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american revolution social and political
american revolution social and political
How revolutionary was the American Revolution essays
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Following the French Revolution of the late 18th century, Goethe, a German writer, declared that a great revolution is never the fault of the people, but of the government (ThinkExist). However, his statement also mirrored the events that have taken place several decades earlier, on the North American continent, when the British administration have helped to ignite a major social uprising among colonists. The American Revolution (1763-1789) was generated by an amalgam of factors, translated into a dissonance between the British perspective on the colonies and the American colonial reality. The causes of the American movement for independence range from the benign neglect policy, the post-French-Indian war deals, the British taxation and legal strategies, to the steady emergence of a national American identity, different from the one across the ocean, in Britain. Combined, these factors gave birth to the American Revolution War.
In the beginning of the 18th century, Britain was practically indifferent to enforcing the laws it passed for the people of America. The Crown paid small interest in controlling trade regulations and offered significant freedom in the administration of local affairs, while trade barriers imposed on merchants had only limited repercussion. While Britain had the goal of keeping the colonies under control in mind, it turned out to be a perfect environment for the local political and economic administration bodies to flourish and strengthen their position and power (Davidson, 133). The colonists gradually embraced the idea of self-government. This further contributed to the development of a colonial social identity, distinct from the one in Britain. The expanding cultural distance between the Crown and the col...
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...izens had political representation, their American counterparts lacked it. Taxation without representation was one of the greatest complaints the colonists had toward the Crown (Greene, 126).
Works Cited
1) "Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe Quotes." ThinkExist.com Quotations. Web. 05 Apr. 2011.
2) J. Hector St. John Crèvecoeur, "What is an American? (1770)" in Raymond Hyser and J. Chris Arndt, editors, Voices of the American Past: Documents in U.S. History, Volume I, 3rd Edition (Belmont, CA: Thompson-Wadsworth, 2005), 46-48.
3) Greene, Jack P., and J. R. Pole. A Companion to the American Revolution. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2004. Print.
4) Davidson, James West. Nation of Nations: a Narrative History of the American Republic. New York: McGraw-Hill Higher Education, 2008. Print.
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.
Davidson, J. (Ed.). (2002). Nation of nations: A concise narrative of the American republic. (3rd ed., Vol. 2). New York: McGraw-Hill
When the colonies were being formed, many colonists came from England to escape the restrictions placed upon them by the crown. Britain had laws for regulating trade and collecting taxes, but they were generally not enforced. The colonists had gotten used to being able to govern themselves. However, Britain sooned changed it’s colonial policy because of the piling debt due to four wars the British got into with the French and the Spanish. The most notable of these, the French and Indian War (or the Seven Years’ War), had immediate effects on the relationship between the colonies and Great Britain, leading to the concept of no taxation without representation becoming the motivating force for the American revolutionary movement and a great symbol for democracy amongst the colonies, as Britain tried to tighten their hold on the colonies through various acts and measures.
Eliga H. Gould, The Persistence of Empire: British Political Culture in the Age of the American Revolution (North Carolina: Omohundro Institute, 2000),
Morison, Samuel E. The Oxford History of the American People, vol 1. New York: Penguin Books USA, Inc. 1994.
Gordon S. Wood. The Radicalism of the American Revolution. Vintage; Reprint edition. March 2, 1993
Joyce, Appleby, et al. "The American Revolution." The American Vision. New York: McGraw Hill Glencoe, 2005. 114-126. Print.
... Bobrick, Benson. Fight for Freedom: The American Revolutionary War. New York: Atheneum, 2004. Print.
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.
Roark, J. L. (2012). The American promise a history of the United States (Fifth edition, Value ed.). Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's.
An American History of the World. 4th ed. of the book. W.W. Norton, 2012, 591. 6.) Foner, Eric.
George Browm Tindall, David Emory Shi. American History: 5th Brief edition, W. W. Norton & Company; November 1999
Boorstin, Daniel J., and Brooks M. Kelley. A History of the United States. N.p.: Prentice-Hall, 2002. Print.
George Brown Tindall and David Emory Shi, America: A Narrative History, Ninth Edition, Volume One, (New York, London: W.W. Norton & Company, 2013), 504.
The American Revolution began as a conflict over political and social change, but soon developed into a dispute over personal rights and political liberty. A decade of conflicts between the British government and the Americans, starting with the Stamp Act in 1765 that eventually led to war in 1775, along with The Declaration of Independence in 1776. Americans united as one and knew that they wanted to be an independent country, have their own laws, rights, and not be a colony of the Great Britain. They fought hard for their independence and people lost their lives in the process of it, but in the end they succeeded. Never give up, keep fighting till the mission is accomplished, just like the Americans did when they were fighting for their independence.