Economic Politics and the Lead up to the American Revolution

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The revolution has its roots in the economic politics of the 1700s. The situation through the world was already tense, especially the situations in England and France where both countries were feeling the repercussions of years of warfare. Contrasted against this was the situation in the English Colonies of America. For years the Colonies were able to enjoy the benefits of English rule and protection without significant taxation or expenditure. Due to the fall out from the French and Indian War and the economic consequences of protection the colonies, England passed several taxation laws on the colonies. These polices against the colonies would eventually lead to a series of standoff with the English Parliament which would spring into a full rebellion. (Schweikart and Allen, 2004)
To understand the politics behind the economics one must understand what had happened in the past few years in the colonies. England and France as mentioned before had just concluded the French and Indian War. Both nations had amassed large amounts of war dept. The French and at this time allocated more than half of there total budget to paying off war debt on top of territorial losses to the British, meanwhile the English were fairing little better and sought to remedy there budget shortfalls. They turned to the colonies and passed the first set of laws aimed at relieving the shortfalls and preventing further conflict, which would further exacerbate their economic issues. (Schweikart and Allen, 2004) The colonies were relatively speaking fairly well off after the French and Indian War. In fact overall the tax burden fell on those that owned property, and the majority of the property was owned by the wealthy businessmen of the era. These firs...

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...w part of the overall situation of the American Revolution it is an essential part of it. If the economic concerns and the politics behind these issues had not played out as they did, the decision making of the colonial leadership could have very likely been different. Money would be what ultimately paved the way for American independence.

Works Cited

Foner, Eric. Give Me Liberty!: An American History. Volume 1. New York: W.W. Norton, 2012.

Post, Charles. 2009. "Agrarian Class Structure and Economic Development in Colonial British North
America: The Place of the American Revolution in the Origins of US Capitalism” Journal of Agrarian
Change 9, no. 4: 453-83. Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost. Accessed March 11, 2013
Schweikart, Larry and Michael Allen. 2004. A Patriot’s History of the United States. 59–69. New York:
HarperCollin Publishers.

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