Reasons For The American Revolution

Main Reasons for the American Revolution

Despite the Seven Years' War, Britain still retained a full dominance over the American colonies. However, they now saw the colonies as fodder to feed the raging debts of the country. The crown's desire for money for the debts was viewed by Britain as reasonable, while it fueled the fire known as revolution that was stirring up in the hearts of the colonists. This would create a new sense of American political identity and would eventually lead to the American Revolution. Eventually, Britain would soon come to regret marking the spirited colonists as inferior. There were ideas that would spark the flame of revolution much before the word revolution was even spoken of. Republicanism, an idea where the citizens gave up their private needs to the common good, became quite a popular idea, as well as the idea of a strong, central, government. The ideas were just harmless thoughts at the time; it was the actions of the British government that would turn them into dangerous philosophies.

Mercantilism was by far one of the greatest sparks of the American Revolution. The British wanted to dominate the flux of imports and exports to and from the colonies, making it clear that they felt they wanted to control the economy of the colonies. To the British, the Americans were just tenants residing on their own land, meant for purposes to boost the British economy. To enhance the mercantilist system, the Parliament passed the Navigation Laws, which said all commerce flowing to and from the colonies could be transported only in British vessels. Future laws said that any European products headed for the colonies had to pass through Britain and its tariffs, which effectively gave the British middlemen a good amount of the profits. At first, the Navigation Laws were loosely enforced, but in 1763, the British Prime Minister ordered them to be strictly enforced. Other laws passed by Parliament that enraged the colonists included the Sugar Act, which was the first law to raise tax revenue in the colonies for the crown, as well as the Quartering act, which required colonists to house and feed British soldiers if requested. The most detestable law of all, however, was the Stamp Act, which placed a tax on stamps; one of the most commonly bought and used items in the colonies. That would essentially be the final straw.

In reaction to all these newly implemented taxes, the colonists raised the issue of "taxation without representation." That would be the major slogan that went against the British Parliament. The colonists felt they shouldn't be taxed if there are no representatives in Parliament to stand up for them. In the eyes of most colonists, the Parliament and the King were greedy and corrupt who sought to take advantage of the colonies. The hate that was incited upon the British would only pile up on the list of things that caused the revolution. The problem steadily became a large-scale political issue that rose from a small discussion within the streets to being publicized in newspapers and pamphlets such as Thomas