Essay about The American Revolution: An Economic Movement

Virtual representation, the belief that the politicians elected would represent the whole empire meant that a person elected in Europe would represent the people of New England. The problem with virtual representation, is that how can an elected official from Europe, quite possibly know the needs of the people 3,000 miles away? The British would claim that through virtual representation, that the colonist’s needs would be met. But this would not be the case.

Following the many policies and taxes being passed in the new world came the American Revolution. It’s by far the sole most important war victory America has ever had. It marked not only freedom and independence from Britain, but it also was a victory for mankind and the age of new thoughts, ideals, and practices. The revolution also established a political structure for America that is still effective today. Great Britain outmatched America both militarily and financially but a combination of events happening in America’s favor precipitated one of the greatest victories in world history.

“Despite the view of some historians that the conflict between Great Britain and its thirteen North American colonies was economic in origin, in fact the American Revolution had its roots in politics and other areas of American life.” Great Britain and the American colonies had a relationship impacted with many hardships. I believe that there was a political struggle between the two groups, but that Great Britain and the American colonies used economics as a chance to show how much control they had. Multiple Acts written by Parliament, the colonies' Committees of Correspondence and Continental Congress created political friction between Great Britain and the American colonies.

The best explanation for the causes of the Revolution were “A Democratic Movement” written by Robert Brown. “A Democratic Movement” claims that the main cause of the American Revolution was to protect the liberties of the colonies that were there before the British

Both the British and the American colonists contributed to causing the American Revolution. The war grew out of contempt: England’s contempt for the colonies and colonial contempt for British policies. A series of actions by the British eventually pushed the colonists over the edge and towards independence. The results of the war gave many citizens a new role in society while others, like slaves, felt no change at all. This paper will examine the specific causes and effects of the American Revolution.

4. What was the Revolutionary movement, at its core, really all about? Was it about the amount of taxation, the right of Parliament to tax, the political corruption of Britain and the virtue of America, the right of a king to govern America, or the colonies’ growing sense of national identity apart from Britain? Was the Revolution truly a radical overturning of government and society—the usual definition of a revolution—or something far more limited or even conservative in its defense of traditional rights?

In 1764, the irritated Americans, who failed to persuade the British government to give their provincial assemblies the same intrinsic rights as the House of Commons in England, turned the tide of the debate on the meaning of representation. The Americans were angry at the British for taxing them without letting them have a representative of their own at the Parliament, who could stand for their political interests. Instead of seeking for a compromise, the British offered the Americans a ridiculing notion known as virtual representation in which the august body, that had no direct contact with the colonists, "virtually" represented its subjects' interests. At this critical point, Americans were not intending to step back.

The American Revolutionary War was caused by the political disagreements between Great Britain and the American colonies. Most of the Americans initially didn’t want to completely separate from England but wanted to regain the rights that Parliament had taken away from them. England made war unavoidable with its unwillingness to negotiate, heavy taxation of the colonists that violated their rights, and strict trading policies.

The primary causes of the American Revolution were because of the unjust treatment of the colonists. The French and Indian War was extremely expensive for Britain, so to pay off the debt they decided to tax the American colonies. Several taxes were created, one of them was the Stamp Act. This act required the colonists to pay taxes on every piece of paper that was used, such as legal documents, licenses, newspapers, ship’s papers, etc.

The American Revolution was precipitated by the irritation of the wealthy due to tax acts imposed by Britain on the colonies. The rich did not like the taxes because of the negative effect the tax acts had on personal financial interests, but the Colonial masses were convinced by men like John Dickinson and Patrick Henry; Dickinson wrote extensively on how the British collection of taxes on the Colonies was illegal and Henry believed taxation shouldn’t be allowed unless the Colonies were properly represented. The writings of John Locke were also influential in creating interest for breaking away from Great Britain.

The cause and effects of the American Revolution (1775-1783) are quite controversial among students and historians alike. One opinion believes that the American Revolution was a conservative movement, meaning that the revolution sought to preserve original American values while trying to eliminate some negative aspects of the New World, such as its ruler, Great Britain. While Americans achieved independence from England in the end, America’s initial traits were not preserved, but rather altered. The Revolution drastically changed political and social features of the United States but the economy was hardly affected.

After the end of the French and Indian War in 1763 the American people had taxes placed on them by the British. The British Parliament claimed that by placing the taxes they were defending the colonies for the Americans. During the twelve years following the war, the British enacted a numerous amount of taxes that allowed them to raise revenue from the American economy. This taxing of the American people hurt the American economy and started to push the American colonists toward an independence movement so they could have a free economy. Over the course of the twelve-year period there were six acts enacted to take money from the American economy.

Issues of taxation, quartering of soldiers, justice, trade, and disregard for the representative government of the colonies were discussed. It also details the appeals that the colonists made to the British government to stop this unfair treatment. The arguments presented the document were logical and well organized. Any reader at the time would have been moved to support the American colonies.

With Thomas Paine’s pamphlet Common Sense in 1776, he debated for political independence from Britain. He felt the people of the colony had the ultimate responsibility for the government, and that the monarchy should not be involved (“What is self”, 2015). The colonists could not govern themselves. They had to pay high taxes to England, and they had no say in parliament of any laws or taxes they paid. Taxes to trade and export goods were all regulated by England. The Colonists paying the taxes in the new world, the money went to support the mother land (“What is self”, 2015). The Colonists felt they should have a vote in England, but they received no representation, or a say so in any law making, or governing matters. This is why they wanted to govern themselves. Then they could impose taxes on their goods and build their government on the profit (“Intermediate establishing”, 2015). England would oversee the trading, but would allow the colonists to have a say in the taxes of the goods. Soon smugglers developed to go around the system and trade to whom they wanted to trade with (“American government”,

From 1607 to 1754, people’s views on governing themselves changed greatly. It began in 1607, with the settlement of Jamestown. They were a corporate colony, working for the Virginia Company, they were whole-heartedly British. The Great Awakening, the Enlightenment, and the Tradition of Neglect all introduced new ways for the American colonies to think of themselves as more independent. Although they still considered themselves part of the British Empire, by the end of this era they had discovered that they could make their own laws and constitutions that fit the way that their world worked as opposed to Great Britain.