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Economic role in american revolution
Did american colonies favor mercantilism
Causes of the american revolution taxes
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The American Revolution was an event that happened in the mid to late 1700’s. This noteworthy meeting between these Atlantic enemies declared independence for the colonies from the British. The American Revolution was not caused by one single thing but rather many events led up to the “spark” of Lexington and Concord. Many think that Lexington and Concord were the causes but they were not alone. Three of the most important matters that led up to the Revolution were Salutary Neglect, Mercantilism, and External Taxation.
Salutary Neglect was a significant reason for the war to start because it had to do with one of the most important factors of the community today, the law. Salutary Neglect was a time when Britain was ruled by Robert Walpole
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when the strict enforcements were relaxed and it seemed as if they had just stopped enforcing that law. This was a problem because when they would stop enforcing the laws, people would take advantage of that and just break the law. I am not supporting that people would break the law but then the enforcers would suddenly start enforcing those laws again and catch a lot of the people off guard. Another way that Salutary Neglect was unfair was that the British officials were only enforcing the laws on the colonies. The colonies just simply resisted the British power and that ended up being a key reason to have the American Revolution. I agree with what the colonies did in resisting the power of Great Britain. In the end both reasons ended up as factors for the American Revolution. Another factor that was significant when causing the American Revolution was British Mercantilism.
British Mercantilism was when the capital was getting goods from the colonies and then selling them all throughout Europe for a profit. This angered the colonies because the capital was getting money that should be going to the colonies. One way that this caused the revolution was that the colonies would stop trading their goods to the capital because they knew that they were just trying to make a profit off of the colonies. I would be the same way if I were the colonies because if I spend a year growing a crop and I sell it to you for twenty dollars, it would annoy me if you went and sold it for thirty-five dollars because then you would come back wanting more stuff to resell. Another reason this probably caused the revolution was that the colonies just wanted to have trading restrictions, but the British didn’t want that. Now there are plenty of trading laws and restrictions that make sure that mercantilism doesn’t happen again. I agree with wanting these laws because not only were the British making a profit off of the colonies’ goods, but they were getting full credit for producing them. Many more things made mercantilism one of the biggest causes of the revolution and that's why I think that mercantilism is the second most significant event that caused the
Revolution. My final and most significant reason for the American Revolution to start would be the external taxation from the capital. One of the main things that make external taxation different from internal taxation is that external taxation is when the colonies are being charged from out of the country and internal taxation is being charged inside of the country. One of the ways that external taxation caused the revolution were the Navigation Acts. The Navigation acts made it so that all shipments across the Atlantic had to come through Britain. This resulted into mercantilism because the capital was reselling the cargo from the colonies. This rolls off of my last topic and how mercantilism caused the Revolution. Another way that external taxation caused the American Revolutions were the Townshend Acts. The Townshend acts were a series of acts that had to deal with Parliament under Charles Townshend’s rule. These acts made the colonies have to pay taxes for tea, lead, glass, paper, and paints. Many of the influential Americans such as Benjamin Franklin believed that Britain couldn’t just place random taxes on the colonies. In 1770, The British repealed all of the taxes except for the taxes on tea. Resistance to the tea taxes ended up being a symbol of American patriotism. My final reason that I believe that the external taxes caused the revolution was the Stamp Act. The Stamp act made it so that the colonies would have to pay taxes on paper documents in the colonies. One of the most famous resisters of the colonies, Patrick Henry, had his significance known when he resisted Parliament. I agree with Patrick Henry because the capital was just taking money from the colonies because they believed that they wouldn’t resist. I believe the external taxation was the most significant event leading up to the “spark” of Lexington and Concord. Lexington and Concord did not start the American Revolution, but it was the official “spark” that made the war a reality. Salutary Neglect contributed because it had to do with the law. Mercantilism contributed because it dealt with the British trading unfairly. Finally, external taxation contributed because they were taking the precious money from the colonies. The American Revolution was a key event in time, but many events that led up to it became the unsung heroes of causing the war.
The number one reason that the colonists began protests, and boycotts, against the British was because they believed their natural rights as citizens were being violated. After the french and Indian War Great Britain was in massive debt. So the King began to tax the colonies. For example the heavy taxes in the colonies led to the Boston Massacre and to the Boston Tea Party. The British then adopted the policy of mercantilism.
Lucia Raatma’s “The Battles of Lexington and Concord” is important because it describes why the battles were fought and their effects. The American Revolution as a whole was fought to “give colonies freedom from British rule” (Raatma 4) due to unfair taxation from King III of England (Raatma 8). This shows that the driving force of the revolution was the dissatisfaction of the colonists concerning the treatment they received from the king. As a result, the colonists had had enough of the unfairness and tyranny and decided to take matters into their own hands. Several acts of protests, such as the Boston Tea Party, made the British king “furious” (Raatma 10). As a response to these protests, the king sent more soldiers and made stricter laws, which only made colonists even more upset. The back and forth tension between the colonists and the British government was the reason why the Battle of Lexington and Concord occurred, and in turn, why the American Revolution began. The American Revolution caught attention from the entire world, giving the nickname to the first shot fired the “shot heard ‘round the world” (Raatma 5). The 13 colonies who were weak economically and militarily, were taking on Great Britain, a world power with a strong military, a situation which naturally other countries wanted to see. The firing of the first shot at Lexington marked the beginning of a revolution that other countries, such as France and Haiti, would soon attempt to mimic. There were several factors that contributed to the beginning of the revolution, which are significant around the world.
In concern to the American Revolution, there are two sides debating its primary cause. One set of historians believe the cause to be ideals and principles. The other set of historians and scholars credit economic and social interests as the primary cause of the Revolutionary War. Historians Jesse Lemisch and Dirk Hoerder used the mobs in colonial cities as evidence of the social concerns of Americans at that time. Another Historian, Arthur M. Schlesinger argued in a 1917 study “that it was the colonial merchants who were chiefly responsible for arousing American resistance to the British; and that although they spoke of principles and ideals, their real motives were economic self-interest: freedom from the restrictive policies of British mercantilism.” This argument is very concrete and is supported by the different legislation that the British Parliament passed after the Seven Years’ War. In fact, an act was passed in 1764 by the Parliament that was instrumental in specifically angering the merchants that played a major role in leading the Americans to independence. That piece of legislation was the Sugar Act which placed a tax on sugar being brought into the colonies. This tax was a significantly less than the one that was logged in the book previously; however, that tax had been ignored for years. The initial response of the merchants to this piece of legislation was anger because this new law cut off their highly profitable smuggling organizations which greatly affected their earnings. Soon after tha...
One facet of this unique system involved the numerous economic differences between England and the colonies. The English government subscribed to the economic theory of mercantilism, which demanded that the individual subordinate his economic activity to the interests of the state (Text, 49). In order to promote mercantilism in all her colonies, Great Britain passed the Navigation Acts in 1651, which controlled the output of British holdings by subsidizing. Under the Navigation Acts, each holding was assigned a product, and the Crown dictated the quantity to be produced. The West Indies, for example, were assigned sugar production and any other colony exporting sugar would face stiff penalties (Text, 50). This was done in order to ensure the economic prosperity of King Charles II, but it also served to restrict economic freedom. The geographical layout of the American colonies made mercantilism impractical there. The cit...
The American Revolution is without a question one of the, if not the most, important period in the beginning of American history. Between 1765 and 1783, the colonists rejected the British monarchy and aristocracy after a series of taxes and tariffs were forced upon them, finally the colonists then ultimately overthrew their authority and founded the United States of America. Many historians and authors have debated over the exact reason and overall effects of the War for Independence, however, all agree of the significance and importance of this event. The colonies, which were created as a resource for raw materials and a means for generating profits for Parliament and the Crown, began to desire managing their own affairs and worked towards
The American Revolution (1775-1783) was a war between England and the colonies which were settled earlier by the English. There were many factors and events that led to the American Revolution. The Revolution was mainly an economic rebellion that was fueled by taxation without representation following the French and Indian War. The English Parliament was more often than not considered cruel and unfair by the colonists. With conflicts over trade, taxes and government representation, the colonies were at a starting line of a revolution that would later transform into the basis of the United States of America.
The American revolution was a reaction to unfavorable tax policies from the King of England. When the King of England began to infringe on the colonists’ liberties, leaders inspired by the enlightenment grouped together to defend the rights of the American colonies. As Thomas Jefferson writes in the Declaration of Independence, “History of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries ad usurpations,
The American Revolution was sparked by a myriad of causes. These causes in themselves could not have sparked such a massive rebellion in the nation, but as the problems of the colonies cumulated, their collective impact spilt over and the American Revolution ensued. Many say that this war could have been easily avoided and was poorly handled by both sides, British and American; but as one will see, the frame of thought of the colonists was poorly suited to accept British measures which sought to “overstep” it’s power in the Americas. Because of this mindset, colonists developed a deep resentment of British rule and policies; and as events culminated, there was no means to avoid revolution and no way to turn back.
