American Grievances During the French-Indian War

In the time of the French-Indian War the Americans seemed to have many complaints. The British Parliament placed many duties and restrictions on the 13 colonies during this War. While some may argue Britain's actions were justified, that is not the case. They unfairly taxed the colonies, used the money purely for their own profit, and robbed them of their rights.

One of the first complaints of the American colonists was based around taxation without representation. Of the hundreds of representatives in British Parliament, not one represented the Americans under British rule.Although without representation, taxes were still placed on the 13 colonies. The British, however, were left free of these duties. Taxes such as The Sugar Act, The Currency Act, and The Stamp Act were robbing the American society.

Additionally corrupt is what the earnings were put towards. The money from the taxes placed on the American colonists was used to dig the British out of the deep hole of debt left by the French-Indian war. No percentage of the money taken from the colonists was returned to them.This contradicted with the fact that roughly only half of the debt had been incurred in defending the Americans.

After the British debt had been paid, the taxes were left in place. This “excess” money, however, was yet to be passed along to the workers themselves. It was instead used to pay the salaries of British officials. The hard work of the Americans was being abused by the very country that they stemmed from. Aside from money, Britain was robbing the Americans of many rights as well. Acts such as the Sugar Act and Stamp Act allowed offenders to be tried in a court in which no jury was present.

Defendants were burdened with proving themselves to be innocent, if unable to do so, they were assumed to be guilty of all charges. The doctrine “innocent until proven guilty” and trial by jury were ancient privileges that had been treasured by the English and American colonists, and had been torn from the Americans' grasp by British Parliament. The Stamp Act also violated freedom of speech. Anything published was to be stamped with a costly mark of approval by a British official. No longer could writings be published at will.