Blog #54 – Was the Revolution’s main cause economic, political, or social?
Historians have been debating this idea – the primary cause of the American Revolution – pretty much ever since it occurred over 200 years ago. Your job: read over the three main causes argued over by historians, and in your own words, explain which one is the most convincing.
Economic: In examining the economic causes, historians have pointed to the damaging effects of the new emphasis that the British put on organizing their empire along mercantilist philosophies – meaning that the colonies exist only for the enrichment of the mother country and not for themselves. Because of salutary neglect, the American colonies had been used to running things on their own – defying the Navigation Acts, printing their own money, paying very few taxes (26 to 1) – for almost 150 years. These Navigation Acts and other laws prevented American colonists from competing with British goods on the same playing field – American goods were taxed at a higher rate than British goods (don’t forget the Hat Act of 1700). After King George’s War in 1748, and especially after the French and Indian War (1754-1763), the British began to flex their economic muscle to squeeze more money from the colonists through things like the Sugar Act and the Townsend Acts. One of the things that was growing by 1770 was intra-colonial trade which accounted for almost 20% of the goods shipped out of New York (these things shipped to other American colonies included rum, manufactured products, refined sugar, and food). Britain appeared to want to limit this trade as well, b/c it didn’t enrich the home country.
– Post French and Indian War acts like the Sugar, Stamp, Townsend, and Tea acts all appared to limit o
r cut out colonial businessmen. For instance, the Sugar Act raised prices on refined sugar which was used in the production of rum, 60% of which went to the colonies or West Indies. Under the Townsend Acts, the new Board of Commons in Boston virtually put an end to smuggling, so struggling merchants organized a boycott movement in 1768. Merchants from Philadelphia and New York joined the non-importation movement in addition to some southern colonies.
– Also, we mentioned that the colonists were cash-strapped / poor because they paid for English goods with gold and silver, so that states resorted to printing their own paper money. In fact, many merchants and upper class folks were in debt to English merchants, and with the Parliament taxing or limiting colonists’ work, they had a difficult time paying their debts.
Social / Cultural: For social reasons, while the economy grew rapidly, not everyone was sharing in its bounty. In the 1770s, the top 20% of the population owned about two thirds of the colonies’ wealth, while the bottom 20% owned only 1%. Indentured servants made up part of that bottom 20% and were more often landless workers either finding jobs as tenant farmers or factory workers in the cities. These workers were not happy with the state of things and had hoped to get better farm land from the eastern, more populous side of their colony but were shut out. So they had to move west into the frontier to find arable (farming) land. Since there was little land available, many of these would-be farmers moved to the cities looking for work. In Boston, these unemployed workers vented their grievances at town hall meetings and were able by sheer numbers to out vote the “Gentlemen, Merchants, Substantial Traders and all the better part of the Inhabitants” (Zinn 60). Historian Howard Zinn stated that men like James Otis and Sam Adams used this lower-class resentment to fuel a revolutionary fire against the British and upper class politicians beginning in the early 1760s. In other cities, working class men demanded open meetings and roll-call votes to find out how their representatives were voting to make sure that their demands were being met. There was a full-blown class warfare, it seems, between those who were associated with the British (usually upper class) and the middle and working classes (pro-colonies). The British soldiers located in Boston may have inadvertantly sparked the Boston Massacre b/c they were competing with unemployed colonists for jobs (apparently the British military pay wasn’t great and there was lots of spare time). But, the passions of the poor and middle class were apparently greater than the wealthy colonists like Adams and Otis who tried to control them, because marches and protests would often get violent and potentially bloody. Men like Adams and Otis who tried to utilize the poor’s anger against the pro-British rich only seemed to pour gasoline on smoldering embers. 
– Even in the countryside, Bacon-style rebellions were popping up led by the poor against the wealthy. The Paxton Boys of western Pennsylvania marched on the capitol in 1763, Philadelphia, to air their grievances, were prepared to torch the city, and did not leave until they were calmed down by Ben Franklin himself. In 1771, North Carolina’s Regulators were white farmers and tenant farmers who had organized against “wealthy and corrupt officials” and wanted to “democratize local government in their counties” (Zinn 63). The Regulators hated the existing tax system and blamed the rich for its structure. This turned into a full pitched battle in May 1771 when the state militia defeated several thousand Regulators, after which six Regulators were hanged for treason.
– Though this may seem like an economic argument between the haves and the have-nots, it really focused on the lack of opportunity that new immigrants sought and natural-born colonists had sought since they’d been born here. The massive gap between the rich and poor may have contributed to this, but so did the lack of political representation for the poor.
Political: The biggest argument here revolves around “no taxation without representation”. As we read in the Stamp Act Congress document, especially part V, that the colonists felt that Parliament’s taxation was unconstitutional b/c the colonists had no representation in Parliament. Also, in the Stamp Act document (and subsequent pamphlets and speeches), the Congress reasserted their own rights as Englishmen even though they didn’t live within Great Britain – the right to trial by jury and other such liberties and rights. The taxes themselves were not very great (and by comparison to the British people themselves), but many, including Samuel Adams, felt that these taxes were but a slippery slope on which more burdensome laws would pour down upon the colonists. 
– The Quebec Act, in 1774, was seen as another slippery slope law. Though Parliament was well-intentioned with this law, it preserved the French Canadians their right to practice their religion and other rights that they had been accustomed to. However, the right to trial by jury was not one of those rights, and the American colonists saw the Quebec Act as fencing them in with Catholics, and felt that their right to a trial was in jeopardy.
– Enlightenment ideas, like those of John Locke, began to filter over to the colonies. A new attitude towards government emerged, one that any government was formed by the people who were ruled by it, and that the government got its power from those same people. John Locke’s idea about an abusive government that can be removed from power by the people was one that was adopted by Thomas Jefferson and others. Also, Locke’s idea on natural rights was well-received by the colonists and was ensured in the Declaration of Independence.
Pick only one of these three and make a persuasive argument for it to be the primary cause of the Revolutionary War. 250 words minimum. Due on Thursday, Sept. 26th by class time.
Social/ Cultural issues were the major reason the Revolutionary War started. Most of the population of the New World was indentured servants, slaves, or lower class. This meant that these people wanted nothing more but to be free from the higher authorities that controlled their way of living. With the British not allowing expansion of the colonies people this also put a strain on social relationships that the colonists had with the British people. The expansion of religion also plays a part in this. With many colonies becoming acceptation of any and ever religion there may be they began to grow bigger and bigger and people wanted to live with those who also agreed with their views.
In the New World, people lived off of the resources they had and not what was given to them unlike the British who lived off of the good the American people worked so hard for. They moved to this land so that they could have their own lives, start new. The problem was, that is not want was happening. The king still controlled the people, he used them to his advantage.
To many people were fighting others on their views and how they ran their lives. It was just about time before they banded together and told the British that they have had enough of their rules and regulations on how they should and should not run their lives. That, is why the Revolutionary War started. Because of Social/ Cultural issues the new world and the British had with each other.
Out of all three main causes of the American Revolution (economic, political and social) I think that economy was the main problem. The economy was the main cause for the American Revolution because of all the high taxes and the many ‘Acts’ that were being put out at that time, which had a huge effect on the colonist. Originally, the American colonies were used to doing things on their own like paying very few taxes and printing their own money, until the British came in and wanted to organize their empire for the enrichment of the country. For example the Hat Act of 1700 was used to tax American Goods way higher than British goods. After several wars like the French and Indian War and King Georges War they created two new Acts, the Sugar Act and the Townsend Act. The Sugar Act was used to raise prices on molasses, and sugar which was used to make rum and the Townsend Act was used to stop smuggling. Two other major acts that angered the colonist during this time were the Stamp Act and the Tea Act. Stamps were put on all legal documents and the colonist couldn’t drink any other tea unless it was from the East India Company. As a result of all this, there were boycotts and rebellions against the British. “No taxation without representation” was a political issue the colonist had with the British. The high taxations put a burden on a lot of people which caused them to be poor, one of the social issues. Overall, the economy was the biggest cause on the American Revolution whish soon spurred the social and political effects.
The primary cause of the American Revolution was a result of a poor recognition to what mattered. The New World was meant to allow everyone “The American Dream”, whether their financial history opposed or was in line with an individual who was stumbling with the scraps they earned on occasion. The economic values that the British held were intentionally based on expanding an organizing their empire, which placed the colonies in a dependent state (on Britain) of existence.
