Question

In your response, be sure to address all parts of the question. Use complete sentences; an outline or bulleted list alone is not acceptable.
“The Inhabitants of the Massachusetts bay were notorious in the smuggling Business, from the Capital Merchant down to the meanest Mechanick [poorest craftsmen]. . . . So lost to all Sense of Honor was this Set of Men, that the smuggling Trade went on as usual, until at last . . . it brought on the present Rebellion. . . .

“. . . The Ministry . . . procured a new Act [in 1767] to be passed, laying Duties upon Tea, Glass, Paper, and Painters Colours. This Act was not more unreasonable than many other Acts which had been submitted to for many Years past, and which, even at this Time, they made no Objection to. . . .

“As to the Glass in particular, the Duty was so trifling, that it would not have enhanced the Price of it to the Purchaser. . . . The true Reason of Opposition was this: The Inhabitants of the Colonies were a Race of Smugglers. They carried an extensive Trade with the Dutch, not only in Holland, but very greatly with the Dutch Settlements in the West Indies. . . . The Smugglers then, who were the prevailing Part of the Traders in the Capitals of the several Provinces, found it necessary for their Interest, to unite in defeating the Operation of the Act.”

Peter Oliver, former chief justice of the royal colony of Massachusetts, Origin and Progress of the American Rebellion, published in 1781

Using the excerpt, answer (a), (b), and (c).

a) Briefly describe the point of view expressed by Oliver in the excerpt.

b) Briefly describe a historical situation in which Oliver produced the excerpt.

c) Briefly describe ONE piece of evidence used by Oliver to support his argument in the excerpt.

Answer 1

Answer and Explanation:

a. Oliver highlights how the tax laws on products such as tea, glass, paper and painters' colors would interfere in the lives of Massachusetts Bay dwellers, because they established many businesses based on trade, which made irrational laws change the condition economics and their freedom, making them want to unite to overturn these laws, which they did not want to do in other equally irrational laws.

b. Oliver produced this text when England forced Americans to pay much higher taxes on products. This intensified the independence movements, in addition to showing how the British crown was being tyrannical and abusive.

c. Evidence used by Oliver can be seen in the lines "The Smugglers then, who were the prevailing Part of the Traders in the Capitals of the several Provinces, found it necessary for their Interest, to unite in defeating the Operation of the Act," where it shows the reason that led smugglers to help in breaking the laws, that is, it shows that conteabandistas were part of the trade and therefore were affected by taxation.