The American Revolution

The American Revolution, also known as the American War of Independence

1776-1783, is the conflict between thirteen colonies of the eastern seaboard of North
America about their mother country, Great Britain.

Though the war of Independence started as a movement of protest against British

politics in the thirteen colonies, it ended in widespread fighting that aimed at ending
British rule and obtaining independence.

Causes of the American Revolution

For more than 150 years, the colonies had been developing their own society,
economic life, and some self-government. Britain refrained from interfering in colonial
affairs. Starting from the 1760s, however, Britain attempted to enforce its imperial ties
with the colonies. Various contended issues led to friction. After 1763, an imperial
crisis, involving the colonies and Britain developed.

Disagreement about the manner Britain used to handle colonial affairs was no more
than the immediate reason that led to disobedience, resistance and finally warfare.
Mercantilist regulations of the colonies economic activities, imposed taxes or troops
stationing in North American were but the top of the iceberg.

The actual motivations that culminated in the American Revolution however were
more complex. They were deeply rooted in more than one century and a half of
colonial history. The colonial revolted to preserve what they called “their” rights and
liberties, or simply to defend a political tradition of freedom and self government they
had enjoyed so far and which Britain’s growing interference threatened.

The economic factor was also a predominant element in the making of the
American Revolution. Prospering, the colonies needed no more Britain for surviving
in the wilderness. Economic opportunities were plentiful on the frontier but Britain
was restraining their westward advance. As for financial contribution for security
reasons, the colonists rather preferred not to pay them.

On another scale, the impact of contemporary intellectual trends on the American

Revolution was also of a great importance. The Enlightenment age brought about new
political ideas to which the American adhered as exemplified by the Declaration of
Independence, displayed a firm belief in the natural rights of man and representative
government, ideas that were extensively by the enlightenment philosophers.

Political and individual freedom

The settlement along the Atlantic coast grew steadily and slowly, but they progressed
unquestionably. Self-government, religious freedom, education, freedom of
expression and communication were widely developed the colonials. The colonies
developed their own political and economic institutions. They were jealous about them
and therefore resented any British Interference.

Right from the beginning, the English settlers of the thirteen colonies developed the
own political institutions that were largely adapted to the conditions of early
wilderness. Each colony set up its representative assembly, a model of government
that gave settlers a role to play in the political life of the colony.

Self government was a common feature shared by all thirteen colonies, regardless
of their legal status, chartered, proprietary or royal. The relative political freedom the
colonies enjoyed was a favoured by their remoteness from the mother country, slow
communications and the domestic and European problems that occupied Britain at
home.

In terms of individual rights and civil liberties, the colonials enjoyed a wide range
of freedoms. I addition to traditional rights that were transmitted to them under the
common law, Magna Carta and Heabus and Corpus, they developed many of their
own. Religious freedom was widely spread. The implantation of colonies was largely
motivated by religious reasons.