American Revolution Essay

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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.