These actions are what triggered American colonists to adjust to salutary neglection. Soon enough they got use to coping seperately from Britain, which exposed the colonists to defying ‘The Navigation Acts’ ,printing their own currency, and paying few taxes for a long period of time. However,they appeared to be a threat. Yet, it was expected to happen eventually , because the British clearly recognized the high economic and overall value of America. The land and its people had much to offer. Likewise in society today people tend to have their own mindset that withhold their personal opinions. Similarly, people of that frame, were being forced to have to think for themselves and having it be sustainable for nearly 150 years, this act is what boosted their independence and caused them to want to continue individualism; being there own people. On the other hand, the deduction of control the Brits had over the colonies called on their attentions. It seemed to be that the colonies had established solid and successful intra-colonial trade with one another. This was in the colonists favor because it saved them money rather than export and imports did from contact with their neighboring countries. So this is why their trade system was not applauded by the British (it did not enrich their home land).
Overall, the level of selfishness presented by the British regarding finances is what created the boundary between their people and the colonist. This division is what made it difficult for each group of people to become integrated. Integration during that era would have allowed these people to adjust, to recognize , and to correspond with each other to make beneficial compromises that would develop both of their playing fields and save the lives of the innocent who could’ve made an impact on how we live today.
For a long time the British had been draining America for goods and money, and it’s what started the Revolutionary War. America was thought, in the eyes of the British, only to benefit the country.
America was forced to buy all British goods with gold and silver. But soon, the colonies were running low on gold and silver to pay the colonies. Colonies resorted to printing paper money for business inside the colony, which was the first thing to start irritating the Americans. Then the Parliament prohibited the printing the paper money and poor colonies became even more poorer and more angry. They were able to get by for awhile because of salutary neglect they got from Britain, but after the Townsend act America really started to feel the economic drain of Britain. With the raising prices and the taxes on paper, sugar, and tea it really started to make the colonists feel more frustrated towards the British.
Everything was seemed as an attack on their economy. The years of draining the colonies made them feel abused, and then enforcing all these new taxes and regulation just added fuel to the flame. Of course the American’s blamed the British for their economic downfall, it was their mother country and it was the one enforcing all these acts. Something that really pushed America over the edge was that soldiers were placed in Boston were expected to pay for them although they really didn’t want them there. Then the soldiers were also trying to get jobs in Boston when the majority of the Boston people didn’t have jobs, it pushed the Americans just enough to start violence.
The main cause of the Revolution was entirely economical. Money contributed to many of the Acts passed just years before the revolution to which many Americans protested. Americans wanted the protection and same rights as the British, even though they weren’t pulling their weight in supporting their mother country economically.
The first act, the Sugar Act, restricted the trade of sugar between the colonies and foreign ports. The colonies had to buy their sugar from the British, resulting in the British gaining money from the difference of the cheaper foreign imports. Another act, the Stamp Act, required all documents and other products to have stamps on them. These stamps cost money and all the money went toward the British. The people were also angry because the British were sending troops over to the Americas to regulate them, and that cost the British money, which they got from taxes. Another thing is that the Americans had never paid taxes, and were upset when this new concept that hurt them was introduced. At this point, the gold and silver in America was worth as much as in Britain, so they had to pay more, in their eyes. They were so bankrupt that they had to print their own money, but soon the British outlawed that.
After people rebelled and wrote letters to the king asking him to repeal the Stamp Act, Sugar Act, and other acts, the Townshend Acts were installed. They put taxes on items like paper, paint, white lead, glass, and tea. The people rebelled at these too. The Americans didn’t like having to pay to have equal rights, even when the British were paying taxes too.
Economic problems between the colonies and Britain were the major reason for the American Revolution. Tensions between the colonists and the British government were so high because of economic problems that filtered and blossomed into other difficulties. For example, the colonists often disobeyed the Navigation Acts, which prohibited American goods from competing with British ones on the same level. Soon after King George’s War, the British added more taxes to the pile, such as the Sugar Act, Tea Act and the Townshend Acts. Britain wanted to stop and limit all trade that did not benefit the home country as well as the colonies. Also, since the colonies paid Britain for goods in silver and gold, there was a severe shortage of coins and paper money was printed, which was almost worthless without any gold or silver to back it up. Because of the way Britain tried to squeeze out money from the colonies, either by taxing them to pay for an army to stop settlers from crossing the Appalachians, which the colonists believed they had won with blood and money during the French and Indian War, or by simply taxing them without representation in Parliament, the colonists’ blood boiled on the subject of being unfairly taxed. Although Britain also limited the colonists’ rights as people, or just by forcing them to do things like house British soldiers against someone’s will, economic strife was the main reason for the American Revolution, as it trickled down into all other walks of life and kept hitting the mostly poverty stricken colonists with unbearable and insipid taxes.
There were many economic reasons for the American revolution, some of the reasons were that only the southern colonies were connected to Britain through tobacco. The biggest dilemma was the stamp act, this was one of the main reasons for “No Taxation Without Representation”. This provoked the colonists the most because it was a new thing, it was a big change for people to go from no taxes to extreme taxes. The Townshend Acts also had a huge factor because they were taxing illegally. The currency act lead to the colonies money being practically useless and angered the colonists more. George Grenville’s plans were always pushing into the colonies space because the man was made of acts, he restricted sugar trade with the sugar act in 1764, stopped the colonies from making their own money with the currency act in 1764, the quartering act put British soldiers into homes which frustrated the colonies forced them to react in some way. When you look at the Revolution as a whole, there was no real reason for the British to do what they did, they just did it because they could stand to make more money from the colonies. The Boston tea party was a tipping point because it was the first real revolting of the colonists against the British and taking a stand. There were many different reasons for the American Revolution, but I believe the most prominent was the economic aspect of the Tea party, stamps, and currency. These were the reasons for revolution and forced the colonists to act. There were not many other reasons for the revolution because economy was the realest driving force in the connection.
Although economic, political and social/cultural reasons may have all led to the Revolution, economic was the main cause. The colonies had never had such issues as they did before the revolution with the British; they were running their own land as they believed it should be. As it states in the above text, for about 150 years the colonies were printing their own money, ignoring the Navigation Acts and paying much fewer taxes than usual without the British intervening. After the French and Indian War and King George’s War, Britain was in need of money for understandable reasons. However, to tax the colonies like never before and take away some of their rights are almost guaranteed to lead to controversy and disagreement.
Businessmen suffered like no other from the various acts put upon them; the Stamp act, Tea act, Townsend act and Sugar act. Throughout all these acts assigned by Britain, the poor only got poorer and even some of the rich were in debt to English merchants, unable to pay them back with Parliament taxing them like never before. The British truly were suffocating the Americans in a sense that they had no way to turn but rebelling against the ridiculous laws put upon them.
In contrast to the social/cultural or political outlook, the economic view affected more people in more severe ways. The political view simply altered people’s opinions on the matter and brought together the “no taxation without representation” mentality while creating paranoia among the colonists. The social/cultural outlook created a class warfare, which also may have led to Revolution. However, regardless of what affect political or cultural/social outlooks had on the Revolution, the economic reasons affected the country more than ever.
Though the Revolution was caused due to a combination of economic, political, and social problems, I think the primary cause was political. The biggest controversary before the Revolution was political and the greatest outcome of the Revolution was political also. For instance, the article simply and accurately states, “The biggest argument here revolves around ‘no taxation without representation’.” Some might argue that the statement falls under the economic category but more important than the ‘no taxation’ part is the ‘without representation’ part, which is the political message. The colonists obviously disliked all the new Acts installed by Britain that taxed them, but their biggest problem with it was that they did not have a say in it. The colonists really wanted a right to a jury and a place in Parliament. If the colonists had originally had representation in Parliament, many, if not all, of the economic issues may not have even existed. Back to my original thesis; the biggest outcome of the Revolution was that it was the first steps toward government. These steps were first taken before the Revolution by people like John Locke and even before him, Thomas Jefferson. Personally, I believe this was the most important part of the Revolution. Because of their introduction to the idea that any government is formed by the people who rule it, and that the government gets its power from those same people, the idea of natural rights came along. And after the idea of natural rights, the Declaration of Independence was written. So although many things contributed to the rise of the Revolution, the political aspects stood out and became the most important outcomes as well.
The main cause of the Revolution was the new economic burden put on to the colonists with the various laws enacted by Parliament. After many years of salutary neglect, Britain started to see what a value the colonies were, and worked to protect their asset by enforcing and enacting various laws. These acts were an unwelcome surprise to the colonists after years of defying Navigation Acts, printing their own money, and paying little to no taxes. The salutary neglect made what might have been not such a big deal in taxes, seem like an extremely outrageous mishap of justice to the Americans. Another reason the economy led to the Revolution was the Mercantilist philosophy of the British. After they decided to strengthen their hold on America, they enforced laws such as the Navigation Acts which kept America from ever keeping pace with British in terms of wealth. These acts restricted any direct trade between America and colonies other than England, and as such Britain could remain wealthy off their colonies. These mercantilist philosophies of the British made it so America was buying much more from England than they were selling and so they had very little gold and silver because they had to use that to pay for their goods. America was so poor that they had to print their own money and although it was extremely devalued it worked until the British made it illegal. This was another outrage from the British that caused the people to rise up in revolution. The final straw for the American people were the variety of taxes imposed on them. The sugar act severely hurt the sugar trade and ensured that everyone bought British sugar. However, the first real tax that hurt the majority of people was the Stamp Act. The Stamp Act required everything printed on paper to have a stamp, this included letters, published works, books, magazines, and all other forms of paper. The economic strain put on the colonists by the British were the main reason for the Revolution.
