Preview

Causes of the American Revolution Frq Essay Example

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
587 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Causes of the American Revolution Frq Essay Example
The American Revolution, occurring during the late 1700’s, formed the foundation and ideals Americans still hold today. During this era, the Unites States Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights, and a ratified Constitution were written by perhaps some of the greatest philosophical men of America to date. The revolution proved to be no easy task for the American settlers to take on amid a time of economic and political adversity. However, Britain was still recovering from the Seven Years’ War, resulting in many nations, including France, to seek revenge, thus earning American’s support in their revolution. Both economic instability and political turmoil were two of the primary causes of the American Revolution, considering economic hardship was the result of America’s lack of a strong central government and its inferiority to Great Britain’s. The American’s inadequacy to unite and form a strong central government allowed the British to continue to seize control of the colonies, causing American hatred towards Great Britain to rise. British and American’s held completely different opinions on the running of nations and international affairs. The British believed in mercantilism, which stated wealth was power. American’s, strongly against this belief, strived for a republicanism and sought to fight against the monarchy. Corruption within the political exchange between Great Britain and America was highlighted by numerous American radical groups fighting against unjust acts set upon the colonists, such as the Quartering Act and Stamp Act of 1765. Economic stability in the American colonies continued to decrease, essentially due to the growing number of taxes placed upon them in order for Great Britain to pay for the expenses lost in the Seven Years War. Already suffering from Navigation Laws, which included Great Britain mediating all trade to and from the colonies, the Stamp Act and Sugar Act of 1764 made it nearly impossible for American colonists to

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    The American revolution fundamentally changed American society politically(colonies formed the federal government), economically (more use of agriculture), and socially (women used for labor and the fight for more religious freedom.)…

    • 325 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Evaluate the relative importance of three of the following as factors prompting Americans to rebel in 1776.…

    • 1770 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Patrick Henry Dbq

    • 2948 Words
    • 12 Pages

    A complex mythology has been built up around the American Revolution: it is a national story of great significance to the way the United States views itself. But the mythology is just that - a mythology. Contrary to the picture presented in American primary schools, the Americans were not a separate, turkey-eating people, subjugated by the cruel, tyrannical and essentially foreign British. In fact, many colonists thought of themselves as British. Historians accept that the American Revolution had a wide variety of motives and causes: these included slightly differing political traditions, the economic interests of both parties, the trading interests of those directly or indirectly involved in transatlantic commerce, the large…

    • 2948 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    How Did Mercantilism

    • 462 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Great Britain imposed the mercantilist ideals on the 13 American colonies in the 17th century with one single purpose, creating wealth for itself, which equaled to military and political power. Britain did that by implementing various policies and acts, regulating the trade and production of the colonies. Generally, mercantilism caused more harm than good in the political and economic developments of the colonies. The colonial economy was greatly affected in a negative light and while the colonies was under political control of England, resentment arose, which was one of the factors contributed to the Revolution in…

    • 462 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The American Revolution displayed certain stages throughout that matched with the broad general pattern. As a prelude before the Revolution itself, there were already preliminary symptoms of unrest within America that followed the first step in the general pattern of revolutions. Prior to the initial shots in 1775, growing discontent against the British Government who were passing certain acts that the Americans thought as very unfair had already risen to a high degree. With the majority of acts incurring economic and financial costs, by 1767, the Townshend Acts had been passed, putting further taxes on paper, glass and tea. Upon the taxes that the Stamp Act of 1965 incurred on such items as newspapers, official documents and almanacs, the American people became highly agitated and a feeling of resentment quickly spilled over the masses, ‘several person were for dying rather than submitting to it...’ [pg52 Maier, P.] Additionally, the Colonialist became increasingly violent, ‘Almost immediately after the Acts [implementation], outbreak of mob activity. By 1770, the preliminary symptom of unrest displayed through protest and discontent was evident. The Colonialist did not feel that they were obligated to be subject to these taxes without representation in British Parliament. Additionally, the psychological pre-condition associated with the cause of war was present in the Colonialist discontent regarding the numerous Acts bearing economic consequences. Not only had the events up till 1770 displayed active protests and early mob activity, it also hinted at the potential oncoming violence the growing mob could inflict which was the next step in the general broad pattern of revolutions.…

    • 1506 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    One of the most significant events in United States history was the American Revolution. However, the significance of the event did not lay in the number of casualties or in Revolutionary wartime strategies. The importance of the Revolution lay in its effects of American Society. This landmark in American history has caused important changes to the government, affected vast and deep social changes, and altered the economic state of the newborn nation in the years of 1775 to 1800.…

    • 1299 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Bacon's Rebellion Causes

    • 1188 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Throughout the 18th century, America’s quest for autonomy manifested itself in the Continental Congress, The Declaration of Independence, and the American Constitution. This sense of freedom caused America to gradually split apart from its motherland, Great Britain. Due to a multitude of political missteps, mistakes, and heavy-handedness by the British, a growing number of Americans were convinced that Britain had embarked on a mission to deprive them of their property and undermine them to slavery. For the sake of self-betterment, America started gravitating towards a sense of sovereignty, leaving Britain’s blunders behind as it started a new beginning for the amelioration of itself. An amalgam of Enlightenment theories, historical documents,…

    • 1188 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Eve of the Revolution

    • 581 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Once the colonies had been set up, and people started to trade among themselves, indians, and other countries, a way of trade and life was being created. This is the foundation for the new American Image that the colonists portrayed at the end of the revolution. This new image was so different than that of the British, that they started to try and take control of the situation in America. They started to impose new taxes and acts designed to keep the major income to Britain, while letting out as little as possible. Among these taxes were the Sugar Acts and the Stamp Acts. Both of these acts created new tax laws on certain goods. The Stamp Act imposed taxes on all printed documents. This made it so that in order for the colonists to send letters or get anything printed, they must pay more than they had been before. You can imagine how this would possibly piss many people right off. The other act, the Sugar Act, was enacted in order to stop the illegal sugar trade among colonists. It increased the duty on Sugar, and decreased the duty on Molasses. Apart from these acts, there were other actions taken to try and stop the colonists from doing what the British didn’t want them to, for instance the Vice Admiralty Courts. These courts were set up as a way to try smugglers in the new world. Britain was afraid that the smugglers were being tried by their own comrades, and therefore being set free, so they brought in members of the British Parliament to try the smugglers.…

    • 581 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Before the American Revolution occurred, the colonies had experienced a laissez-faire style of government imposed by the British. The British believed in the policy of salutary neglect, which refers to the policy of avoiding strict enforcement of laws meant to keep American colonies obedient to England. The American Revolution occurred due to mercantilist policies imposed by the British due to an effort to lower the tremendous amount of debt after the French and Indian War (1754-1763). The British imposed new taxes such as the Stamp Act (1765) which was a tax on printed items. The Americans then began the slogan “No taxation without representation” which became the cry of the American Revolution. Although men took the front-lines of the battlefield,…

    • 959 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The American Revolution, was a political upheaval that occurred from 1765 to 1783. During this event, the Thirteen American Colonies resisted the ruling of Great Britain therefore attempting and later succeeding at their independence and the founding of their unification as the United States. In the summer of 1776, the Colonies declared their independence, developed a rough idea for a democratic government and the British suppressed any rebellions and the idea of the Colonies’ independence. The decisions that were made on the front lines of the military conflict influenced the creation of the United State’s government by showing the need for a secretary of war, a government and the Declaration of Independence as well as the bottom up approach and the restrictions needed in a republic government .…

    • 698 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The actions and events that took place between 1765 and 1783 were truly one of the most influential moments in our history, this chapter in our history is known as the American Revolution. The American Revolution also related to the war of Independence began when conflict arose from growing tensions between residents of Great Britain’s 13 North American colonies, which represented the British crown. One of the moments that led us to the patriotic movement was the French and Indian war, which is also known as the Seven years’ war. The Seven years’ war is about the colonies of British America against those of New France. The British victory in the French and Indian War had a great impact on the British Empire. It meant…

    • 313 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Shortly after all of the 13 colonies were formed the citizens wanted freedom from their mother country, Great Britain. There were many factors in the colonists decision to become independent. Some of these factors are unwanted taxes, salutary neglect, the inability to trade with countries besides Britain, and no representation in the government that ruled them. These factors led to small rebellions and boycotts, then eventually the Revolutionary War. The United States were being treated more as if they were property rather than people within an empire. Therefore, the colonists had every right to defy their ruler and become their own independent nation.…

    • 682 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    I believe a revolution is necessary. However, I don't think that it necessarily has to be a violent uprising. I think that what is needed first of all is a revolution of the mindset of the general public of North America (hell, Europe too but I'll stick to our side of the ocean). Our democracy is not the problem, the fact that our democracy has sold its soul to capitalism is the problem; transnational corporations have extreme amounts of control and their grip on earth and its people is strengthening (If you get a chance to watch THE CORPORATION then do so,…

    • 859 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The American Revolution embarked the beginning of the United States of America. A war that lasted eight years, 1775-1783, was able to grant the thirteen colonies the independence they deserved by breaking free of British rule. The war was an effect of the previous French and Indian War, which forced England to tax the American colonist, compelling them to rebel against parliament. From the 1760’s to 1775, many factors lead up to the American Revolution such as the various acts the British Parliament passed to pay the war debt, no representation in parliament, and the American people wanting to gain their independence. “No Taxation without Representation”, a slogan used by the American colonist, was the most important cause of the colonists declaring war for their independence on the British government.…

    • 1116 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In the 17th and 18th centuries, France was ruled by an absolute government. The king had…

    • 1028 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays