American Revolution

The thirteen colonies that became the USA were originally colonies of Great Britain. By the time the American Revolution took place, the citizens of these colonies were beginning to get TIRED of the British rule. Rebellion and discontent were rampant. For those people who see the change in the American government and society a real Revolution, the Revolution is essentially an economic one. The main reason the colonies started rebelling against 'mother England' was the taxation issue. The colonies debated England's legal power to tax them and, furthermore, did not wish to be taxed without representation. This was one of the main causes of the Revolutionary War. The Revenue Act of 1764 made the constitutional issue of whether or not the King had the right to tax the thirteen colonies an issue, and this eventually "became an entering wedge in the great dispute that was finally to wrest the American colonies from England" (Olsen, 6). It was the phrase 'taxation without representation' "that was to draw many to the cause of the American patriots against the mother country" (6).

The reaction against taxation was often violent and the most powerful and articulate groups in the population rose against the taxation (6). "Resolutions denouncing taxation without representation as a threat to colonial liberties" were passed (6). In October of 1765, colonial representatives met on their own initiative for the first time and decided to "mobilize colonial opinion against parliamentary interference in American affairs" (6). From this point on, events began to reach the point of no return for the colonies. In December 1773, the Boston Tea Party occurred as a reaction to the hated Tea Act of earlier that year. In 1774, the First Continental Congress met and formed an 'Association,' which ended up assuming leadership and spurred new local organizations to end royal authority (Olsen, 9). Because of the influence of these Associations, many people joined the movement, and collection of supplies and mobilization of troops began to take place. The leadership of the Association was able to fan "public opinion into revolutionary ardor" (9).

However, not everyone favored the revolutionary movement; this was especially true in areas of mixed ethnic cultures and in those that were untouched by the war. The citizens of the middle colonies were especially unenthusiastic about the revolution (Ward, 78). Among those who did support a change in the government structure, not everyone who joined the movement favored violence. Quakers and members of other religions, as well as many merchants from the middle colonies, and some discontented farmers and frontiersmen from southern colonies opposed the use of violence, and instead favored "discussion and compromise as the proper solution" (Olsen, 9). The patriots were able to gain a great deal of support for a violent Revolution from the less well-to-do, from many of the professional class, especially lawyers, some of the great planters and a number of merchants (9). Support for the Revolution increased when it became clear that King "George III had no intention of making concessions" (9). By the Fall of 1774, the American people "had in place the mechanisms of revolutionary organization on the local and colony level. A Congress of the colonies would coordinate and control the revolutionary movement" (Ward, 53). The Revolutionary War erupted on April 19, 1775 (60). The reason the British and the Americans resorted to using arms after a decade of fighting verbally and ideologically over the rights of the British subjects in the colonies, was because both sides had finally "become convinced that force alone

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