Many revolutions have taken place throughout history, ranging from the unremarkable to the truly memorable, such as the French Revolution, the Bolshevik Revolution and the American Revolution. Through an examination of the social, cultural, economic and political causes of the American Revolution, an exploration of key arguments both for and against the American Revolution, and an analysis of the social, cultural, economic and political changes brought about by the American Revolution it can be demonstrated unequivocally that the American Revolution was indeed truly revolutionary.
A revolution is a forcible overthrow of a government or social order in favor of a new system. In 1775, America was ready for dramatic change, freedom, and a disconnection from Great Britain. Taxes, trade regulations, and overarching, power, made all colonists, aside from the loyalists, more than ready to detach from Great Britain’s rule. The American Revolution portrays many similarities and qualities of the French revolution, due to the inspiration of one to another. The similarities and qualities lie within their spiraling economies, selfish, money-worship-thirsty leaders, ideologies, and provocation.
In a similar economic revolution, the colonies out grew their mercantile relationship with England and developed their own expanding capitalist system. The idea of a set amount of wealth in the world and that if one were to become wealthy, he or she had to take from someone who is already wealthy, is basically what mercantilism means.
The connection between Britain and the English colonies was that of the ruling of the colonies by the king of Britain, King George III and his parliament. The king’s ruling was very unfavorable for the colonists because of his tyrannic dictatorship and unjustly taxations. The mere thought of an island ruling an entire continent thousands of miles away with poor communication and lack of supervision of the colonies by the king, did not work in favor of the colonies nor for Britain. Three contributing factors for the outbreak of the American Revolution were (1) the king’s taxes, (2) neglect of the 13 colonies and (3) England’s mercantilism policy. King George III and his decisions were one of the major causes that had the English colonists fumed with anger towards Britain and this eventually led to the American Revolution.
The relationship between Britain and her Americans colonies slowly deteriorated between the 1750s and the beginning of the American Revolution. When the first British immigrants settled in America, the relationship of the colonies and their mother country was somewhat peaceful. In the following generations, however, their relationship became tenser as Britain imposed policies and taxes on unrepresented American colonists. The British believed they were right in doing so because they had large debts to pay from ongoing wars with France. These taxes caused uprisings among colonists which contributed to British occupation in America, leading to more rebellions. Eventually, the rift in the relationship between the colonists and the British led to the Revolutionary War and the formation of a new country.
Wars affect a country one way another, either for best or for the worst. The outcome of the war can change a country and the citizens of the country. The American Revolutionary was a war where the affect was tremendous. The American Revolution began in 1775 till 1783. The American Revolution is also known as the United States War of Independence. As soon as people left England to come to United States there was smell of revolution in the air. The revolutionary war was a way for the United States to make a statement and move forward as a country that wasn’t underneath the British rule. John Adams, the second prime minister of the United States explains how the American Revolution began when he says, “The Revolution was affected before the war commenced. The Revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people” . Adam basically means that everyone was thinking about the revolution and in their minds they were already there, wanting to break free from the British rule. Once everyone was against England the people were ready for war. The American Revolution started for many reasons, some of the few are; social, economic, and political changes. These changes provided America to be an independent country with its own government. The increase in strict laws and violent events made many Americans angry and that’s why the revolution began. The French and Indian war, taxes without representation, as well as the first continental congress. These are just some of the reasons that Americans wanted the revolution; there are many more causes that can be justified for this major event. Americans did not want to be ruled by the British who were thousands of miles away from them, they wanted to have control of their country and have their own laws....
One of the darker causes for the Industrial Revolution was the slave trade with overseas colonies at the time. For many merchants who saw the easy money to be made from the voyages, the merchants became extremely rich – and as it is in human nature – these rich merchants wanted to become even more rich, the seemingly best way to do this was to invest profits from the slave trade into the new factories that were arising, this is called “Commercial Revolution”. Britain was one of the few countries that was able to bring in profits from other countries and keep profits in their country, aiding them into being the first country to Revolutionise Industrially.