Reasons The Colonials Revolted

The American Revolution has great importance on the way the United States views itself. Contrary to popular belief, Americans were not separate people subject to British tyranny. A large portion of American colonialists thought of themselves as British. There are many ideas and causes as to why the American Revolution began. Differing political traditions, both parties economic interest, trading interest of those involved in transatlantic commerce, Britain’s large debt that accumulated during the Seven Years War, mutual misunderstandings, and the Great Awakening are many of the reasons that the colonist began to revolt against England.

New England was in a religious revival, intended to preach salvation, and had given rise to political and social unrest that challenged the traditional roles in society that both lay people and clergy had lived by for many years. The Great Awakening made clear the interests of The New Englander in fundamental law, his belief that any violation of it by those in authority was tyranny and that revolt against such tyranny was legal and not only legal but a religious duty.

Most political theories in the American Enlightenment were gotten from John Locke's Two Treatises on Government and the works of English radical political theorists, and for sure a radical republican group called the "commonwealthmen." Colonists’ political thought was a confusing and uneasy mix of Scottish common sense philosophy, Enlightenment thought, English law, Puritan thinking, and the unique experience of colonial life. With Enlightenment, they came up with political ideas centering around John Locke. They stated that when the British government took away their liberties, the British had severed the political bonds that tied America and Britain together. The Americans believed in representation, contractual government, and natural rights. Radical English thought was distributed in America and American political thought was enthusiastically distributed throughout Britain by the radicals. The "commonwealthmen." were the most important among the English radical thinkers that influenced American political thought. They believed that the monarchy should be abolished in favor of a republic ruled by a representative government. They thought of the English Parliament as hopelessly corrupt and opposed parliamentary taxation and the existence of standing armies.

By the year 1763, British colonies have been in America for over 150 years. The Seven Years war had just ended and British colonies were prospering. The Seven Years War drove out the French and pushed the Spanish to the west.