Conflict Great Britain and Colonies

¶ … revolution was economic in origin, or depended largely on politics and other areas of American life. The American Revolution came about for a variety of reasons. Many people believe the biggest reason was "taxation without representation," which became a well-known phrase of the fight. However, there were many reasons for the Revolution, and not all of them were economic.

Trade and the importance of economic trade with England were certainly factors in the American Revolution. Americans faced sanctions and taxes for their trade items, and they wanted to be able to trade freely with the world without the English getting in the way. However, these taxes and sanctions were only one reason Americans wanted freedom, and they were not the most important reasons. Politics and political freedom were very important to Americans, and England began to take away these freedoms and the people rebelled.

The colonies had been loosely governed by Britain since they first began. Many of the colonies had very liberal charters that allowed them to elect their own officials, and as Britain loosened the reigns, the colonists got used to governing themselves and making their own decisions. After the French-Indian War, Britain tried to make more rules and govern more heavily, and Americans did not like it. Among other things, they formed committees to provide public safety, but which were really meant to begin to undermine British loyalties in America. One historian writes, "In effect, the committees were undermining the authority of the crown in the colonies and setting up, step-by-step, first in the localities and then in the provinces, revolutionary extralegal governments. The old state was disintegrating; a new revolutionary one was replacing it" (Wahlke 15). This brought the colonies one step closer to revolution, and brought the colonists together to form one band to combat the English. These committees also helped bring more of the lower and middle classes into the fight against the British, which made the fight more of a fight for everyone in the end.

Britain tried to tighten its hold on the colonies when it realized that many of the charters granted to the colonies were more liberal than any other British colonies. The colonists would not stand for losing their freedoms, and this added fuel to the fire for war. Another historian states, "Our ancestors in colonial times encouraged themselves to regard the old charters as so sacred that they were of higher authority than an act of Parliament. They had been granted, it was argued, not by Parliament, but by the old English kings, and were unalterable by Parliament" (Fisher 3). The immigrants had come to America to find a better life and many of them came for religious freedom. They got used to governing themselves and not answering to England for many political and personal problems, and so, after 150 years, they were not ready to give up the freedom they had won.