The Causes of the Revolution

"If we make peaceful revolution impossible, we'll make violent revolution inevitable"

A violent American Revolution was inevitable. 

Now, to really understand the Revolution, of course you need to know the causes of it.

the colonists believed that Great Britan had the best government on Earth. British enjoyed due process of common law. They also had freedom of press without prior censorship. Colonists cherished that they payed taxes that their representatives levied, or they did not pay taxes. Colonial government followed the British model. The protests in 1760's reveled that they were not happy.

The British government was composed of a Legislative Parlament, and and Executive-monarch. The Legislative Parliament included the House of Lords, and the House of commoners.

The house of lords was composed of aristocrats: nobility, elite, upper class. They were not elected. The House of commoners, on the other hand, was elected. Each colony, except for Pennsylvania had a two-house legislation. First house was the elected council and an elected assembly. a council appointed by the governor, and the governor served the king. 

Rhode Island and Connecticut elected their own governor. Pennsylvania's entire assembly was elected.

The colonists did not elect ant members of the British Parliament.

As you can notice, the British Government was not democratic at all. Democracy seemed very dangerous and foolish to them. they thought that allowing people to vote was not a good idea. Rich could never accept this. (we can still see this nowadays, all of the social divisions) In 1770, Lord North was prime minister, and he said: "I cannot agree that all men are equal". He believed that if you were poor or rich, you were not equal anymore. Most britans agreed with him. 

Colonial government differs from the British Government in different ways. For example, British constitution was not a formal document; it was nothing but an accumulation of laws and traditions. In contrast, colonists did have legal documents, like the Royal Charter. 

In the colonies, 2/3 of the white men could vote, while in England, it was only 1/4.

By 1760, Political Upheaval had allowed the elected colonial assemblies to increase their power. Assemblies payed the governor, but British officials wanted to change that, so they started to raise taxes to collect money for them to be able to pay the governor, so that they would have the power. 

Parliament believed that they represented every british subject, including the colonists, but the colonists saw themselves as equal members of the Parliament. This provoqued discussions.

There was also a big problem here; colonists believed that only their own elected officials had the right to levi taxes on them. But, they could not elect any members of the Parlament.

 

confusing huh? a lot. But practically, to explain it in a few words; the British Parliament lacked democracy, and the colonists were not happy with these. British started to raise taxes, and they did not have enough money to pay taxes and also survive. this was one important cause of the revolution.

The French and Indian War.

I know what you may think when you hear "the french and indian war", well, it is not a war between the indians and the french. it is actually a war between the British and the French, since the French and Indians allied against the British. This war was called "The Seven Year War", because it lasted seven years. kind of obvious. The French and the British were fighting over the Ohio River Valley, right after the Appalachan Mountains. George Washington commanded the British troop, and he fought against the French. This war spread to Europe, Asia, and the West Indies.


Here is a map that can guide you a little bit:) :

Ok, so, in the beginning, the British were loosing, because the French had destroyed forts on lake Ontario and Lake George, between 1756-1757. The Indians raided a settlement around the frontier of Virginia and Pennsylvania, which weakened the British even more.

Later on, by 1758-1759, the British started winning because they blocked shipping that came for the French. Since the Indians did not benefit from the French anymore, they abandoned them. The French were left alone, so they were captured by the British. First, the British captured Quebec in 1759 and they marched down Saint Lawrence River. A year later, they captured Montreal.


The Treaty of Paris  ended the war. The British kept Canada, and the Ohio River Valley. 


Imagine if you lived in those times? It would be cooler if they had these swords: