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the causes of american revolution
the causes of american revolution
american revolution social political
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The American Revolution is viewed nowadays as one of the most important parts of our nation’s history. This revolution helped us to eventually declare our independence in 1776 from our mother country of Great Britain. In 1763, only twelve years before America declared its independence, Great Britain established an empire in North America after winning the Seven Years’ War. Twelve years later, the thirteen colonies were at war with Great Britain. Many factors during this twelve year span led to the colonists’ rebellion including the Proclamation of 1763, the Quartering Acts of 1765, the Townshend Acts of 1767, the Boston Massacre of 1770, and the Intolerable Acts of 1774. One of the first pieces of legislature to be passed by the British parliament after they seized control of the American colonies was the Proclamation of 1763. This proclamation in essence closed off the western frontier for colonial expansion past the Appalachian Mountains (“Remembering the Proclamation of 1763”). It created a boundary line …show more content…
One night, hundreds of colonists got together and fought the British soldiers with items they found among the streets of Boston including stones and twigs. Considered one of the most important events in American history, the Boston Massacre demonstrated the colonists feelings regarding the recent pieces of legislature passed by the British Parliament and their inner feelings toward the Parliament. The soldiers, who were stationed in Boston to enforce the Townshend Acts, accidently fired into the rioting crowd and killed five men (“Boston Massacre”). This was a monumental moment in pre-revolutionary history because it was the one of the first times the colonists physically fought for their rights and what they believed in. Many people view the Boston Massacre as the climax of tensions against the British Parliament for their unfair treatment towards the
The Boston Massacre occurred in the evening of March 5, 1770. A crowd of people began harassing the soldiers. One event lead to another and the crowd began hurling snowballs and rocks. One of the snowballs stuck a soldier and he fired his weapon causing a series of shots toward the crowd. “...the frightened soldiers fired into the crowd.” (Doc 3). As a result of this incident, three people were killed on the scene and two were mortally wounded. The soldiers were also ordered not to fire. The colonists did not think that they should have been shot at or killed, this infuriated them. This event was said to have started the American Revolution. This leads to the British seizing power over the
The American Revolution began for many reasons, some are; long-term social, economic, and political changes in the British colonies, prior to 1750 provided the basis for and started a course to America becoming an independent nation under it's own control with its own government. Not a tyrant king thousands of miles away. A huge factor in the start of the revolution was the French and Indian War during the years of 1754 through 1763; this changed the age-old bond between the colonies and Britain, its mother. To top it off, a decade of conflicts between the British rule and the colonists, starting with the Stamp Act in 1765 that eventually led to the eruption of war in 1775, along with the drafting of The Declaration of Independence in 1776.
Let us travel back before the Revolutionary War, to the start of the French and Indian War. This is the only way to understand the future of the American Colonies, and ultimately the causes of the American Revolution. After the war, Britain had emerged as the world’s leading power, however, Britain’s national debt tripled. In order to relieve the heavy burden, the British decided to tax the American Colonies. This taxation caused massive rebellion by the Americans, and ultimately warfare. Professor Breen, a historian well familiar with the revolution, claims that the American colonists were motived by a new form of protest called boycotting. Breen explains that the revolution was a consumer revolution driven not just by elite landowners, but by all American colonists. Degler on the other hand states that the revolution was not a consumer revolution, and was mostly controlled by the elite aristocracy. In my own opinion, the American Revolution was a war that represented a country seeking freedom and liberty. Despite the use of boycotting, the colonies were also using other methods besides economics to break away from Britain. Taking Breen and Degler into consideration, the American Revolution was both an economic and political revolution.
Changes in British policies toward the colonies between 1750 and 1776 played paramount in the evolution of relations between British North America and Mother England. Tension between England and the colonies mounted from the conclusion of the Seven Years’ War to the signing of the Declaration of Independence as a result of the several implemented changes imposed by Parliament for the purpose of increasing income and tightening the grip on America.
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.
The Enlightment was one of the causes because it inspired ideas of freedom and equality. This means that some of the government’s power would be lost.
Most of the colonizers of America came from Britain and France whereby they fought for territory and power. Reasons why the colonizers wanted America were for self-government, religious sufferance, cheap land, and economic opportunity. Due to this, the Native American Indians sided with the French against the British for the strong colonies including North America. The war lasted for seven years where the British troops captured North America (Canada). A peace treaty was signed in Paris which led the French to lose everything, resulting in the American Indians not being able to trade. Moreover, the British government lost a lot of expenses due to the funding of war, and the colonialists had experience with long warfare with the ‘mentorship’ of the Britain troops. Since the colonists gained
The American Revolution was a political upheaval that greatly influenced the society we have today. A series of events that lasted from 1765 through 1783 affected how and why the American Revolution occurred. American colonists had been living under English control, which was the greatest and most powerful nation at the time, but after a while the colonist’s opinions on the English's way of government and ruling changed. Even though all of these events affected the colonists and their opinions, there were three main occurrences that caused colonists to decide to separate from England. These events were the Boston Massacre of 1770, The Intolerable Acts of 1774, and the French and Indian War that lasted from 1756 through 1763.
