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The American Revolution
From 1763, Americans had only to be convinced that an arbitrary ruler-
whether Parliament or King-was violating their inherent rights, to feel
that rebellion was justified. This conviction was bred in them by the
series of events that occurred between 1763 and 1776. The language used to
protest the British Acts was legal, and political. But the primary cause of
the Revolution is economics.
In theory the colonists accepted the principle that natural laws
rather than royal decrees should govern the economy. In practice only the
southern colonies were bound to England by the tobacco trade. The New
England and Middle Colonies, unable to find markets in Britain, found
prosperity by trading outside the empire. Any attempt to stop this trade
would lead to rebellion and consequentially ensued. The idea of
mercantilism where the channelizing of all trade through England, was a
restriction upon economic prosperity of the New England colony.
The major cause for revolution within the economic theory is of
economic subordination of colonies to England. The Grenville Ministry
passed a number of acts, but the main act of provocation to the colonists
was the stamp act. The stamp act was protested upon the principle of "no
taxation without representation". The stamp act was affecting virtually
all the colonists, and restricted economic prosperity, thus it was
protested by colonists. The Townshend acts were also a factor in the
economic theory, Sam Adams had said "The parliament was taxing illegally!",
most colonists agreed, and a boycott of British goods resulted. When the
British passed the Currency act, this left the paper money worthless, and
the colonists had to rely (economically) on England for Hard Currency. The
main reason for revolution was economics.
The colonies were economically subordinate to England by the tea and
coercive acts. The tea act was an act where the colonist middlemen
merchants were being bypassed, and the trading was done by the British.
This hurt the economic prosperity of the colonists, mobs had strengthened
in anger and the Boston T.tea Party followed. The British were irate at the
colonial resistance to british law, therefore the British passed the
Coercive Act or "Intolerable Act". The Intolerable act closed off the
Boston Port, which closed off the center of economic prosperity (trading)
of New England. England was also limiting the colonists to raw material
production, which hindered the colonists' economic prosperity. The main
reason for the revolution was economic.
Their are many other reasons that do not support the economic theory
but support the political theories. The Proclamation of 1763 restricted the
settlement west of the Appalachians. This was done because the British had
wanted to avoid conflict with the Indians. The colonists perceived this as
a illegal act of restricting the colonists to a specific area.
The writs of assistance is an example of a political liberty being
narrowed in abolishing the right of privacy for the colonists. Colonial
ideology was also a constituent in how the colonists viewed England. The
colonists saw a conspiracy to destroy their liberty in British policies.
Thus, when the colonists were forming the Declaration of Independence, the
main goal was to show the Americans' concern for the importance of liberty.
The statement "The primary cause of the American Revolution is
economics." is a very strong dictum which can be proved, but the American
Revolution also was caused by a restriction of colonial liberty. The
majority of the policies that affected the colonists between 1763 and 1776
were economic changes that limited the economic success of the colonies,
furthermore, these policies also had negative political influences that led
to the American revolution.
ADDITIONAL FEATURED ESSAYS
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