What Led To The American Revolution

The American Revolution changed ideas about independence all over the world. It was a series of events and wars that allowed the colonies to the break off from the British and gain control of their own government. The American Revolution was a direct consequence of the taxation without representation after the French and and Indian War, the increased sense of unity among the colonists, and the ideology of equal treatment of the colonies in terms of self governing. The French and Indian War (1754-1763) was the main event that led to the the American Revolution. Although in this war the British and the colonies were fighting side by side, they were only facing common enemies. At the end of the war, Britain needed reparations, or war costs to be paid by the colonies through taxation. An easy to way pay off these costs was to have the colonies pay them. The British imposed taxes on the colonies, which became the starting point of the Revolution. The colonists were not prepared to pay these enormous taxes, especially because the British thought it was their right all along. …show more content…
Although there were certain ideologies that said that the colonists should not be able to govern themselves, there were two interpretations of the situation. The British believed that the colonies were always subordinate to the British and that they could have been taxed at any point between 1607 and 1757. In contrast, the colonies favored the natural right to self govern. This meant that the taxes should have been set by the colonies, not the British. Overall, the colonists believed that the British were violating their rights by imposing taxes on them without their