The Causes of the American Revolutionary War

The Causes of the American Revolution War

An island ruling a continent. A war that gave birth to a new and free country. King George's taxes, neglect of the original 13 colonies, and England's mercantilism policy played a major part in the fire and anger of the English colonists in America that lead to the American Revolution of 1775 to 1783.

King George III of Britain was a tyrant by the standards of James Otis and other colonial rebels. He put taxes on the colonists' tea, paper, and many other items that they used frequently, if not daily. These taxes were called the Townsend Acts and King George did not give colonists any say or vote in Parliament in the taxes. Part of the money collected even went to the colonial governor's pocket! To free themselves from these tyrannic taxes, the colonists united and boycotted British products. These boycotts caused the English merchants to lose money and so they turned against King George for provoking the boycotts. Also, King George did not abide by the Magna Carta by taxing the British colonists. In the Magna Carta, it is clearly stated in Clause 12, "No . . . aid (taxes) shall be imposed . . . unless by common counsel of our kingdom." Nevertheless, King George III was unfair when the colonists pointed this out and said that since they were across an ocean, the Magna Carta did not apply to them.

The British colonists in America also wanted to break away from Britain because of its mercantilism policy with which they disagreed extremely. This policy said that with more money, a country has more power. Colonists lost hard-earned money to the king because of the mercantilism policy. The colonists sold their raw materials to the mother country at low prices and bought back the finished products at exceedingly high prices because they could not make them themselves. Another part of mercantilism is that a nation must regulate its trade to sell more than it buys. This brought the Navigation Acts. These acts were to regulate trade for Britain's own benefits and forced colonists to trade almost only with England. The king of England also felt that the colonies were there only to make the mother country rich. The colonists felt that King George did not care about them but instead their money. This did not pass by the colonists' tempers.

Another thing that got the colonists red-hot