Causative Factors of the Revolutionary War

Causative Factors of the Revolutionary War "What do we mean by the Revolution? The war? That was no part of the Revolution. It was only an effect and consequence of it. The revolution was in the minds of the people, and this was effected from 1760 to 1775, in the course of 15 years before a drop of blood was drawn at Lexington." — John Adams What did Adams mean? To begin with, an American inadvertently started the Seven Years War (1756-63), which Britain battled in every province of its Empire. It was none other than Lieutenant-Colonel Washington who had fired upon a French detachment near present-day Pittsburgh (Johnson 124). It is ironic that on that day Washington, who still sought British military post (Johnson 131), unknowingly set the stage for a colonial civil war against Britain. At that time Americans fought for British victory, since “Britain was a liberal state with a minimalist government and a tradition of freedom of speech, assembly, the press, and (to some extent) worship” (Johnson 125). Prior to 1758, colonists voluntarily fought the French in America without aid from Britain (Johnson 126). Britain’s victory secured it the largest land treaty in political history, which may have gone to their aristocrats’ heads (Johnson 127). With new land came a new breed of ignorant and inflexible statesmen, led by King George III. Unfortunately for Britain, the same generation in America was courageous and long-sighted, possessing many the virtues of the Enlightenment and few of its French intellectual weaknesses (Johnson 128). Early America was well educated in political philosophy. Every assembly knew Locke, who argued for a meritocracy, wherein a person has a right to her earned property, and every v... ... middle of paper ... ...ion in retrospect was concerned; he wrote in a flash of foresight, “I shudder at the thought, and there is no knowing where these calamities will end” (qtd. Johnson 150). Works Cited Bailyn, Bernard. Faces of Revolution: Personalities and Themes in the Struggle for American Independence. Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1990. Cox-McGinn, Susan. “Lectures on United States History.” City College of San Francisco, September 2003. Johnson, Paul. A History of the American People. 1st ed. HarperCollins Publishers, New York, 1997. National Endowment for the Humanities. The Democracy Project. Viewed at City College of San Francisco, September 17, 2003. Roark, James L., Michael P. Johnson, Patricia Cline Cohen, Sarah Stage, Alan Lawson, Susan M. Hartmann. The American Promise: A History of the United States. Vol. 1. 2nd ed. Bedford / St. Martins, Boston, 2002.