Causes of the American Revolution

Causes of the American Revolution

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Beyond the familiar story of taxation and Parliamentary overreach, the American Revolution was shaped by a deeper set of structural, intellectual, and economic factors — from the colonies’ geographic distance and self-governing legislatures, to the ideas of the Enlightenment, to the mercantilist trade restrictions that provoked colonial resentment. This article surveys these additional causes, traces the Revolution’s key events from Lexington and Concord through the Peace of Paris, and profiles the leaders who drove it — a theme central to the UPSC History Optional syllabus on the American Revolution.

Some Other Factors Which Led to the American Revolution

America’s Independent Way of Thinking

Geographic Considerations

• The distance of the colonies from Great Britain created an independence that was hard to overcome.
  • Those willing to colonize the New World generally had a strong independent streak, desiring new opportunities and greater freedom.

Colonial Legislatures

• The existence of colonial legislatures meant the colonies were, in many ways, independent of the crown.
  • These legislatures were allowed to levy taxes, muster troops, and pass laws; over time, these powers became rights in the eyes of many colonists. When they were curtailed by the British, conflict ensued — and the future leaders of the United States were born in these very legislatures.
• There was also a defective administrative system: the Governor and his Executive Council were responsible to the crown, but the right of legislation and tax imposition was handled mainly by the legislative assembly — allowing the assembly to reject demands for payment to governors and judges.

Salutary Neglect

• Even though the British believed in mercantilism, Prime Minister Robert Walpole espoused a view of “salutary neglect” — a system whereby the actual enforcement of external trade relations was lax, in the belief that this enhanced freedom would stimulate commerce.

The Enlightenment

• Many revolutionary leaders had studied major Enlightenment writings, including those of Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and the Baron de Montesquieu.
  • From these writings, the founders drew the concepts of the social contract, limited government, the consent of the governed, and separation of powers.

Trade

• The Triangular Trade routes were established: Americans traded goods they had in abundance for goods scarce in their own region.
  • Triangular Trade, coupled with the British policy of mercantilism, provided a “favorable balance of trade” — but only to Great Britain, ensuring that gold, silver, and domestic money stayed in England.
• Several Acts were passed that hampered American exports:
  • The Wool Act (1699) prohibited the export of American-made cloth.
  • The Hat Act (1732) prevented the trade of American-made hats.
  • The Iron Act (1750) aimed to suppress the manufacture of finished iron goods in the colonies, while increasing the production of raw iron for export to Great Britain.

Beginning of the Revolution

• After the Quebec Act, Americans began drilling militia and organising for war. The British retaliated by confining all trade of the New England colonies to Britain, and excluding them from the Newfoundland fisheries.
  • British PM Lord North advanced a compromise proposal in which Parliament would not tax the colonies so long as they made fixed contributions for defence and to support civil government — this, too, was rejected.
• 16 June 1775: The Continental Congress appointed George Washington commander-in-chief of the Continental Army, and issued $2 million in bills of credit to fund the army.
• 19 April 1775: The Battles of Lexington and Concord — the first battle between British troops and American militia. The Patriots laid siege to Boston, expelled royal officials from all the colonies, and took control through the establishment of Provincial Congresses.
• 17 June 1775: The Battle of Bunker Hill — the first major battle of the War of Independence.

