Modern Age Europe 1348-1789 Phase Definition 2 Essay

Modern Age Europe 1348-1789 Phase Definition 2 - Essay Example This led to agricultural and industrial expansions in the west during the 18th century (Donald, Ozment & Turner 464). Slave ships were the main mode of transport for slaves from the shipment area along the coasts into Europe and the Americas. The slaves were tied together in the large ships to avoid escaping. This was quite inhuman and some slaves ended up dying in the ships due to inhumane treatment. They were deprived of food and lived in pathetic conditions whereby there was overcrowding in the ships. Many of the slaves died as a result of this. Plantations are large estates whereby a single type of crop is grown. Plantations mainly concentrate on growth of cash crops such as coffee, tea, pyrethrum, cotton and tobacco. In Europe and the Americas, the slaves were used to provide labor in these plantations. Most of the slaves came from Africa although there were others from Asia (Donald, Ozment & Turner 466). Asiento is the permission that was given to countries by Spain, to sell pe ople who would become laborers in these countries. The Sugar Act (1764) was a taxation measure put in place by the British so as to increase funds for supporting the colonies. The act was passed during the reign of George Grenville. The motive behind the measure was to maximize earning of revenue from imports that went into the colonies from Britain. Anybody who violated this taxation measure by evasion of payment or any other way was tried in a court of law. This move ensured that people paid the taxes. The Stamp Act (1765) was a tax measure passed by Parliament. The main objective of taxation was to collect money for use in the colonies. The act involved taxation on all documents dealing with issues of law as well as documents like daily newspapers. Several critics of the act, such as Sons of Liberty, led to its review in 1766. This move was meant to make the act favorable for the people living in the colonies. Charles Townshend (1725-1767) was a chancellor and finance minister in Britain. He is remembered for his efforts, to have parliament sign some acts, for enhancing colonial trade. His relentless efforts did not see the light of the day for some time, but eventually, the British parliament signed some of the acts that he proposed. Intolerable acts refer to drastic measures that were taken by the Parliament in order to deal with the people living in the colonies. One of the measures was closure of the Boston port. This hindered transport in the area to a great extent. The other drastic measures were the moves by parliament to have troops living in private households and the reorganizing of the Massachusetts’ governance structures (Donald, Ozment & Turner 476). George III (1760-1820) was a Briton who served the British government during the period preceding independence and thereafter. He was accused of being an accomplice of the British Parliament in denying people in the colonies their civil liberties between 1763 and 1776. He did not show any ef forts to include the Whig families in his leadership, although the families had served the government for a long time. The First Continental Congress was one of the meetings by committees which were opposed to the British policies and systems of governance. The committee meeting was held in Philadelphia in the year 1774. Its sole aim was to ask and convince the Parliament to go back to restoration of self-rule and stop supervising the activities of the colonies directly (Donald, Ozment & Turner 483). The Treaty of Paris refers to an agreement that was made by key leaders of countries in Europe and America after many years of war. This peace treaty was signed in Paris, France in 1783 (Donald, Ozment &