Circumstances and Possible Explanations That Led to the American and French Revolution

CIRCUMSTANCES AND POSSIBLE EXPLANATIONS SURROUNDING THE AMERICAN AND

FRENCH REVOLUTION

The American Revolution began in 1775 as an open conflict between the thirteen colonies and Great Britain. The main cause that led to the revolution was the issues of tax after the French and Indian war. Britain needed money so they imposed taxes on the American colonies since the war had being fought partly to defend the colony. The British followed a general policy of statutory neglect and the British laws were poorly enforced.

In 1763 the parliament brought an end to the statutory neglect by bringing in more controlling attitude towards the colonies by forcing the Americans to follow the mercantilist law. The first tax law was the stamp act in 1766, the British colonies were forcing the Americans' to pay for the tax stamps, the printed materials of which most of the Americans refused to pay for because there was no taxation without representation. When the British noticed that the Stamp Act law did not succeed, they decided to enforce another law called the Townshend Act in 1767.

This was a tax on imported goods. The British got an impression that the Americans had rejected the Stamp Act because it was a direct tax so the colonist will accept indirect taxes instead. The first Townshend act was the Revenue Act of 1767 which was placed on goods like: tea, paint, paper, glass, etc. which were not produced in North America. The Americans did not accept it because they believed that any law passed by parliament for the purpose of raising revenue was unconstitutional, as a result of the American's protest the British removed all taxes except for the tax on tea. The Tea Act decreased the tax on imported British tea because they were the only company allowed to sell tea to the colonist which gave British merchants an advantage over merchants from anywhere in the world. Ships from England entered the Boston harbor loaded with tea but because of the tea act many American's wanted the tea sent back to England in protest to the exploitation.

A group of colonist led by Samuel Adams boarded the ships holding the tea and threw a load of tea off a British ship, this event became known as the Boston Tea Party. In reaction to the Boston Tea Party, the parliament passed a law known as the Intolerable Acts to serve as a punishment to the Boston people. The port of Boston was closed until they were able to pay for the tea they destroyed. The Intolerable Act had both the negative and the positive effect, the negative effect was that the closing of the port affected businesses depending on trade so it rendered most people jobless while the positive effect was that it forced the American colonists to take sides, this only led to rebellion by the people and restrictions by England. In response to the intolerable act the American's represented 12 colonies, they also voted to stop trading with Britain until the intolerable act was abolished. The colonies then formed the continental congress on September 5 and British troops mobilized to capture munitions and supplies that would be effectively used against the American's.

In March 1775 Patrick Henry made a speech saying "I know not what cause others may take, but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!" which meant war was inevitable.

The philosophies behind the American Revolution were that the Americans were tired of being exploited and treated like slaves, they wanted their rights back, like voting rights, slavery, religion, and women's right. They believed that all humans are equal, man or woman they should all be treated equally. John Locke philosophy of government, freedom, and natural justice challenged the power of England's monarchy over the colonies in America.

John Locke wrote that" The natural liberty of man is to be free from any superior power on earth, and not to be under the will or legislative authority of man, but to have only the law of nature for his rule. The liberty of man in society is to be under no other legislative power but that established by consent in the commonwealth, nor under the dominion of any will, or restraint of any law, but what that legislative shall enact according to the trust put in it."

The issue of religion was a big problem, the Americans argued for the separation of church and state. The majority of the thirteen colonies supported an official religion, called the established church, but the great awakening and the enlightenment destroyed the interest in established religions. Thomas Jefferson delineated the boundary between religious belief and the right to participate in government.

Saying " our civil rights have no dependence on our religious opinions, any more than our opinions in physics or geometry...; All men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinion in matters of religion, and that the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge, or affect their civil capacities."

These philosophies encouraged the American's to fight for independence, which led to the revolution in 1775.

While in the case of the French Revolution was a period of political and social upheaval