The Causes of the American Revolution

The colonists of America slowly came to realize that they must break from Britain due to the growing feeling of being considered unequal to the British. They realized they had no say in government, and under the rule of Britain, they would never be able to prosper. The conditions of their rights slowly disintegrated, as the construction of parliament becomes more and more powerful and intolerable. The language used to protest british, throughout the time, leading up to the revolutionary war, were legal, and political, but the primary cause would have been economics.

In the beginning, the colonist were proud to be part of the British empire. Though they had limited trade, they produced raw materials vital to England. The English would then ship back those raw materials in the form of finished goods, to purchase. Britain had loosely controlled the colonies, the british believed the colonial government was inferior, as long as only a few serious conflicts occurred between Britain and America, the british government permitted colonial assemblies to oversee the royal governors and to pass the laws that suited to the needs of the colonists. They did not always enforce the laws, and let things just fade away. This supports the term “salutary neglect”(Edmund Burke), which was the belief their leniency was actually beneficial. The result was the colonist developed a political and economic system that was virtually independent. The colonist were also grateful of the protection from the Indians and the french, and the fact that they kept shipping lanes open. The Loyalty after the French and Indian War, was a belief that the British would bring peace and prosperity back to the colonies. Then there was the Idea of Republicanism, this really started to take hold around the end of the French and Indian war. That idea inherently was an idea of opposing hierarchical and authoritarian institutions, such as aristocracy and monarchy. The absence of English nobles such as barons, and bishops, in the colonies, also helped to bolster Republicanism. The theory of the English government being corrupt, was a heavy factor in the mind of the colonists. The idea of the colonists were viewed as tenants was beginning to show through to the American colonies. The major conflicts between the British and the colonies began to surface after the French an Indian war, which is also known as t...

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...n to england, until the taxes were paid. Fueled by Samuel Adams, the citizens disguised themselves as Native Americans, boarded the ships in a non-violent manner, and emptied the 342 chests of tea, in the Boston harbor. The colonists refused to pay for the tea, in retaliation the British closed the port, until the damages of the Boston Tea Party were paid off.. At that point Massachusetts was put under military rule. This would complete the fear of the colonies that they would all eventually be under tyranny rule. As the tensions grew the colonists finally united on the First Continental Congress in September, 1774 and began training their army. The Declaration of Independence, written by Thomas Jefferson, was ratified on July 4th. On April 1775, in Lexington Concord, the American Revolution began.

The primary cause of the American Revolution in my mind would have to have been economics, though it was also very much about colonial liberty. The majority of the policies that affected the colonist between 1763 and 1776 were economic changes that limited the economic success of the colonies, these policies also had a negative political influences that led to the American revolution.