without representation" and the famous Stamp Act. Many colonists were not so concerned with taxes so they sided with the reason of the British restricting their westward expansion. But those colonists who did not go along with those excuses for rebellion just plain hated the British for invading their homes. But a single question arises: "What put all of these strong feelings toward Britain into the minds of the colonists?" The answer is simple: Propaganda. Many of the colonists along the coast began to thing that the land they were living in was beginning to become a little too crowded. The majority of these colonists looked to the land west of the Appalachian Mountains, but there was one problem. In 1763 King George III created something known as "The Proclamation of 1763". The Proclamation of 1763 restricted the colonists in the English colonies from moving westward into the lands beyond the Appalachian Mountains. It also forced those who had already settled west of the Appalachians to go back to the eastern side. King George III made this law because he wished to keep peace with the Natives and keep the taxpayers paying taxes. He succeeded partially, but he also managed to confuse and upset a large amount of the colonists. Another problem that made the colonists angry was the Quartering Act. The Quartering Act stated that the colonists must house British soldiers and pay for their expenses. Nearly every colonists was affected by this, even if they did not house a soldier, because the British soldiers would attempt to find odd jobs in their off hours. Thus, the colonists would be in direct competition with the British soldiers for jobs when the colonists were already underpaid due to taxes, such as the Stamp Act. Taxes were a hard part of every day life in the colonies. Many of the taxes Britain placed on the colonies seemed to be very unreasonable to the colonists. One such example of the unreasonable taxes is the Stamp Act. The Stamp Act was put in place to help pay for some of the cost from the French and Indian War. Everything from newspapers to playing cards was taxed. This infuriated the colonists greatly, because the tax from the Stamp Act affected every one in the colonies in some way or another.