What Caused The American Revolution Essay

To say that there is only one cause for a war is to oversimplify a complex affair. When we look back at the American Revolution there are two main causes of the revolution that are argued; it was fought for independence, or that the colonists were only fighting because their wealth was at stake. However, both the political and economical factors in the American Revolution must be analyzed in order to comprehend what the colonists were fighting for, and thus what our nation is built upon. Although many factors played a role in the American Revolution, the most influential component was ideology. By the time the British started enforcing external taxes on the colonies in the 1760’s the colonists were predominantly self-governed and had created
Therefore, the colonists were fighting to conserve liberties they assumed they already possessed. The connection to Great Britain ultimately benefited the colonists economically but they were not willing to surrender the political freedom they had gained in America to sustain this relationship. The colonists’ monetary interests yielded to their ideological interests to power the American Revolution.
Money absolutely played a role in the American Revolution but to say that it was the reason the war was fought is misguided. When making this argument the colonists’ disapproval of the taxes imposed by the British is most often used to support this claim, but the taxes are usually exaggerated. The Townshend Acts, the Sugar Act, and the Stamp Act are the most well know taxes that were levied on the colonies but they did not end up costing the colonists that much. Most colonists were able to put up with, or circumvent, the taxes and the economy hardly suffered. The Townshend Act lasted only three years until it was repealed, the tax
Two of the most important documents of the 18th century included the Declaration of Independence and Thomas Paine’s Common Sense. In these documents the authors lay out the reasons for the pursual of independence, most of which have nothing to do with money. The Declaration of Independence lists the wrongdoings of the King and mentions that, “Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.” Great Britain did not respond to the dissent of the colonists and therefore were at odds during the 18th century. The Declaration of Independence goes on to state that the colonies are separating from Britain because they “[took] away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments.” Once again we are reminded of the neglect of the colonies by Britain and how during that time the colonies had formed their own form of government with different ideologies than Parliament. Thomas Paine’s pamphlet, Common Sense, also rarely mentions money and instead chooses to focus on the freedom that can be gained by the separation of the colonies from Great Britain. When Paine tells the colonists that “Freedom hath been hunted round the globe… Europe regards her like a stranger,” it serves to tell the colonists that America has the opportunity to be different. America has