Important Figures In American Revolution
The British victory gained in the Seven Year’s War had been a costly one for the Great Britain. In order to the offset the post war costs of the empire, Britain began taxing the colonies in America. The first tax imposed upon the Colonists was the Sugar Act of 1764. It was heavily objected by the colonists due to financial reasons (Dickinson). Thereafter when the Stamp Act was put into effect the following year, one of the individuals who protested against this act was then Mayor of Annapolis Daniel Dulany. In opposition to the Act Dulany, a lawyer from Maryland wrote a pamphlet “Considerations on the Propriety of Imposing taxes in the British Colonies.” The document argued the taxation of the colonies with the representation of parliament. This was by law, against the constitution of Great Britain and thus illegal imposed on the American colonists. He said that the solution to the British debt could not come from the taxation of the colonies; rather it could be sound within the exclusion of huge salaries, dissolving illegal operations, shutting down useless areas and disbanding of pensioners which did not serve or did not serve the crown well. The significance of Dulany’s document lies in its provocative standing at the time. It is considered to be one of the reasons behind the opposition from the people towards the Stamp Act and in turn causing the American Revolution (Russell). Then the true question becomes however, how significant as this document truly? Was it a ripple in an ocean which went unnoticed or a huge splash in a pond leading to the freedom from the British?
The question itself can be easily answered when we consider that Dulany’s pamphlet though very outspoken against the British was not the only factor which led to the revolution. Nor was he the only individual from Maryland to speak against it. Charles Carroll of Carrollton was also in an individual who spoke out against the Stamp Act. He questioned the authority the American people had over their lands and property, if the British government could impose such taxes upon them from so far away without any consideration to their situation or circumstances (Russell).
It should also be noted that Benjamin Franklin had opposed such taxes ten years before the pamphlet written By Dulany was even circulated. Additionally the marches led by the American colonists within the various states of Rhode Island, New York, Massachusetts and other colonies. All this along with the protests held by the Sons of Liberty have been known to be the some of the bigger sparks which started the fire of the revolution (Dickinson).
Perhaps bigger than all of these actions and all of the individuals who caused them, were the actions of one individual, Christopher Gadsden. Christopher Gadsden was a man who in 1765 influenced the South Carolina Assembly to create the Stamp Act Congress.
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