Social and cultural issues were the main cause of the American Revolution because they created a class of people who resented the British crown. When British citizens moved to America, they were hoping to create a better life for themselves and their family. When all of the good farming land was snatched up, these people were forced to move to major cities to look for jobs. This put a large number of people who had previous grievances with the King in large concentrations. Many of these workers were unable to find any sort of job in the cities and did what they could to try to help job creation. The unemployed tried to voice their opinions in public forums such as town hall meetings, but were met with no promise of change. This created a large group of generally angry people who were looking for someone to use as the scapegoat for this shared issue. This someone turned out to be British rule and all of its supporters. These citizens felt that they were being overlooked. The lower and middle class began to take any action they could to show the British crown that their lack of help would be returned with a lack of loyalty. This fueled many rebellions, such as when the Paxton Boys marched to Philadelphia to air their grievances and when the North Carolina Regulators fought a full-fledged battle against their state’s militia. These social and cultural issues brought to light the lack of political representation for the poor, which then brought to light the lack of representation for the colonies as a whole. These issues showed Americans the lack of equality in their government and were a major cause of the American Revolution.
All of the ideals expressed caused heads to butt and creeds to clash, but the sheer violence and opposition that erupted from contrasting political ideals is impossible to ignore. The single largest issue erupting form the colonies was the unfair taxation, an issue stemming from “taxation without representation.” The economic argument is fair, but the economic argument is reasoned within the unfairness of the taxes, but that argument would have likely been invalid if the Americans had representatives, or a representative, in Parliament. Not only was the colonial population in an uproar, but so was the set of political leaders that had begun to find places of power in the colonies. These educated men, who had experience both in political affairs and strong sway with the people, saw the lack of equality in the lack of representation in Parliament, which brought people with real power into opposition with Britain. Not only did conflict arise strongly from taxation without representation, but society began to split between the Whigs and the Tories in the colonies. Colonists began to turn on one another due to their political views, neighbors against neighbors (every colony against the Carolinas and Georgia). The unrest between these two parties began with simple feuds, rising to tarring and feathering, even to eventually reach full-scale warfare. So, as we can see, the sheer political opposition brought conflict between the common people of the colonies, as well a tentative battle between the non-royal political officials of America and the ignorant parties within Parliament and against King George himself.
The main cause of the Revolutionary War was the economic tension between the colonies and the British (while political and social reason did also play key). The colonies had been left alone by the British for close to a century, but when the British realized realized they could make some major dough from there old pals the colonies they jumped on that quicker than the show “Scrubs” did in season six after JD left (J.D. Was the heart of the show why would they even try?). Ok so after a series of wars with Indians and french the English were running a little low on funds and everyone back home in gray old England was paying some major taxes for a war they weren’t apart of , not to mention the Tea company was also going broke, and that can’t happen, so the English thought “Hey why don’t we enforce all our super old rules and throw a whole bunch of taxes on the the colonies. They wont mind, Right?”. Well as most people know the colonies were none to pleased to also pay for a war the didn’t feel responsible and didn’t like all these new rules they had to follow. They thought well if they come over here and do that, “whats stopping them from completely taking over and stripping away our rights? I really don’t like that”. So a good amount of our political for-father decided that’s not gonna happen were gonna fight for our freedom. Thus a the American Revolution was born.
In the American colonies, Americans felt the British were misusing their political power over them. Because of their lack of representation in Parliament and the ideas of enlightenment thinkers, the Americans decided to break away from the unfair British politics. Even though economic and social conflict caused disturbance in the colonies, the main cause of the Revolutionary War was political conflict.
Before the war began, all the colonists wanted to have their rights as Englishmen. The British had denied the colonists a trial by jury, the land beyond the Appalachian Mountains after the French and Indian war, and- of course- the famous ‘taxation without representation’. The French and Indian War left hundreds of miles of land that rightfully belonged to the colonists whom had fought to get it. The British forbid the colonists from expanding in fear of an Indian uprising against the colonists. The French and Indian War also put the British in debt, which the British forced onto the colonies in the form of taxes. The people that violated these laws were not given a trial by jury, but taken to Admiralty court where the British navy would treat them unfairly. The colonists despised the taxes because they were not given representation in Parliament.
The first Continental Congress was formed not to try to break away from the British government but to obtain their rights of representation and to their land. The colonies hated the idea of forming a unified government in America. The colonies wanted to have individual colonial governments run their society so they could tax with everyone being represented fairly.
With people like John Locke, the colonies began to realize that the only way to solve their political issues was to revolt against Britain. The colonists saw that, without their representation in Parliament, their Liberty to tax their own people, their property that was being taxed, and their lives if they violated these taxes, were being taken away. John Locke’s ideas also convinced the colonists that if a government is abusing its political power over their domain, the only way to get their rights back is to break away from that government completely. Throughout the American Revolution, the main reason for their rebelling was to regain their political rights.
In my opinion, the Revolutionary War was caused by mostly political issues. To put it in other words, the social and economic issues pushed Americans towards their breaking point but political issues really threw the Americans off the deep end. The British kept shoving taxes at the colonists so they could pay for the French and Indian War. Even though the taxes weren’t that high compared to the taxes people paid in England, it’s kind of hard to ask people to pay more money when they’ve paid next to nothing forever. Some of the taxes include: the Sugar Act (1764) taxed sugar and molasses, which was used to make rum. The Quartering Act (1765) forced colonists to let British soldiers live in their house and they had to feed them, clean up after them, etc. But the Stamp Act (1765) is the one people really went crazy over. The Stamp Act was never actually put into affect because the colonists went so crazy. They tared and feathered people. It taxed paper, pamphlets, newspapers, legal documents and even playing cards. Basically anything that was printed could be taxed. Also, the colonists argued that they shouldn’t be taxed if they were’t represented in Parliament (No taxation without representation). The colonists saw the taxes as a slippery slope that would lead to stricter laws and higher taxes rather than a few buck out of your pay check. Another political example is the Quebec Act in 1774. The Quebec Act extended the region of Quebec to the Great Lakes region. It allowed former French citizens to practice their religion (Catholicism) and speak their language. This made the colonists anger because they felt like they were being surrounded by Catholics (which was, apparently, a very bad thing). Parliament didn’t give the French the right to trail by jury and the colonists thought they were next.
I think that without doubt, the Revolution’s main cause was a combination of all three issues, but the social/cultural problems were a definite main cause. The economy was growing rapidly, but not everyone was living “the American dream”. There was a small group of wealthy citizens that owned a majority of the wealth. There was a large group below them consisting of mostly indentured servants who were landless and searching out west for farming land. There was little land available, so many of these people migrated to the cities in search of work. Some unemployed workers met at town hall meetings and eventually started challenging the upper class. This led to warfare between the supporters of the British, the upper class, and the poor, pro-colonists. Basically, there was a huge gap between the rich and the poor and they wanted change. The lower classes were very passionate about their beliefs and would lead marches, protests, and revolts against the wealthy colonists. The upper class and British soldiers tried to control them, but their efforts only worsened the situation. Violent events such as the Boston Massacre, which killed many innocent people, were a result of the feuding between these two groups of people. The pro-colonists did not like the tax system, and blamed the rich. This issue is also economic, because it was fueled by wealth differences, but it was between two groups of people and the opportunities they had in America. There are countless causes and problems that led to the American Revolution, but the social and cultural obstacles were a main reason war erupted.
Although the Revolution had many causes, the main reason for it was economic issues. First of all, the British only used the colonies to benefit the mother country. The British were mainly only using the colonies to get money for Britain. For example, American goods were taxed at very high rates in comparison to the goods of the British. The British were trying to squeeze as much money out of the colonists as possible, and as little out of their own people as possible. Also, the British established several acts like the Sugar Act, which raised sugar prices, and the Townsend Act, which put an end to smuggling, in order to limit colonial business, and again, collect money from the colonists. The colonial merchants responded to the Townsend Act by joining a non-importation movement. Since the colonists were being oppressed, they weren’t willing to respond by paying for British goods, and importing from their rivals. In addition to using the colonies, the British also cut out many things from colonial life that didn’t benefit the mother country. Britain limited intra-colonial trade because it had no benefit to the lives of the British. This seriously damaged the colonial economy, because instead of money being spent on goods going to other colonies, it went, of course, to the British. It didn’t take long before many colonists were impoverished, and in severe debt. The constant taxing, and tyrannical limitations created by Parliament make economic problems the main cause of the Revolution.
