American Revolution Essay

From 1763, Americans had only to be convinced that an arbitrary ruler-whether Parliament or King-was violating their inherent rights, to feel that rebellion was justified. This conviction was bred in them by the series of events that occurred between 1763 and 1776. The language used to protest the British Acts was legal, and political. But the primary cause of the Revolution is economics.

In theory the colonists accepted the principle that natural laws rather than royal decrees should govern the economy. In practice only the southern colonies were bound to England by the tobacco trade. The New England and Middle Colonies, unable to find markets in Britain, found prosperity by trading outside the empire. Any attempt to stop this trade would lead to rebellion and consequentially ensued. The idea of mercantilism where the channelizing of all trade through England, was a restriction upon economic prosperity of the New England colony.

The major cause for revolution within the economic theory is of economic subordination of colonies to England. The Grenville Ministry passed a number of acts, but the main act of provocation to the colonists was the stamp act. The stamp act was protested upon the principle of "no taxation without representation". The stamp act was affecting virtually all the colonists, and restricted economic prosperity, thus it was protested by colonists. The Townshend acts were also a factor in the economic theory, Sam Adams had said "The parliament was taxing illegally!", most colonists agreed, and a boycott of British goods resulted. When the British passed the Currency act, this left the paper money worthless, and the colonists had to rely (economically) on England for Hard Currency. The main reason for revolution was economics.

The colonies were economically subordinate to England by the tea and coercive acts. The tea act was an act where the colonist middlemen merchants were being bypassed, and the trading was done by the British. This hurt the...