Causes of the American Revolution

A series of factors influenced American Revolution in the eighteenth century.  Americans were unhappy with British rule because they lacked self-government; thus, they could not administrate themselves or enact their laws. Seemingly, the British government burdened them with hefty taxes. They felt mistreated since they paid tax to a government where they had no representation. American colonies held a strong opposition over the British rule since the  British focused on strengthening themselves at their colonialists’ expense. The Americans were tired of these dictatorship representations, and they sparked attempts to win their independence. Their revolution factors included; The Proclamation of 1763, intolerable acts such as the Stamp Act, mercantilism, British harsh economic policies after the French and Indian war. They responded to ruthless British rules by engaging in the Boston Massacre and the Lexington and Concord battles.

The Proclamation of 1763 sparked the American Revolution. This Proclamation prohibited all the colonialists from settling on the western side of the Appalachian mountain, forcing all the settlers living on the west side to migrate to the mountain’s eastern side (Humphreys 241). The Americans felt that the British government infringed their rights of the settlement. They had fought for that land during the French Indians War; therefore, they had a right to settle on that land. Additionally, the Americans felt that the Proclamation was a plot to keep them under strict control and keep an eye on them. Americans revolted and demonstrated towards the Ohio Valley to prevent the British from enacting the new law.

The Stamp Act also influenced the American Revolution. The British parliament imposed heavy taxes on newspapers and official documents sold in the American Colonies (Schlesinger 65).   The American leaders resented this Act. These leaders believed in colonial independence and hoped that they could be free from oppressive British rule one day. This Act angered the Americans as it was imposed on them without the approval of the colonial legislatures. Additionally, those who resented the Stamp Act were prosecuted in courts with had no juries. Americans felt mistreated by this Act and moved to the printing press to express their view and gain mass support (Schlesinger 63). The Americans engaged united in a zealous opposition fight for independence.

Besides the Stamp Act, the mercantilism economic policy imposed by the British Americans angered the Americans. Nettels claims that British imposed this policy to gain wealth, security in food supplies, raw materials for industries, and war arms (105). To obtain these resources British imposed effective control over resources and activities in their colonies. They used the Navigation Act to realize these objectives, which enabled the  British to enforce trade restrictions on American territories. The Americans were bitter as trading was difficult, and manufactured goods were acquired only from England (Nettels 114). To respond to this, they created a new mercantilist state on this side of the Atlantic.  Americans revolted against exploitive economic policy and united for revolution.

Resistance by the American colonies continued and led to the Boston Massacre of 1770. Boston Massacre played significant roles in the American Revolution. The mass violence during the Massacre was a turning point event on their road to independence. The masses revolted against the stamp act united together, and boycotted the British trade (Greene and Maier 244). The Boston Massacre led to the Boston Tea party. The Tea Party allowed the colonialists to initiate a violent revolution against the British government. They boycotted the British Indian company smuggling tea and let it in a bankrupt state (Greene and Maier 244). The Boston Massacre allowed the American colonies to revolt against British rule and their intolerable Acts. The Americans also rallied around saying no to taxes without representation. The Boston Massacre sparked more revolutionary wars indicating that the Americans were tired of the British exploitive policies and were ready to fight back and gain their independence.

The British rule engraved the American colonies. They did not stop revolting after the Boston Massacre but engaged in more wars that led to their independence in 1776. To continue with the battle for freedom was the Lexington and Concord Wars of 1775 (Fuhrer 78).  This battle began when the British general led the soldier to capture radical colonial leaders; John Hancock and Samuel Adams (Fuhrer 78).  The British government felt that these leaders were a threat to their government. Samuel Adams was against the Stamp Act of the taxation imposed on American colonies, yet they lacked representation in the government. Due to this threat, the British government was determined to subdue these leaders.

The British attempt to capture these leaders was futile. The American spies learned this plot and spread the word to the Americans to face the British rulers (Fuhrer 78). The American militiamen faced the British men and defeated them before heading to Concord, where they wanted to smuggle arms of War (Fuhrer 118). This war was a great revolution for the Americans. It proved to the British that the colonialists could also fight back to claim their rights. They had sustained the oppression for long, and now it was time to say no to the British’s ruthless rule. These battles signaled the start of the revolutionary war and the success of their independence in 1776. Therefore, The Revolution was in the minds of which they fought peacefully for revolution for fifteen years before engaging in a bloody warn at Lexington. The American Revolution was a conventional effort meant to preserve the existing social, political, and economic orders. It only turned out to be a war when the British did not seem to stop their oppressive rule and policies.

In conclusion, numerous factors caused the American Revolution. Almost all the revolution factors were caused by oppressive rule imposed by the British on American colonies.  The British imposed intolerable acts over their colonies, yet they did not represent them in the government. Additionally, they denied the American settlement in some areas which they had fought for. These and other factors led to the American Revolution. If the British avoided the oppressive policies, the colonies could not revolt against their control.

Work Cited

Fowler, William M. “Empires At War: The French And Indian War And The Struggle For North America, 1754-1763”. Choice Reviews Online, vol 43, no. 05, 2006, pp. 43-2977-43-2977. American Library Association, doi:10.5860/choice.43-2977.

Fuhrer, Mary Babson. “The Revolutionary Worlds Of Lexington And Concord Compared”. The New England Quarterly, vol 85, no. 1, 2012, pp. 78-118. MIT Press – Journals, doi:10.1162/tneq_a_00157.

Greene, Jack P., and Pauline Maier. “From Resistance To Revolution: Colonial Radicals And The Development Of American Opposition To Britain, 1765-1776.”. Political Science Quarterly, vol 88, no. 3, 1973, p. 505. Wiley, doi:10.2307/2149012.

HUMPHREYS, R. A. “Lord Shelburne And The Proclamation Of 17631”. The English Historical Review, XLIX, no. CXCIV, 1934, pp. 241-264. Oxford University Press (OUP), doi:10.1093/ehr/xlix.cxciv.241.

Schlesinger, Arthur M. “The Colonial Newspapers And The Stamp Act”. The New England Quarterly, vol 8, no. 1, 1935, p. 63. JSTOR, doi:10.2307/359430. Accessed 10 Apr 2021.