Although it has been debated if economical, political, or cultural differences were the main cause of the American Revolution, many points lead to suggest that the clashing between the British and the Americans was economically based, but have a few political ties. The colonists had been ruling themselves for quiet a long time, without interferences from Britain. They created ways to avoid the Navigation Acts, start their own money system, and pay much fewer taxes than the British. Once Britain realized America’s economic value, they began enforcing acts such as the Sugar act and the Townsend Act. These acts helped slowly draw money from the colonists directly into the wallets of the British. By 1770, a new trend began to form in the colonies; inter-colonial trade. Items would be shipped out of New York, and arrive in other colonies without including the mother country. This new trend frightened the British, and they began to impose the Navigation act among them more strictly. These acts were instilled to have American goods, which were heavily taxed, compete poorly with British goods. British began to impose new acts that they believed would draw money from the colonist’s pockets. Following these changes, the Sugar act, Stamp act, Townsend act, and Tea act, were enforced to cut out the middleman in the colonies. Under these acts, the colonists had to pay more for sugar, put an end to smuggling, and require a stamp on all paper products. The salutary neglect from the “mother country” pushed the colonists into a more rebellious state. They began to boycott the consumption of British goods, while women began to weave their family’s clothes, instead of purchasing material from Britain. Along with taxation, many citizens in the upper or middle class were in debt to English Merchants, and with the Parliament beginning to increase the taxes; it was harder for them to pay off their debts. Problems that tie politically to the economy, was that in the Parliament there was no representation for America. Many Americans began to preach, “No taxation without representation.” Decisions were created by the British, with no consent from the Americans. Many of these changes that the British began to strictly enforce, were a very large change in very little time for colonists to grow into. Colonists believed that the mother country had no right in sticking their noses into the colonial business. They had created a successful economic system, that helped America prosper, without heavy taxes. This pushed colonists into a situation that decreased the support towards the crown. Many colonists began turning their backs to the British, suggesting independence. The dream of fewer taxes was economically, a decision, which led to the revolutionary war.
I believe the main cause for the revolutionary war would be all of the economic factors at the time. The reason this is, is because when people lose money they get angry and sacred because money makes the world go round.
The reason the colonist lost money is because the colonies were set up as a merchant system for the “mother country to make money”. Since the colonies were set up to make money it would only make sense that they wouldn’t make much money because the British kept taking away. Another reason is because of all the acts the British parliament passed like the sugar act and stamp act. The Sugar act taxed all refined sugar coming out of the colonies (one of the colonies main exports and a key component in rum). This angered the colonist because they couldn’t make rum or money and when you can’t make money you rebel. The other acts like the stamp act with taxed any paper going or coming to the colonies made them even angrier because paper is used in everyday life. Besides all of the acts being passed to squeeze money out of the colonist’s Brittan also made them pay in gold and silver with they had little of after they paid the British so that’s why the colonist’s printed their own currency out of paper with was taxed as well, Also a lot of people in the colonies were in debt to Brittan because of the laws they passed limiting work for many of the colonist like the indentured servants and others.
Economics’ was the cause of the revolutionary war because when people lose money they get angry and revolt so when the British tried to get all the money out of the colonist as possible they lost a lot of money and rebelled
The Revolutionary War was the product of many controversial problems, the most prominent being political issues. The political scene in the decades before the war broke out was being set up for a disaster. As years passed, the political relationship between the colonies and the British Parliament began to disintegrate. The catchphrase of the revolution is said to have been “no taxation without representation”. The colonists were being burdened with annoying, to say the least, and necessary taxes from the British. They had no say in whether or not they would pay these taxes, how much they would be or what they were for. However, as annoying and pocket-emptying as these taxes were, many people saw issues arising from the political, not economic, side of the laws. People like Sam Adams believed that these tax laws were just the beginning of a huge rush of laws that their rulers across the ocean would use to oppress them. Perhaps, if the British had allowed the colonists some vote in tax laws revolts like the Boston Tea Party would not happen.
Another example of an act that politically pushed the colonists towards independence was the Quebec Act in 1774. The Quebec Act gave French Canadians rights, but left out the right to trial by jury. The colonists felt threatened by this and started to doubt their government and begin to see the perks of creating their own. As the battle between Parliament and taxpayers continued, the political ground between the British and their colonies began to weaken. Subsequently, the colonists finally rebelled and a Revolution for their independence and a new political government was fought.
I believe that the war mainly started because of economic issues and ties with Britain. After the French and Indian war, and even before, Britain had been taxing the colonies on lots of things. Many acts were passed by Britain to regulate the colonies and prevent them from gaining too much power. The colonists in America believed that taxes should have meaning and that they did not need anymore taxes than what they already had. Britain began really tax the colonies after the French and Indian war/ war in Britain. After that, the British began taxing almost everything that the colonist earned to help pay for war damage. The colonists did not see this as good like the british did. Britain began to release different “Acts” that restricted some of the rights of the colonists and allowed Britain to have power over the rights of the colonists. Some acts include the “Currency Act”, “Quartering Act”, “Stamp Act”, and the “Sugar Act” which taxed goods, prevented the printing of paper money, allowed quartering of British soldiers, and limited trade. Other Acts that were passed later were the “Tea Act” which allowed the British East India Company to sell cheap tea to the colonists, and the “Quebec Act” which redefined the borders of Quebec in Canada. Colonies did not accept these Acts easily. Also, Britain wanted lots of taxes that a lot of colonists couldn’t afford and/or didn’t want to pay. After putting up with the British for so long, I believe the colonists felt used by Britain which led to the Revolutionary war. Slowly but surely, the colonists began to slightly resent Britain and decided that it was time to come together, defeat the mother country and her laws, and form the roots for thier own society.
The main cause for the Revolutionary War was political issues in the colonies. After the French and Indian War, the British needed money to repay their war debts, so in order to increase revenue, the British started taxing the colonies. The colonies thought that was unfair since they didn’t really want the war and were really only fighting because Britain was their mother country. The colonists also hated how they had a virtual representative in Parliament, instead of a direct representative. “Taxation without representation” angered the colonists so much that they started to boycott certain product so they wouldn’t have to pay the outrages tax. Some colonists thought that these taxes would lead to more laws that would limit their freedom. The American colonies believed they were being treated unconstitutionally since they were British citizens and they thought the British King and Parliament just saw the colonies as a way to receive resources they needed cheaply. At the start of the Revolutionary War, the colonists wanted to stay a part of the English empire and have Parliament solve matters that affected that empire, but they believed that it was their right not to be taxed. The British were getting angry with the colonists because they thought as British citizens, the colonists would want to help and support the mother country just like the citizens in the country have to. After Bunker Hill and the King’s refusal of the Olive Branch Petition, the colonists decided to stop fighting for their rights as British citizens and instead fight for their freedom from their mother country completely. The Enlightenment helped fuel the colonists’ hunger for independence by proposing a government led by the people instead of one person. Thomas Paine’s Common Sense also supported the idea of a government ruled solely by the people instead of a sole ruler. The colonies decided to fight against the strict political ways of the King and the taxes/ laws that Parliament put in place.
The main cause of the Revolutionary War were the Economic issues between Britain and the Colonies. Even though there was the 150 years of salutary neglect, Britain soon realized that was a huge mistake and wasted no time trying to get as much as they could from the colonies. The sudden arm twisting by the British did not go to well with the Colonist who were used to running things their way and purposely defying British rule. It didn’t take long for the colonies to get sick of being used by their European relative. Many people living in America were not wealthy to begin with, so having heavy taxes on them made it hard for them to pay them or two increase the quality of their lives. For example, the Sugar Act, put taxes on the sugar that was imported from the West Indies that would typically be used by the colonist to make rum. Without the ability to cheaply attain this sugar, it made rum harder and more expensive to make. People stopped making as much money and they were not happy about it. I don’t think that Britain realized how badly their taxes were affecting the colonist. After all, it is really hard to know exactly what is going on when you are 3,000 miles away. Britain also tried to lessen the amount of trade between the colonies because it did not benefit from it. In summary, the Colonist were just so fed up with being treated like garbage by the British. The colonist wanted the opportunities to better their life that they thought they would be getting by leaving Europe but found instead that their troubles had only just begun.