Among the many complex factors that contributed to instigating the American Revolution, two stand out most clearly: England’s imposition of taxation on the colonies and the failure of the British to gain consent of those being governed, along with the military measures England took on the colonists. Adding to these aforementioned factors were the religious and political legacy of the colonies, and the restriction of civil liberties by the British. Parliamentary taxation was undoubtedly one of the greatest factors inspiring the American public to rebel in the years leading up to the American Revolution. One of the most striking examples of this kind of taxation was the Stamp Act of 1765. After many years of fighting, England badly needed revenues from their colonies, and they sought to acquire these revenues from the New World, thereby increasing their influence over the colonial governments. These theories of “New Imperialism” were what prompted Prime Minister Grenville to pass the Stamp Act. The Stamp Act of 1765 stated that persons of almost any profession were obliged to buy stamps for their documents. In other words, the act imposed a tax on every printed document in the colonies. For example, a printer had to buy stamps in order to legally be able to distribute his publications. While the act itself was not so detrimental to the economy, it was the ideals behind the act (a direct attempt on the part of the mother country to further itself and raise revenues in the colonies) which drove the revolutionaries’ cause.
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.
The American Revolution was sparked by a myriad of causes. These causes in themselves could not have sparked such a massive rebellion in the nation, but as the problems of the colonies cumulated, their collective impact spilt over and the American Revolution ensued. Many say that this war could have been easily avoided and was poorly handled by both sides, British and American; but as one will see, the frame of thought of the colonists was poorly suited to accept British measures which sought to “overstep” it’s power in the Americas. Because of this mindset, colonists developed a deep resentment of British rule and policies; and as events culminated, there was no means to avoid revolution and no way to turn back.
For over a century Great Britain had ruled the colonies in America. Since the founding of the Chesapeake Bay colony in the south in 1607, and the Massachusetts Bay colony in the north in 1630, the colonies had relied on the crown for many of their needs. Over time the colonists established a social and economical system that was almost independent of the British Empire. In April of 1775, after many transgressions on both sides, the colonists decided that they no longer needed, or wanted the support, protection, and leadership of the country that founded them. There were many factors, both immediate, and longstanding that lead to the decision to fight for freedom from British rule.
One of the most powerful countries in the 18th century established colonies across the sea. Great Britain established 13 colonies in North America as other nation started joining the race to own more land, causing controversy between both France and Great Britain. Great Britain finished, winning the war but ended with so much debt. Great Britain looked for a way to pay of the debts by establishing taxes on the 13 colonies. With the amount of power Great Britain had over the colonies, people started to go against them. The Declaratory Act of 1766 show the amount of power Great Britain had is the main cause of the American Revolution occur.
The term ‘revolutionary’ has been defined as something ‘involving or causing a complete or dramatic change’. The American Revolution did just that, with the colonises demanding economic, social and political change. Never before had all the colonies risen up against the British colonial rule, demanding change.
Wars affect a country one way another, either for best or for the worst. The outcome of the war can change a country and the citizens of the country. The American Revolutionary was a war where the affect was tremendous. The American Revolution began in 1775 till 1783. The American Revolution is also known as the United States War of Independence. As soon as people left England to come to United States there was smell of revolution in the air. The revolutionary war was a way for the United States to make a statement and move forward as a country that wasn’t underneath the British rule. John Adams, the second prime minister of the United States explains how the American Revolution began when he says, “The Revolution was affected before the war commenced. The Revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people” . Adam basically means that everyone was thinking about the revolution and in their minds they were already there, wanting to break free from the British rule. Once everyone was against England the people were ready for war. The American Revolution started for many reasons, some of the few are; social, economic, and political changes. These changes provided America to be an independent country with its own government. The increase in strict laws and violent events made many Americans angry and that’s why the revolution began. The French and Indian war, taxes without representation, as well as the first continental congress. These are just some of the reasons that Americans wanted the revolution; there are many more causes that can be justified for this major event. Americans did not want to be ruled by the British who were thousands of miles away from them, they wanted to have control of their country and have their own laws....