American Revolution Causes

Every major conflict in human history has been caused by the inability of two or more groups to recognize and accept the differing perspectives of each other: the causes of the American Revolution have been no different. Although the common belief is that the American colonists merely retaliated against unreasonable, aggressive actions by the British, these claims were vastly over exaggerated and biased. From an objective view, British actions between 1763 and 1775 were completely reasonable and necessary to restore tranquility in the colonies. The umbrella of the British empire shielded the American colonists from most external danger and allowed them to live peacefully for decades. Without the British aid during the beginning of their

Organizations such as the Sons of Liberty emerged and imposed boycotts on British goods to the colonists, and they punished people who did not comply with their boycott with cruel forms of punishments. This period after the passing of the two acts is commonly labeled as the First Imperial Crisis. Relations between the British and the Colonists continued to exacerbate until the British were left with no choice to repeal the Stamp Act; however, this led to the British attempting to repress the increasing violent defiances of the colonists with the Declaratory Act of 1766, which reasserted Parliament’s power, and the Townshend Acts of 1767, which further taxed British goods imported into the American colonies. These acts, and especially the Townshend Acts, might have crossed the threshold of reasonability, but it is important to note that the violent protests of the radical colonists provoked the British to act this way. Regardless, the Townshend Acts led to a second wave of chaos, the Second Imperial Crisis. Boycotts of British goods spread throughout the American colonies, and almost every colonist was forced to participate. Though some factions of the colonists yearned to conciliate with the British, the radical colonists prevented it every time. In the March of 1770, a group of radical colonists provoked a group of British soldiers into shooting and killing several people. Though the Townshend Acts were repealed, constant minor conflicts between the radical colonists and the British led the British to be constantly be conscious of the possibility of a rebellion. Constant initiation of conflict by the radical colonists eventually led the British to understand that the colonists were not acting as if they were Englishmen. Thus, they were relatively easily persuaded by the lobbying of the East India Company to implement a Tea Tax in 1773 to inflate the prices of