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Causes of the American Revolution
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In 1763, the American colonies celebrated the end of the French and Indian War as Englishmen. They felt common cause with the mother country. Steadily, that patriotic fervor dissipated. By 1775, a significant portion of the colonies were at war with Britain. The British passed a series of acts that angered and frightened Americans. Enlightenment thought shaped American views of government and provided the ideological impetus for revolution. Colonists despised these acts as violations of their natural rights and the taxes that came with them as economic slavery.
The British government needed money in the aftermath of the French and Indian War. Britain ran up a huge debt fighting the French. The colonies did not have to pay for their own defense or administration. As a result, parliament decided to charge the colonies for their own upkeep. The colonists did not like this.
Americans claimed that they could not be taxed since they did not have representation in parliament. They screamed, “no taxation without representation.” This was just a slogan. The early revolutionaries knew British members of parliament would outvote their American counterparts. However, they laid the groundwork for revolution and created a catchy slogan for people to rally around.
American political theorists argued that taxation violated fundamental rights. People ran the government and not the other way around. Taxing people without their consent violates this principle. Parliament passed several tax bills including the Sugar Act, the Stamp Act, and the Townsend Duties. The colonists protested each one and the British backed down every time.
American colonists worried about more than just higher taxes. In their view, the British violated their rights in other ways as well. In 1689, John Locke wrote that people have the right to life, liberty, and property. This became an American core value. When Britain passed the Proclamation of 1763, they violated this value. The act forbid colonists from moving west of the Appalachian Mountains. Parliament hoped to relieve tensions with Native Americans. A rapidly expanding American population worried about population density as well as their natural rights. The land belonged to them. God ordained it. Parliament had no business violating that sacred promise.
Parliament continued to violate natural law. In 1765, they passed the Quartering Act. This act forced colonists to house troops and provide supplies. New York City refused to comply. Once again, the parliament was overstepping their authority. The amounted to confiscation of private property and a violation of colonial liberty.
The British continued to overstep their authority and it eventually led to bloodshed. In 1760, tensions in Boston reached a fever pitch. Bostonians and British soldiers competed for jobs. British soldiers did not get paid enough and needed to supplement their income. Few jobs and many job seekers provided the powder keg. When civilians and soldiers faced off after a local incident, the soldiers panicked. The Boston mob pelted them with snowballs, ice, and other objects. Someone yelled “fire.” The shots struck eleven protesters and killed five. The British had previously violated property rights and liberty. Now, they had taken colonial lives.
Despite blood spilling in Boston, both sides averted war. The massacre was a local event. The other colonies took note, but no one was willing to split with Britain. In fact, even after hostilities commenced in 1775, a certain element hoped to reconcile. American Revolutionaries represented a fraction of the colonial population at the time war broke out.
Bloodshed in Boston did not trigger a revolt. Instead, taxation initiated the road to war. In 1773, parliament attempted to prop up the East Indian Tea Company. British policy combined with war, recession, and a famine in India pushed the company to the brink. The act allowed the company to ship tea to America without paying duties to Britain. The colonists still had to pay a tea tax. The act angered Americans. First, they did not like having to bail out the company. Second, they did not want to pay the tax. Third, they felt the act a corrupt vehicle which oppressed colonial rights through taxation.
The colonists responded with a tea party. On December 16, 1773, the Sons of Liberty boarded ships loaded with tea in Boston Harbor. They dumped 342 crates of tea into the harbor. The government was appalled. Fearing the colonists on the verge of open revolt, parliament decided to clamp down.
In response to the Boston Tea Party, parliament passed the Intolerable Acts. Britain closed Boston Harbor, limited town meetings in Massachusetts which brought the colony’s government under British control, moved trials of colonial officials outside of Boston, and allowed for the quartering of troops in all the colonies. The British stepped over the line. The takeover of the Massachusetts government bothered the colonies the most. This violated natural law. People had the right to run their own government. The parliament took that away.
The colonies set up Committees of Correspondence. This allowed open communication between revolutionary groups in each colony. If Britain could oppress Massachusetts, they could strike any of the other colonies. Eventually, Colonial representatives agreed to meet at the First Continental Congress to draw up a list of grievances based on natural law. The war soon followed.
The colonists believed Britain had grown corrupt. The corruption led to violations of natural law. Enlightenment thought dictated that man had the right to life, liberty, and property. They also had the right to run their own government. Under natural law, the right of governance stood with the people. Britain violated all these tenants with higher taxes, land policy, and other oppressive acts. The colonies eventually revolted.
