Cause Of The American Revolution

Causes of the American Revolution On July 4, 1776, the Second Continental Congress issued the Declaration of Independence, which stimulated the revolution of American freedom from Great Britain. The motives for why the colonists felt it was crucial to start a revolution of independence are contradicted by both the opinions of the British, and the opinions of the American colonists themselves. Although there are numerous documents supporting the British that state the colonists were at fault and are overreacting, the colonists had stronger arguments for their reasons of hate towards Great Britain, and their justification for righteously waging war against the British. The American colonists became fed up with everything that was unjustifiably being done against them, and the only way to be heard was to rebel and defy against Great Britain. England was a fairly rich country, and it was their choice to put in British regulars to help the colonists fight against the French and Indians, during the French and Indian war, so taking money from the colonists in the end was unwarrented. Even though it was a good idea to take money back for Great Britain’s involvement, which was what Thomas Whately tried to justify in a pamphlet called “Considerations…” where he said, “They should contribute to the preservation of the advantages they have received.” However, not only were they imposing taxes on the colonists to get more money due to the war, but all of the money was going to the British regulars who had been staying in inns in the colonies for free. In addition, because Great Britain did not want anymore wars (revenue had fallen a considerable amount because during the war the colonists were not giving money to Great Britain, but focusing their funds on the war) they instituted their British Regulars on the colonial borders so that the colonists would not advance any further West and enrage the Native Americans even more (since wars were costly). However, this angered to colonists because this was the land that they deserved, it was their right to have this land, and Great Britain was getting in the way. Another reason why the colonists were justified in rebelling was due to the Boston Massacre. …show more content…
Later on in history after new acts had been enforced on the colonists as more ways to get more money, the colonists became even more agitated. The thing that upset the colonists the most was the fact that they had taxation without representation, and no say in Parliament. During the Boston Massacre in 1770, a street fight occurred between the British troops, and men in Boston. An engraving by Paul Revere shows how defenseless the colonists were against the guns of the trained British troops. However, a description about the Boston massacre from a seemingly British point of view said that, “a crowd of Boston boys and men surrounded a number of British soldiers and began taunting them and cursing them while they pelted them with snowballs….. frightened soldiers fired into the crowd…” With this, the description is saying that the colonists were in fact armed (with rocks and snowballs keep in mind), and were aiming their “weapons” against the trained British soldiers, and the soldiers were at no fault for firing back. The original engraving shows (that even though the colonists may have had snowball and rocks), they were in fact defenseless compared to the British soldiers who had even killed a few people after the massacre ended. All of this would by all means anger the American colonists even more, resulting in a necessary revolution. An additional reason as to why the American colonists had a right to rebel against Great Britain is that the colonists kept asking, but Great Britain kept ignoring. As said in the Declaration of Independence, which was passed on July 4, 1776, “in every stage of these oppressions we have petitioned for redress …show more content…
Declaration of Independence, July, 1776. Print.
Dickinson, John, and Thomas Paine. Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking up Arms, July 5, 1775.

Paine, Thomas. Common Sense, 1776.
Revere, Paul. Boston Massacre. March 5, 1770.
Whately, Thomas. Considerations on the Trade and Finances of the Kingdom and on the Measures of the Administration since the Conclusion of the Peace,