The Revolutionary War was caused by Political, Economical and Social issues but I think the primary reason for the Revolutionary War was the Social reasons. Political Reasons like new taxes and acts made people mad and angry but they did not make people want to separate, just to fix the unreasonable laws. Economical issues only made people unable to make profit, leading to debts. But the turning point at which the citizens had had enough was when soldiers started to kill people and this sparked the passions of the poor and middle class citizens, which make up most of the population.
Also an aspect of social issue is gossip, people only knew the side of propaganda and stories, portraying the British soldiers as savage killers and the mobs as innocent groups including dogs and women. This made people outside of the people who had heard from primary sources or who were primary sources outraged at the British people who intruded their county and killed innocent people.
These attacks were what made people scared and angry at the British and made them want to secede.
ADDITION: IT SENT ON ACCIDENT
Many revolts, including the one that caused the Boston Massacre were led by poor or middle class civilians that wanted more money or opportunity and when upper class people tried to stop them their passion only grew which led to more brawls between social classes. When time went on and their were no signs of possible change the citizens thought of more dramatic opportunities like seceding or overthrowing the government altogether. This is what led to the Revolutionary War.
The primary cause for the revolution in the colonies is a mix between cultural and economic uproars in America. My reasoning behind this is as follows; during the years under the British crown the colonists were taxed far more then the British were on everything the colonists depended on in daily life this included stamps (stamp act), sugar (sugar act), tea and many other things. This taxation brought rise to riots in the street, and made tensions between the colonists and the British extremely high. What the British did that really crossed the line for the colonies were the Navigation Acts which made taxes on all American goods too high for the Americans to even see the playing field. The British were getting cocky to say the least, trying their hardest to get as much money out of the colonies as possible without causing a revolution. Fortunately they had taxed the people just enough to spark the kindling of chaos. Combine all this with the fact that the bottom 5th of the population made only 1% of the countries wealth, and you have a large group of angry lower-class citizens unable to pay ridiculous taxes. This steaming pot of revolutionary soup really started to boil over after British troops, who were already in the colonists minds as evil, due to the competitive job market for the troops and the lower to middle class shot and killed colonial citizens in Boston. All this anger directed at the oppressive government of Britain in a country that was founded on the idea of saving people from oppression, there was bound to be a revolution some time.
The political tensions that existed between the Colonies and the British are the main causes of the Revolutionary War. The colonists feared the principle of many of the Acts the British imposed rather than the actual repercussions of the acts themselves. They believed they were not being truly represented in Parliament, and so any tax or law instilled by the crown was unjust, and therefore a threat to their rights. Thus, many new taxes were met with disdain and malcontent. For example, the Stamp Act never actually went into effect because the news of its impending arrival was met with fierce opposition and protest. The colonists never experienced the effects of the new act. Instead, they feared that this new act would be one of many more to come. This pattern can be seen in other reactions colonists had to British actions in North America. The Quebec Act, which extended the territory of the province of Quebec down into the Great Lakes region, was enough to make the paranoid colonists fear their rights such as the right to trial by jury. They also became increasingly uncomfortable that they were surrounded by Catholic nations on all sides. Regardless of the actual consequences of the many British intrusions on colonial life, the colonists were opposed to the mere idea of any action taken by the crown that leads down a path of restriction, or loss of freedom.
The American Reveloution was rooted in many causes, but the primary issue was economic. First, the British were using a mercantilist policy which justified their controling attitude towards the colonies and made them believe that wealth was power. Wealth could be measured by how much money was in your possesion and to get it that way, you had to export more than you were importing. Thus, the colonies were a gold mine of raw materials that could be used by Britain. To ensure that this was happening, they made the Navigation Acts.The American colonies felt that this was an oppressive policy as they had been governing themselves for years, but it wasn’t intolerable because the Navigation Acts were rarely enforced. However, they still stunted American growth in the buisness industry by the halting restrictions. The entire goal of the Navigation Acts, to which many Americans protested, was to put more money in Britain’s bank vaults.
In addition, American goods were taxed at a higher rate than British goods. The British were trying to make the most of their colonies with things like the Sugar Act and the Townsend Acts which taxed the colonists for things like tea, oil, and paper and was an outrage because everyone, rich and poor, was buying these items everyday. Americans wanted the same rights and treatments of British citizens, even though they were paying lower taxes than the British. Also under the Townsend Acts, the Board of Commons put an end to smuggling. Many lost money or fell to poverty, eventually organizing a boycott movement in 1768. Merchants all the way from New York to the southern colonies joined in the movement. The colonist’s felt that this was a slippery slope – if they allowed this, would Britain take it one step further until they were completely governed by Britain?
Lastly, the colonies were incredibly poor already, even resorting to paper money because they simply had no gold and silver left after using it all to pay for English goods. From the poor to the upper class citizens, many were in debt. The controlling Acts that impeded buisness with other countries was bad for our merchants. And, the taxing of needed items forced the colonist’s to pay more when they were already losing money. The combination of the restrictions on buisness and the taxing led to feelings of injustice and an angry restlessness at America’s mother country.
The American Revolution was caused completely by economic issues. Taxes were becoming a major issue, along with all the new acts that were being passed. The British were basically trying to make it so the Americans weren’t able make as much money as them. The Americans eventually began to rebel against acts, paid less taxes, and found their own ways around not having enough money.
The British made the navigation act which restricted American trade in several ways. All goods had to be transported through Britain, only Britain citizens were allowed to trade, and certain goods that the Americans produced were only allowed to be exported to Britain. The Americans began to rebel against this act which caused smuggling from other colonies. The British found out about the smuggling and tried to enforce the laws once again but the Americans sternly rejected them.
The British parliament started putting taxes on more and more items. The first thing they started to tax was sugar, this act made it more expensive to buy foreign sugars. The British passed the Townshend act, which put small taxes on paper, white lead, glass, and tea which ended up in colonists dressing up like Indians and dumping crates of tea into the sea. The Americans started to ignore almost all the taxes that had to be paid.
Lastly, the Americans started to create their own money because of the lack of gold and silver they had. They didn’t have a lot of gold and silver because the British were not letting them export goods to other colonies, and if they were allowed to export goods they first had to go through the Britain ports.
This all lead up to the American Revolution because Americans were being cheated out of what they were entitled to. They were taxed more harshly, and weren’t allowed to do many of the things that the British were able to do like exporting goods.
A long chain of events led up to the Revolutionary War. Of economic, political, and social causes, I believe the primary cause of the Revolutionary War was economic. In the years leading up to the war the American colonists had been plagued by many new tax acts. During and after the French and Indian War, Britain realized the importance of their colonies overseas, ending the salutary neglect that had lasted for the previous 150 years. Before the French and Indian War, Americans didn’t pay many taxes at all. The taxes paid by the English citizens living in England exceeded the American colonists’ taxes 26 to 1. Additionally they didn’t follow the Navigation Acts on foreign trade by ship. Colonists would ship rum to the West Indies. The Americans also printed their own money, which would later become an issue with repaying the British. Along with realizing the importance of America, the British realized the Americans should be taxed more, because the French and Indian War occurred on their turf with some of their men. Post French and Indian War, many tax acts were put in place in the colonies taxing tea, paint, white lead, paper, stamps, and sugar through the Tea, Townsend, Stamp, and Sugar Acts. These acts angered colonists spurring events like the Boston Tea Party. The Navigation Acts were also reinforced throughout the colonies, limiting foreign trade. Britain wanted all trade through the colonies to benefit the mother country. As I stated before, the colonists printed their own money, but they were still required to pay for English goods with gold and silver. It became challenging to pay back debts to Britain because of the requirement for gold and silver. All and all, economic issues were the leading cause in the Revolutionary War.
The Revolutionary War started because of many issues. In my opinion, economic issues sparked the revolution. The American colonies were basically running themselves for 150 years because of salutary neglect. Americans were printing their own money, paying few taxes, and defying the Navigation Acts. The Navigation Acts stated that Americans were only allowed to trade with the British and British owned territories. Because of the Navigation Acts, Americans illegally traded with other countries. The smuggling went mostly unnoticed for tears because of salutary neglect. After King George’s War and the French and Indian War salutary neglect ended and the British started enforcing the rules. The British wanted more money from the colonists and started putting more taxes on the colonists. The Sugar Act, the Townsend Acts, the Stamp Act, and the Tea Act all angered the colonists. The Sugar Act raised prices on refined sugar. Refined sugar was used to make rum; a lot of this rum was sold to the West Indies. The Townsend Acts stopped almost all smuggling. All these economic issues caused an uproar among the colonists and they started to rebel. For example, the colonists rebelled against the Tea Act by throwing the Boston Tea Party. At the Boston Tea Party angry colonists threw over three hundred chests of tea into the harbor. As a result of the Stamp Act, crowds mobbed stamp distributors and tax collectors. In Boston, a group called the Sons of Liberty was formed to rebel against the new laws especially the Stamp Act. These rebellions were caused by the economic problems and the rebellions were the start of the American Revolution.
