The colonies could not compete with British manufacturing as they only produced raw goods of the products. The British also enacted the Navigation Acts to ensure a proper trade balance. Explain the Navigation Acts. This navigation caused the colonies to become upset with the British. The colonies were in a predicament where they wanted to control their own economic issues but could not because of the strict British control.
The French and Indian War was fought by the British and the French. This war caused many issues between the American colonies and Britian because of the things the British were doing to the Americans during the war. Economically, the British were doing things ideologically, and politically, as well. After the war, the British were trying to find a way to get back all the money they spent on the war. The English did not have much money aand it did not help the British much.
Although the colonists sustained a connection to Britain for more than a decade after the British victory in the French and Indian War, the strategies Parliament implemented to strengthen their hold on the colonies and pay off war debts, as well as their provincial views towards the colonists, primed the American colonies for independence as relations between Britain and its colonies began to sour. The changing perceptions the British and Colonists had toward one another played a crucial part in the eventual split of the British nation, as the colonists started seeing themselves as a different breed from their English relations. During the French and Indian War, this was especially seen in the relationship between a soldier and his general. General Edward Bradock, appointed to direct colonial troops in the Americas, saw his soldiers as provincials who were not able to protect themselves from the French threat. He refused to take crucial advice from respected American advisors, and as a result ended up being ambushed by Indians and defeated.
Unity or independence was very important to the colonists before the Revolutionary War because they didn’t have the rights we do today. Colonists couldn’t trade with the world, weren’t protected of their rights, imposed taxes, and a lot more. The king of the colonies had treated them with a lot of disrespect. He had not given them any freedom whatsoever, and had just made them follow his unjust rules and law. Although they knew the consequences or punishments for doing so, the colonists had found ways to smuggle.
Americans felt that since they had no representation in Parliament, and that there were decisions being made for them without proper representation, that they were slaves to the forceful word of the British crown. Even some countrymen in Great Britain felt that the Americans were being treated unfairly. Lord Camden believed that Americans were not being given their natural born rights as men. “My position is this – I repeat it – I will maintain it to my last hour, - taxation and representation are inseparable: - this position is founded on the laws of nature,” (pg.95, Major Problems in the Era of the American Revolution, Brown). It seems there was a miscommunication, because Britain was treating the Americans different from other British and also wanted to keep major control in anyway, like restricting trade from any other country (like France and Spain).
The Revolutionary War: Why was it fought and was it preventable? Many believe that the trouble started brewing in 1763 at the end of the French Indian War but in all truth the colonist first started feeling discontent with the passing of the Navigation laws in 1650. This law stated that all goods flowing to and from the colonies could only be transported in British vessels. It was aimed to hurt rival Dutch shippers. This law kept money in the empire but hurt the pockets of the wealthy colonists mercantilist that depended on the shipping trade.
Before John was King of England, for many years, the kings defended English territory within France by using English men and money. King John acted in this similar way but his military campaigns were unsuccessful. England and France were constantly at war. By 1204, he had lost his lands in northern France; this included his family’s ancestral land in Normandy and Anjou to Philip II. In order to continue battling France, the King forced from his barons greater taxes and additional military services, this angered the barons because he did not consult them before raising taxes; this was a violation of feudal law and custom.
The colonists couldn’t afford to pay many of the taxes imposed by Britain, and thought that they were unfair and unreasonable. For example, The Stamp Act taxed pretty much everything, like newspapers, bonds, leases, deeds, college diplomas, and even playing cards. Because of the colonists extremely opposition against this act, the British finally repealed it in 1766, but it didn’t take them long enough to replaced with the Declaratory Act. It stated that Britain had full authority to impose whatever taxation they wanted to. Another act that directly affected the colonist was the Quartering Act of 1765, requiring all colonists to provide provisions and housing, which could be the use of inns and empty buildings by the British troops under any circumstances.
The Townshend Acts were similar to the Stamp Act but they taxed different items, and they were put in place after the tax was repealed. Another important difference that the colonists overlooked was that these taxes were a customs duty that could be paid at American ports. All of these parliamentary laws caused uproars in the colonies. They believed that they were not fair because of the no representation of colonists at parliament meetings. The British, to colonial dismay, told them that they were represented because they had Virtual Representation because all parliament members represent all British citizens.
Causes of the American Revolution Economics are the number one concern in America today just as it was in the 1760’s. America was built on economics, mostly by the British because of their help in the French and Indian War. The British helped the colonies fight the French in hopes of winning and controlling North America. They were successful but fell into a huge debt crisis and turned to the colonies for what the Brit’s considered to be pay back, taxes. Before The British could tax the colonists, repayment to the Indians for their help in the French and Indian War was necessary.