Events That Led to The American Revolution

Many people have the misconception that the American Revolution occurred because British colonists did not want to be British citizens any longer. This may have been the case for a select few, but many British colonists desired to maintain their status as British colonists and citizens. The foremost reason that the colonists began protests, boycotts, and petitions against the British was because they believed their innate rights as British citizens were being violated. The American Revolution occurred due to a chain of events and a complex set of intertwined reasons.

One of the reasons that the colonists wanted to separate from Britain was that people in the colonies had begun to see themselves as small separate nations such as North Carolinians, Virginians, Pennsylvanians, and on goes the list. This started to give them an identity separate of Britain, but in many ways the colonists still considered themselves to be British. Since the colonists continued to see themselves as British, it made little impact that the people in each colony were developing new identities. Another factor that contributed to the American Revolution would be tax collectors. Many people fled to the colonies because of debt, and tax collectors followed to collect on debts that these people owed them. This reason is given a little more weight than it should because the majority of the population was not first or second generation colonists by the mid eighteenth century. Tax collectors would not be able to collect on individuals if surnames changed or the surname died. Royal governors are another small reason that people would want to be free of British rule as they were a constant reminder of British rule over the colonies. However, this reason...

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...colonist was taxed and oppressed by the British government. To list each reason that the colonists had to start a war with Britain would be impossible, but the main, igniting reason was that the British taxed and oppressed the colonists. Without the taxation of the colonists, the American Revolution would never have begun, and perhaps the world today would look very differently.

Works Cited

"British Taxes in Colonial America." American Firearms. N.p., 7 July 2011. Web. 29 Sept. 2011. .

"Declaration of Independence." US History. N.p., 1991. Web. 29 Sept. 2011.

"The Boston Tea Party, 1773." Eyewitness to History.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Sept. 2011. .

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