American Revolution
Among the many complex factors that contributed to instigating
the
American Revolution, two stand out most clearly: England’s imposition
of
taxation on the colonies and the failure of the British to gain consent of
those
being governed, along with the military measures England took on the
colonists.
Adding to these aforementioned factors were the religious and
political legacy
of the colonies, and the restriction of civil liberties by
the British.
Parliamentary taxation was undoubtedly one of the greatest
factors inspiring the
American public to rebel in the years leading up to
the American Revolution. One
of the most striking examples of this kind of
taxation was the Stamp Act of
1765. After many years of fighting, England
badly needed revenues from their
colonies, and they sought to acquire these
revenues from the New World, thereby
increasing their influence over the
colonial governments. These theories of
"New Imperialism" were what
prompted Prime Minister Grenville to pass the
Stamp Act. The Stamp Act of
1765 stated that persons of almost any profession
were obliged to buy stamps
for their documents. In other words, the act imposed
a tax on every printed
document in the colonies. For example, a printer had to
buy stamps in order
to legally be able to distribute his publications. While the
act itself was
not so detrimental to the economy, it was the ideals behind the
act (a direct
attempt on the part of the mother country to further itself and
raise
revenues in the colonies) which drove the revolutionaries’ cause.
In
October of 1765, the same year the act was passed, the Stamp Act
Congress met
with delegates from nine colonies and petitioned the King of
England, along with
the two houses of Parliament. This petition and reaction
to the act became the
first formal cry for reformation with regard to
England’s control over
America. In addition to the Stamp Act of 1765,
other various taxations aroused a
spirit of revolution in America. One year
before the Stamp Act, the Sugar Act of
1764 lowered the duty on molasses
and raised the duty on sugar. While this act
was designed to raise money, the
majority of the Americans did not view it as
any different than traditional
taxations. Another set of taxes, known as the
Townshend Duties, taxed
goods imported to the colonies from England. Townshend
judged this to be more
practical because the duty was on "external" goods
(those imported to the
country) rather than "internal" goods, which the
Stamp Act had attempted
to address. However, the already distraught and
rebellious American public
would not allow it. Soon after the Townshend Duties,
the colonial governments
were urged by the Massachusetts Assembly to revolt and
stand up against every
tax, external or internal, imposed by Parliament.
Eventually, as a result
of all the taxes and regulations, the expression "no
taxation without
representation" emerged. The Americans were clear and concise
on what they
wanted: Whether the tax be internal or external, whether it be
designed to
raise revenue or control trade, it could not exist without the
consent of the
colonists who were being taxed. The final test of will came when
the British
government passed the Tea Act of 1773. This act effectively cut out
the
middleman, or colonial merchant, in the tea trade between Britain
and
America. This infuriated the colonial merchants, because a powerful
monopoly had
taken away their ability to trade in the valuable tea. Not only
did the economic
results of the Tea Act anger the merchants, but also the
idea of taxation
without representation once again sprang to the forefront of
American minds. The
complete boycott of tea by Americans ensued. This boycott
was extremely
important, because it unified the colonies in a mass popular
protest. It is also
worth noting that American women became actively involved
in this protest, since
they were the main consumers of tea in America. Riots
and protests burst across
the county, the biggest and most influential one
being the famous "Boston Tea
Party". In this riot, an English boat
carrying tea shipments was docked in the
Boston Harbor. Three bands of
fifty men each went aboard the ship, and wildly
emptied the tea chests
overboard into the harbor. The Boston Massacre
exemplifies how British
military measures backfired and allowed the Americans to
gain a sense of
unity in working towards a common goal of independence. What
actually
happened in the event was a bit unclear to historians. It seems as
though
there was a scuffle between British soldiers stationed in the town
of
Boston and Boston laborers. The soldiers had started to compete with
the
Bostonians for jobs during their off-duty hours, and, to put it
lightly, the
Bostonians were not pleased. On March 5th, 1770, the
situation got out of hand.
In the end, British soldiers killed 5 innocent
people when they fired into the
angry crowd. This "Boston Massacre" was used
as pro-revolutionary propaganda
and spread across America like wildfire the
injustices of British rule. Paul
Revere painted horrid images of the
soldiers ruthlessly killing the innocent
workers, and Samuel Adams, one of
the most effective radicals in America, told
stories of oppression,
corruption, and sin in England. He organized a"committee of correspondence,"
which openly publicized the complaints
American had with England, and
other colonies followed Massachusetts’s example
in forming political
organizations of their own. It could be said that if not
for the legacy of
religious and political ideas in the colonies, the spirit of
revolution would
never have had the potential to exist in America. In the early
1760’s,
when the revolutionary ideas were just starting to emerge, people
could look
to two sources of information in order to justify their radical
ideas: the
Bible and John Locke. The Bible told stories of an unjust King in
Israel
and how he was overthrown when he imposed unfair taxes on his
people.
This allowed the colonists to believe God was on their side, and
that he
supported what they were doing: rebelling against unjust laws. The
colonists
also looked to another man for ideas on revolution, an
Enlightenment philosopher
named John Locke. Ironically enough, Locke, one of
the most important men in
prompting the Americans to revolt against England,
was English himself. An
extremely influential man, he argued that humans had
"natural rights" to
life, liberty, and property. If the government at any
point took these natural
rights away from the people, it was not only
acceptable, but considered the
people’s duty to rebel. Traces of Locke’s
ideas can still be seen in the
Declaration of Independence, which states
every man has the natural right to"life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."
The restriction of civil
liberties by the British on the Americans was
another factor that prompted the
revolution in 1776. The glaring example in
this case would be the Mutiny
(Quartering) Act of 1765. In this act, the
colonists were forced to assist in
maintaining and providing quarters for the
British Army. In modern times, this
could be deemed completely
unconstitutional; however, there existed no
constitution during the times of
the Quartering Act. The fact that there was a
strong resentment towards the
British by the colonists would be an
understatement. When they were obliged
to live with the people they resented, a
spirit of revolution was evoked.
There already existed strong feelings of
resentment towards England due to
the Currency Act of 1764. This unjust act took
away the colonial assembly’s
ability to issue paper money, as well as to
retire all paper money currently
in circulation. These revolutionary ideas were
awoken once again, when in
1767, Townshend suspended the New York Assembly. His
justification for
suspending the Assembly was "a reaction to the colonist’s
inability to follow
the Quartering Act". The Americans were infuriated when
they rebelled before
in hopes of reform, they instead received more oppression
and restriction of
civil liberties from England. If these factors had not
intersected in the
ways that they did, the Americans would most likely not have
rebelled in
1776. First, they needed to have a spirit of revolution in their
minds, which
was provided to them by John Locke and then was justified
religiously by the
Bible. Second, Britain had to take measures that would
instigate and anger
the people. They did this when they restricted their civil
liberties in
various Acts. Finally, there had to be measures taken that were so
oppressive
and unjust that it would unify the Americans to rebel against
Britain,
which happened when Britain taxed without their consent, and
ultimately, when
they crossed the line and killed innocent Bostonians in
protest.