Causes of the American Revolution
With the controversy surrounding the ideas of justice, and equality in America today, we ask ourselves, is equality and freedom truly being promoted? What does the nation stand for? With these questions comes the idea of progress. Where did we start, why are we where we are now? Similarly to how our minorities are fighting for their rights and equality today, the early British colonists fought for their own liberation in the American Revolution. We’ve all heard of “no taxation without representation”. However, more factors were at play. The underlying causes of the revolution were mercantilism, the government relationship between the British and its colonies, and the spread of Enlightenment ideas. The Western …show more content…
By and large, their American “subjects” ran their own affairs” (Garraty 4). Because of this, the colonists were granted freedom and power, never had any real reason to fight for representation until now. Parliament began to propose acts of heavy tarrifs, which went uncontested in England because there was no colonial representation. Instead of mercantilism allowing for a symbiotic relationship, England was now effectively leeching off of the colonies for their wealth. “Since the colonial governments had made sizeable contributions to the war effort , they did not see why they should produce new revenue” (Guilder Lehdman Institute 1). The loss of economic prosperity and power angered the colonists, and they began to protest with the statement “No Taxation Without Representation”. The Virginian Resolves stated in 1765 that taxes could only be raised by “the people by themselves, or by persons chosen by themselves to represent them”, or it would be “burthensome taxation”. However, Parliament saw no reason to grant the colonists representation, and continued to abuse the government relationship to exploit colonial resources. John A. Garraty stated that “the English looked on the empire broadly; they envisioned the colonies as part of an economic unit, not as servile dependencies to be exploited for England’s selfish benefit” (6). However, this was not the case, and the colonists were aware of it. The system was now purely for England’s benefit. The protests escalated, and The King responded with the Declaratory Acts, attempting to shut down the colonists and render their actions void, but it was ignored and only served to fuel their outrage at a loss of now economic and political power. The last straw was the Intolerable acts, seen as unwarranted and
With the controversy surrounding the ideas of justice, and equality in America today, we ask ourselves, is equality and freedom truly being promoted? What does the nation stand for? With these questions comes the idea of progress. Where did we start, why are we where we are now? Similarly to how our minorities are fighting for their rights and equality today, the early British colonists fought for their own liberation in the American Revolution. We’ve all heard of “no taxation without representation”. However, more factors were at play. The underlying causes of the revolution were mercantilism, the government relationship between the British and its colonies, and the spread of Enlightenment ideas. The Western …show more content…
By and large, their American “subjects” ran their own affairs” (Garraty 4). Because of this, the colonists were granted freedom and power, never had any real reason to fight for representation until now. Parliament began to propose acts of heavy tarrifs, which went uncontested in England because there was no colonial representation. Instead of mercantilism allowing for a symbiotic relationship, England was now effectively leeching off of the colonies for their wealth. “Since the colonial governments had made sizeable contributions to the war effort , they did not see why they should produce new revenue” (Guilder Lehdman Institute 1). The loss of economic prosperity and power angered the colonists, and they began to protest with the statement “No Taxation Without Representation”. The Virginian Resolves stated in 1765 that taxes could only be raised by “the people by themselves, or by persons chosen by themselves to represent them”, or it would be “burthensome taxation”. However, Parliament saw no reason to grant the colonists representation, and continued to abuse the government relationship to exploit colonial resources. John A. Garraty stated that “the English looked on the empire broadly; they envisioned the colonies as part of an economic unit, not as servile dependencies to be exploited for England’s selfish benefit” (6). However, this was not the case, and the colonists were aware of it. The system was now purely for England’s benefit. The protests escalated, and The King responded with the Declaratory Acts, attempting to shut down the colonists and render their actions void, but it was ignored and only served to fuel their outrage at a loss of now economic and political power. The last straw was the Intolerable acts, seen as unwarranted and