In my perspective, the road to revolution was largely economic, with politics playing a role in response to economic grievances. Firstly, Britain halted the production of paper money, leaving those with few coins of gold and silver knee deep in debt. Also, the various taxes and acts placed upon merchants’ goods in favor of mercantilism limited their ability to make a profit. The Navigation acts struck a large blow upon the merchants, disabling them from trading with other countries, where payment is larger for certain goods. Thus the merchants are forced to sell to Britain for sometimes pitifully low income from the sales. Another alternative, smuggling, became crippled by the Townshend Acts, as was intra-colonial trade. Thus merchants were cornered by acts and taxes. The colonists themselves were also taxed on nearly every official paper good in the Stamp Act, as well as important manufactured goods from England, including paint, lead, glass, and more in the Townshend Acts. Beyond that, they were taxed on their favorite drink, tea. Though taxed less than those living in England, who lived in a rigid social structure that was harder to break, the colonists were more able to revolt and boycott the goods, fearing the “slippery slope.” The “slippery slope” is the idea formulated by politicians and many others that if the colonists accept a tax, Parliament will find it acceptable to tax more, then more, then more. Thus the saying “no taxation without representation” came about, being the claim that Parliament had no right to tax the people unless there were officials in Parliament arguing for the colonists’ beliefs and grievances. Parliament argued that the colonies were “virtually represented”, that every member of Parliament represented the entirety of the British empire. These economic and political sparks ignited a flame that would spread and become the inferno of revolution.
All three of these along with many others acted as an impetus for revolution. However, I feel that the thing that can be most held responsible is social differences. Although our founding fathers and the Sons of Liberty were fighting for our freedom and for what genuinely does appear to be a good cause, they were just trying to get what they wanted, hardly different from the perspective of the British. Although, one could certainly argue that the American freedom fighters’ cause was a much more just one than that of their English “tyrants”. But realistically, that doesn’t change the fact that the people like Samuel Adams and James Otis were fighting for something that they thought would prove advantageous for themselves, and obviously, many other people. There is no way of knowing which side was the more correct one, but regardless, the leaders of this revolution took advantage of the general spirit of “angsty teenagerness” that was present in the colonies. The social differences fueled the fire needed to bring the pot of hostile feelings towards those more fortunate who may have been taking advantage of the system – and specifically towards the British “wrongdoers” who were taking advantage of the colonists themselves – to a boil. Without this social unrest, the people who were genuinely fighting to make the colonies a better and more fare place to live would have had not nearly enough support to do “so much for so many with so little”
In my opinion, the most convincing cause of the revolution was economic. The root causes of many of the events leading up to the revolutionary war were economical. Some of the main causes of resistance were economical. The Colonies had been a part of the Mercantilist vision of Great Britain and experienced salutary neglect. All of a sudden, the British started to crack down on Acts that oppressed the economy of the Colonies. The Currency Act created great distaste for the colonists because they were not allowed to print money and lacked gold and silver. Some colonies resisted and continued to print money. In 1765, Parliament passed the Stamp Act. This was a tax on all paper products. Paper was a daily essential to the lives of the colonists and a tax on this was unacceptable. This led to the Stamp Act Congress where the colonists joined together to write their declaration of grievances. The Sons and Daughters of liberty took it even further and resorted to violence to make sure their voice was heard. The Tea Act led to one of the most famous American protests in the history of this country. This was the Boston Tea Party. For Economical benefits the British passed the Tea Act which gave the British East India Company the monopoly over the entire industry. One of the major steps in creating America was the First Continental congress in which they came up with the idea to boycott British goods due to the high taxes.
The economy and factors of the economy played a large role in all of America, especially in the beginning of the Revolution. The colonists were not happy in the way that the economy as being run and it caused many problems with them and the British. Mercantilism, based on the theory that colonies were only there for the purpose of benefitting the mother country, was used by the British. The Americans rebelled against many acts the Parliament created. They believed that many of them were unjust, and did nothing but harm their wallets. When parliament put acts such as the Stamp Act, Sugar Act, and Tea Act, into act in America, the colonists did everything they could to get the acts repealed. One of the biggest rebellions was the Boston Tea Party, which was in reaction to the Tea Act. Colonists disguised themselves as Indians and dumped tea out of boats into the harbor. This rebellion was one of the main events that lead to the revolution. Many social issues that lead to the Revolution were caused by the economy. For instance, the poor were not happy with their status in society and how they were treated by citizens above them on the social ladder. Also, the different classes ran into issues with each other often. There would not be these issues between citizens without economic factors of jobs and the way amounts of money were held by citizens of different social classes. There were many key events that lead to the Revolution, and many of them were because of the economy, which made it the main cause.
Oh, that’s embarrassing. That wasn’t 250 words. In addition: A perfect example of how social unrest led to indirect support of the revolution is that of the possible cause of the Boston Massacre being the competition for jobs between the British soldiers and the Bostonians. That has almost nothing to do with “taxation without representation” but is an immortal symbol of the revolutionary spirit that grew from it and events just like it.
While economic, social/cultural and political problems all played an important role in leading up to the Revolution, I think that political issues were the primary cause of the American Revolution. Being under the control of Britain eventually became unbearable for the colonies, they began to want their own independence. Through the Stamp Act and other taxes, the British would try to collect taxes that the Americans though were very harsh. Also, there was a lack of an American voice in Parliament so none of the American’s concerns about the subject were even addressed. Which gave rise to the phrase, “no taxation without representation”. Because of this, it sparked revolts like the Boston Tea Party. Also, there was the Quebec Act in 1774. It gave French-Canadians the right to practice their religion and the others laws that they had been used to, except the right to trial by jury. But, the Americans didn’t like the Quebec Acts because they didn’t like to be surrounded by Catholics and they also felt that their own right to trial was in jeopardy. With everything going on, then came enlightenment ideas. John Locke was very important. He had an idea that an abusive government can be removed from power by the people, the abusive government being Britain and the people being the colonists. His idea was adopted by Thomas Jefferson and many others. The colonists began to think about a new government that was formed by the same people who were ruled by it. Eventually, they rebelled and fought a Revolution in order to obtain their independence.
The Revolutionary War was caused mainly by factors coming from political issues. The main issue the colonists had with the British politically was that they were not represented in Parliament and believed they were taxed unfairly because they had no say in what Parliament could do to them. After all, the colonists had wanted to be treated as Englishmen even though they didn’t live in Britain. The colonists believed that Englishmen should be allowed to have a voice in how they are taxed and where the tax money is going. John Adams believed that the taxes, no matter how ineffective they actually turned out to be, were but a slippery slope on which more burdensome laws would pour down on the colonies. The colonists wanted to be treated as Englishmen so that they could have the right to a trial by jury and other such liberties so commonly found in Britain. This right to a trial by jury was put into jeopardy when British Parliament passed the Quebec Act in 1774. This act preserved the French-Canadians rights to practice their religion and other rights that the French-Canadians had become accustomed to. The colonists believed that, by Parliament passing this act, they had become boxed in with the Catholics and some of their rights, including the right to a trial by jury, would be lost. Finally, John Locke comes into play with his enlightenment ideas. His ideas of a government run and powered by the people were mind-blowing to the colonists. Thomas Jefferson and other revolutionists really believed in Locke’s idea about an abusive government that could be removed from power by the people.
These are just some of the many reasons why the Revolutionary War occurred yet these are also some of the most prominent issues. The decisions made by British Parliament, the colonist’s views as themselves equal to Englishmen, and Thomas Locke’s awe-inspiring Enlightenment ideas were all part of why the main reason for the Revolutionary War were political problems
The American Revolution was an event that was destined to happen in History. The Colonies grew apart from the British as they became more self-reliant and independent. The major cause of the revolution was the economic aspect on how the British looked onto the Colonists. The Colonists, like any functioning people, didn’t like the way the British looked down on them. Instead of allowing them to run and function for themselves Great Britain looked at the Americas in a way which that there one and only importance was to help expand and empower the British government by allowing them access to the colonists hard earned money. The British really started to poke at the Colonies by repeatedly giving unfair taxes to them which made it nearly impossible to start and expand a well functioning business. A major cash product was rum, which was made with sugar, so the sugar act which unfairly taxed the purchasing of sugar made it very hard for the Colonists to produce their own rum. The British’s thought process was that if the Colonists couldn’t produce their own goods they would have to rely on them for everyday products. The British realized this was angering the Colonists but didn’t stop the unfair taxation. Eventually, the Colonists decided to boycott the purchasing of British products which wasn’t sitting well with the British. This Colonist action was their first step towards independence from the British, so the Economical aspect was the main cause for the Revolution.
Political issues were the spark that ignited the American Revolution. Economic issues also heavily played into the revolt, but the economic policies instituted in the colonies were the result of a corrupt government trying to solve its problems. The saying “no taxation without representation” was true and may be classified as an economic problem, but the economic problem stemmed from Parliament denying the colonies representatives in Britain. Had the colonies been granted representatives, instead of the “virtual representation” Parliament claimed they had, there could have been at least a slight argument in the colonies’ favor to reasonably levy taxes upon the colonies, rather than suddenly hammering them with mandatory payments. Also, out of the colonists’ resentment of their lack of representation in Parliament grew a strong desire to self-govern. The colonists were accustomed to a great deal of self-rule, due to about 150 years of statutory neglect from Britain, and the fact that the British Crown and Parliament were suddenly enforcing every law, adding new taxes, and approving new laws to further pin down the colonists only added fuel to the fire. Ideas from philosopher John Locke began to wash over the colonies and resonate with the residents living there. “To secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government”. This excerpt from the Declaration of Independence is straight from the mind of Locke. The colonies’ new attitude towards the government also echoed Locke’s philosophy. Parliament successfully created its own enemy in crushing the colonies under new laws and taxes, without giving the colonies a chance to represent themselves. Their new strict enforcement of the mercantile system, like the monopoly of tea, forcing the colonies to buy from the British East India Company, made it nearly impossible for the colonists to remain happy with the way of life in the colonies, and therefore led to rebellion.
There were a multitude of different grievances that colonials complained of under British rule. While many factors played a role in sparking the revolution, the most prevalent was likely political ideology. Most Americans are familiar with the famous mantra “no taxation without representation” which reflected the idea that no taxes could rightfully be imposed upon a people without their popular consent, either by direct vote, or indirectly by representatives chosen by the people. It also rejected the English notion of “virtual representation” which stated that each and every member of parliament represented every individual subject of the English crown, regardless of where the represented came from or the citizen lived. In actuality the taxes imposed by the members of congress were not entirely unreasonable, the tea act actually lowered the price of tea in the colonies and other taxes were actually lower than those paid by English subjects living in continental England. The true conflict laid behind the political philosophy of the situation, that parliament had no representatives originating in the colonies yet still imposed taxes on the land across an ocean, that parliament felt justified deciding what kind of tea colonists were allowed to drink without a colonial say in the matter, that was where Americans truly took offence. Colonials believed that if they allowed the members of parliament to infringe upon their rights through these “slippery slope” laws it was only a matter of time before England took complete control of every aspect of their lives and forced them into a position of complete and utter subjugation.
There are three major causes of the American Revolution. These primary causes included economical issues, social and cultural problems, and also political. The largest cause of the Revolutionary War was economic problems. Because of the poorness of the colonists, they were practically forced to start buying English goods with gold and silver. At some point they started to run low on gold and silver which meant that they needed to start making paper money. Also with the taxation without representation meant that the colonies had no say in the parliamentary rules in taxing and that the colonies only existed to enrich the mother country (Britain). The colonies pretty much wanted to stop being under Britain rule and refused to obey the Parliament. Even though there was the Salutary neglect which avoided the strict enforcement of the parliamentary laws, these laws were strict by themselves including taxing tea, stamps, and other commonly used items in the colonies. Under the Townsend Acts, the Parliament put an end to smuggling which led to an organized boycott by merchants in 1768. The Sugar Act made sure that the colonies got no sugar from anyone but the British. Because of this, the British got lots of money because they were the only option for sugar. Also the Stamp Act would mean that every single paper you wrote on and sent to someone or was any type of document, it had to have a stamp on it. These stamps also had to be purchased from the British which enriched them even more. Even though the British also had to pay their own taxes, the colonists were very angry about the new items that the Parliament started to tax. The colonists started to go against it which started to become the main cause to the American Revolution against the British ruling.
Social and political problems were pinned on the British, and both made heavy contributions towards the Revolutionary War. Social problems, though making the colonists resentful of the British, were more so within the colonies. In other words, the colonies might not have had as bad a sense that their distant mother country was deliberately and officially harassing them. Politically they felt threatened and upset, but that was not what pushed them over. Money is one of the main things that make people move, and in this case the economy is what finally moved the colonies to wanting their total independence.
The many Acts passed by Parliament to tax the colonies directly affected them. Rather than hearing about the Quebec Act, or learning ideas of the enlightenment, these taxes put actual pressure on the colonies. Pressure they were not used to having after generations of the British salutary neglect. They had become accustomed to running themselves, and when a government suddenly stepped in telling them to pay taxes, they were less than happy to oblige. There were many of them too, the Navigation Act, Sugar Act, Townshend Acts, Stamp Act, Currency Act, Quartering Act, Hat Act, Tea Act, Intolerable Acts, so many, and all hitting the colonies some way in their purses. Some of these acts also made it hard for the colonies to make money, and then they had to spend what they did make on the taxes. They were not allowed to print money or make more profitable business deals, if they buyer/seller was foreign. The mercantilism that fueled the decision behind some of these acts is a good idea in principle, and maybe even in practice, but not with how the British practiced it with their clones. Trying to confine them to buying and selling to the British made the colonists feel used, and that Britain did not have the colonies best economical interests in mind. Somehow it did not make a huge impression that some of the taxes set on the colonies were already being paid in Britain and were to pay for debt incurred from wars defending the colonies (King Georges War, French Indian War). That being said, not all taxes collected went towards that. Like some that went to keeping a ready army of some 10,000 men in the colonies during a time of peace. These men, supported in their money, were thought to have a real purpose of keeping an eye in the colonies, and keeping the Indians safe from them so the British could profit from trade. All these decisions made by the want or need of money, led to the colonies wanting a complete break from Britain, the Revolutionary War.
Although many events led to the Revolutionary War, the economic standpoint had the most influential affect on the colonies, as well as Britain. It was evident that Britain had been using the colonies to benefit their own mercantilist economic system. The mercantilist system made the colonial people feel used, and did not allow them to come of age. The colonies could both supply raw materials to the mother country as well as providing a guaranteed market for imports. To regulate the mercantilist system, Parliament created but loosely enforced the Navigation Laws, which allowed only for British vessels to control all commerce to and from the colonies. Although the British had grown to be one of the largest empires, they were 140 million pounds in debt. After roughly 150 years of salutary neglect, British officials had wanted to redefine their relationship with the colonies in order to service this debt. At this point the Navigation Laws were being more strictly enforced. Prime Minister George Grenville also created the Sugar Act, which was the first law by Parliament for raising tax revenue in the colonies for the crown. There were also the Townshend duties which main goal was to end smuggling in the colonies after the Navigation Laws. As a result of this, colonists began to boycott by ending import, export, and consumption of British goods. The Stamp act was what created the most uproar among the colonists. The Stamp Act was a direct tax on paper such as newspapers, legal documents, and playing cards. A lot of trade was affected as a result of these acts, mostly due to the Sugar, and Townshend Acts. It was hard for the Colonies to export rum, because of the tax on refined sugar. They could not find a cheaper source of sugar, and could not smuggle in sugar because of the enforced Townshend Act. As a result of these events, there was a money shortage in the colonies and they had resorted to printing paper money. Parliament scoffed at this idea. Although Parliament prohibited colonial legislatures from printing money, some colonies still continued to do this process. After the Boston Tea party had dumped almost 300 pounds of tea into the water, Parliament responded with many acts that directly affected Boston. The most extreme of these acts was the Boston Port Act. This called for the Boston port to be completely shut down until the tea damages were paid. Boston could not pay of these debts if they could not import or export with other countries. All of these acts were created in order to pay of the debts of the British war, which is why the Revolutions main cause was economic.
The economic acts of Britain on their American colonies as the single greatest cause of the revolution. England first began to exploit it’s colonies when enacting the Navigation Acts (beginning 1650) limiting the American colonies’ trade strictly to Britain. If these acts had been regulated closely, they would have caused outrage as colonists could make significantly more money with other nations, and did. The Sugar Act (1764) attempted to collect some money on sugar goods (molasses) off American colonies. These taxes caused anger and the collection of these taxes further angered American colonists. The Stamp Act (1765) angered colonists to the point that the act was repealed before it was enacted. The Americans viewed this as a slippery slope that would lead to them being stripped of many freedoms. The Townshend Acts were enacted to make another attempt at closing the gap between American and British tax payments (1 pence to every 26 British paid pence). This seems very reasonable from the view of the British, but the colonists have proved recently and again proved they feared the slippery slope the acts opened up. These acts taxed glass, lead, paper paint and tea. Americans were absolutely fed up with taxation without representation. The Townshend Acts were also to move American taxation from paying for British war debts to paying for officials in continental America. The tea tax caused smuggling to become quite prominent since it produced tea cheaper than the taxed British tea. All taxes of the Townshend Acts were repealed besides the tea tax. This was quite offensive to America, where people drank tea every day, and many more than once a day. In 1773, the British East India Company was given a monopoly over the lucrative colonial tea trade and chests and chests of tea were brought to American ports. In Boston, the reaction was erratic. They seized tea filled ships and dumped the chests into the Boston Harbor in the famed Boston Tea Party. Parliament swiftly reacted with the intolerable acts, which closed Boston Harbor until the tea was paid for, took (colonial) legislature away from the Boston area, let the military stay in barns and empty houses, and forced trials to be taken in Britain. This agitated Americans, particularly Bostonians (although word spread quickly in the colonies) greatly. Americans had great unrest from the attempts of the British to “seize their rights as British subjects.” The first continental warned colonies to collect armaments (as a result of the unrest from unfair taxation) and this caused the British to march on Lexington and Concord, starting the Revolutionary War.
British economical debt caused numerous taxes on the colonists to be put in place that would cause American resentment and eventually war. Economically, British attempts to take more money from the colonies caused severe unrest. The British needed this extra money after coming off of a couple very costly wars. Even though the colonists were being taxed less than British subjects, they still refused to tolerate British laws. These taxes were put in place after approximately 150 years of “salutary neglect,” where the colonists ran their own affairs. These sudden taxes were too big of a change for the colonist. A change in the wrong direction in their opinion. These taxes, or acts, strengthened the revolutionary spirit of colonists but no real revolution occurred until multiple attempts at boycotting and even a handful of attacks on British trade vessels occurred. After the French and Indian war and King Georges War, acts like the sugar act and the Townshend act were put into action by the British. The Townshend act aimed to put an end to smuggling endangering smugglers’, like John Hancocks, and merchants’ business. John Hancock would go on to become one of the main revolutionary voices heading into the war that won our independence. Following the Townshend act, many merchants united to create a non importation movement against British goods. Acts like the Tea and Stamp act seemed to cut out the colonial businessman, causing unrest among merchants. As a result of these acts and taxes many businessman boycotted, hoping that non-importation of British goods would convince parliament to reconsider these new rulings. Less than a decade later the British had a full blown war on their hands. In conclusion, debt driven British taxes ultimately went on to cause a rebellious attitude across America. This inspired colonists to unite and strive for their independence.
Economic, political, and social influences inspired and molded the Revolutionary War and provided the foundation for our country. It is easy to see, however, that the most predominantly influential cause were the social and cultural aspects pushing colonists farther and farther away from Britain. The colonists resented the first class, made up mostly of Loyalists, and therefore their resentment was transferred over to the King and his Parliament as well. Not to mention the near poverty they were forced into, after unfulfilled promises of successful life after ending their indentured servitude, they were easily thrown into an uproar when they were competing for jobs against British soldiers, ho were not welcomed guests to begin with. The poor were constantly pitting themselves against the richer and upper class people in search of a solution, in search of the justice they felt they were entitled to. It seemed that the richer colonists who were more associated or loyal to the King had more money, and were represented better politically. This made the gap even larger between the classes, as the nearly impoverished immigrants and former indentured servants were hardly represented at all by their government. All of these things sent the spark to a Revolution. This is more prominent over the other influences because either of the other two options standalone. On the other hand, these social influences were almost a combination of both economic and political reasons. On top of that, social influences were affected by the lower class’s resentment and numbers, as well as them furthering and furthering themselves from the upper class and the British.
The question “what caused the Revolutionary War” has been long discussed for many years, but all points lead to the conclusion that the Revolutionary War was a cause of the economic issues between the Americans and the British. The British were using the American colonies as a source of income for the mother country. The British put too much emphasis on organizing their kingdom along mercantilist philosophies. The colonies had been used to running things on their own because of salutary neglect by the British. They defied the Navigation Acts, created and printed their own money, and they refused to pay taxes. The colonists were poor because they had to pay for English goods with gold and silver. This was the reason they came to printing their own paper money. The merchants and working class of the colonists had a difficult time paying off their debts because the Parliament limited the colonists’ work and they taxed them on a lot of things. The American colonies were growing with intra-colonial trade but Britain appeared to want to limit that trade because it didn’t enrich the home country. Britain passed many acts that limited or completely cut out the colonial businessmen. The Sugar Act raised prices on refined sugar which they made to use rum. Struggling merchants started a boycott in 1768 under the Townsend Acts, which put an end to smuggling. The colonists moved to the New World to be free of Britain, yet wherever they went, they couldn’t seem to completely get rid of the British. Britain, although it was thousands of miles away physically, still had control over the economic issues in the colonies. They controlled the exports and imports of the colonies. The British made sure that the American colonists couldn’t compete on the same playing field as them so they made sure that American taxes were much higher than British taxes. As much as the American colonists were trying to be independent and motion away from Britain, Britain was making sure they didn’t have too much independence and that they still controlled their economy. The American colonists couldn’t strengthen their economy because of Britain’s strong hold on the American economy. The British taxed the Americans on unnecessary things and eventually, all these economic tensions led the Americans to rebel and that was the start of the American Revolution.
In every great revolution there has to be a spark, a spark with the ability to ignite a flame powerful enough to surge its way through a vast group of people. To give these people the ability to unite, to evoke deep emotions of passion in the person. For the American Revolution, that spark was purely political, although economic and social/culture issues do tie into it. In keeping with the metaphor, they fed the flame. It all started with this idea, “the slippery slope.” It was an ides trong enough to scare the colonists out of their minds. They believed that if you gave the British an inch, they would take a mile. The more often you let things go, the more that they would take from you. It was this idea that scared the colonists, and when the colonists were taxed, they were terrified that the British would go ahead and take that mile if they relented on this issue. Even though it was pretty reseanoble for the British governement, seeing as the colonists were paying 1/26 of the taxes that British citizens that lived in the mother country did. The colonists were unsure how they could accept these taxes, which led to their resentment of them. Though it was not all purely political, economical reasons oon followed. With all of the extra taxes and laws, the colonists felt suffocated and as though there hands were being forced. This lead to them rallying back. They took the politial approach, that it was not the money that displeased them, it was the lack of representation in Parliment concerning issues of colonists. So here, even when the economical issues are brought to light, you can see that there was still a political platform underneath it. There is also social issues to consider, the sparking embers in the less prevlieged also acted as a fuel. These people were unsatisfied with how they were forced to live their lives, some not even owning property. But to truly disect the American Revolutions start, you have to look at the underlining causes, the things that are beyond the big picture. That is the only way to reach true understanding. You can see that the more the British tried to exert their control and dominance over the colonies, the more the colonists felt that they were being pushed into a corner. And people do lots of things when they feel the walls are closing in on them. The Quebec Act was another scare, by giving the French the right to practice their religion reely, the colonists felt enclosed by Catholics and their influence. At the same time, Britain did not give them the privelage of trial by jury. In doing so, they seeded a doubt in the colonists about whether their own rights to such treatment would be protected. Soon the notches of political discord got to be too much for the colonists to bear, they did not want to live in constant fear of a government that had ignored them for so long. And so, the necessary spark was lit, the flame was burning, and it traveled to the hearths of colonies far and wide, prompting a movement, a huge uproar, that would bring about the most important event in American history. Revolution.
As the British continually made it harder for the colonists to make a profit to support themselves, there was a clear risk to their (the colonist’s) economy. The threat to the economy is what drove the colonists toward a revolution. The British, intelligently, made the purpose of the colonies to enrich Britain. While it might have been good for the British, the colonists had a problem working for Britain and getting little in return. As acts like the Navigation act were instated, the colonists couldn’t compete with British goods. Inter colonial trade became big in the 1770’s, and Britain saw this as a threat to its profitability, as it made no money for Britain. Britain also collected silver and gold from the colonies as payment. Because of this, colonists had to produce their own money. And if you have nothing to back your produced money up with, it doesn’t have high value. Social and cultural issues did play a role in sparking the revolution. The lower class in the colonies (about 20 percent), owned 1 percent of all of the colonies. They were tired of being at the bottom of society, while the upper 20 percent owned two thirds of the colonies. But while class division is hands-down a social reason, economic issues had a big effect on keeping the lower class in the position that they were in. Political problems also fueled the colonists. A big factor in the political fight was “No taxation without representation.” The colonist felt like no representation would put them in a bad situation, and that it could only get worse. Again while this is usually looked at as a social problem, it puts a whole lot of pressure on the economy as well. If the taxes got out of hand it could easily put the colonists in a financial crisis. The colonists were worried about the security of their economy. Both politics and social/cultural issues contributed to the start of the revolution. But the economy played a major role in the colonies. The importance of the economy drove the colonist towards a revolution.