Creating New State Constitutions

• Following the Battle of Bunker Hill in June 1775, the Patriots controlled Massachusetts outside the Boston city limits; the Loyalists suddenly found themselves on the defensive, with no protection from the British army.
  • In all 13 colonies, Patriots overthrew their existing governments, closing courts and driving away British officials. They elected conventions and “legislatures,” using new constitutions in each state to supersede royal charters — declaring themselves states, not colonies.
• On 5 January 1776, New Hampshire ratified the first state constitution; Virginia, South Carolina, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Connecticut followed.
  • In April 1776, the North Carolina Provincial Congress issued the Resolves, explicitly authorising its delegates to vote for independence.
  • In May 1776, Congress voted to suppress all forms of crown authority, to be replaced by locally created authority, calling on all the states to write their own constitutions. The new states were all committed to republicanism, with no inherited offices.
• In states where the wealthy exerted firm control over the process, the resulting constitutions featured:
  • Property qualifications for voting.
  • Bicameral legislatures, with the upper house acting as a check on the lower.
  • Strong governors, with veto power over the legislature.
  • The continuation of state-established religion.
• In states where the less affluent had organised sufficiently to hold significant power — especially Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New Hampshire — the resulting constitutions embodied:
  • Universal white manhood suffrage, or minimal property requirements for voting.
  • Strong, unicameral legislatures.
  • Relatively weak governors, without veto powers.
  • A prohibition against individuals holding multiple government posts.

Thomas Paine’s Common Sense (Published 9 January 1776)

• It is ironic that it took an emigrant from the lower classes of England — Thomas Paine, who had only arrived in America in 1774 — to fully grasp that America could mean a “sanctuary of freedom for humanity.”
• Of all the pamphlets and documents written during the crucial years of 1775–1776, Common Sense stands as the most widely read and influential.
  • This 47-page pamphlet sold 120,000 copies within three months, and during the pivotal year of 1776, some 500,000 colonists bought copies.
• The pamphlet stated, in clear language, that Americans should reject the “monarchial tyranny” of the King and the “aristocratical tyranny” of Parliament, and create independent republican states.
  • In Common Sense, Paine found it absurd that a small island like Britain would rule such a large continent as America.
• It contributed significantly to spreading the ideas of republicanism and liberalism together, bolstering enthusiasm for separation from Britain, and encouraging recruitment for the Continental Army.
  • Common Sense reflects the free thinking and revolutionary idealism of Thomas Paine. Reportedly, George Washington was so persuaded by Paine’s words that he decided to stop supporting the King of England.

The Second Continental Congress

• The Second Continental Congress was a convention of delegates from the Thirteen Colonies that began meeting in the summer of 1775, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, soon after warfare in the American Revolutionary War had begun.
  • It succeeded the First Continental Congress, which met between 5 September and 26 October 1774, also in Philadelphia.
• The second Congress managed the colonial war effort and moved incrementally toward independence — by raising armies, directing strategy, appointing diplomats, and making formal treaties, it acted as the de facto national government of what became the United States.

The Olive Branch Petition (5 July 1775)

• The Olive Branch Petition was adopted by the Second Continental Congress on 5 July 1775, in a final attempt to avoid full-scale war between the Thirteen Colonies and Great Britain.
  • The petition affirmed American loyalty to Great Britain and entreated the king to prevent further conflict; Congress endorsed a proposal asking for recognition of American rights and the ending of the Intolerable Acts, in exchange for a ceasefire.
• Despite this effort to heal the broken relationship between colonists and the English crown, King George III refused to even hear the petition.
  • Instead, he issued the Proclamation of Rebellion, and on 23 August 1775, declared the colonies to be in open rebellion.
• In June 1776, staunch Loyalists and anti-independence moderates withdrew from the Continental Congress, leaving the Patriots completely in charge and unchallenged.
  • Congress then appointed a committee, led by Jefferson, which drafted the Declaration of Independence.

The Declaration of Independence (4 July 1776)

• A document approved by the Continental Congress in Philadelphia on 4 July 1776, announcing the separation of the 13 North American British colonies from Great Britain.
  • It was written largely by Thomas Jefferson, who had already displayed talent as a political philosopher and polemicist in his A Summary View of the Rights of British America, published in 1774.
• It stated the reasons and justification for the thirteen colonies seeking independence, listing colonial grievances against King George III, and asserting certain natural and legal rights, including a right of revolution.
  • It explained why Congress, on 2 July, had “unanimously” — by the votes of 12 colonies, with New York abstaining — resolved that “these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be Free and Independent States.”
  • Up to this time, the colonists had been fighting for their rights as British subjects; after the Declaration, they fought for their right to be an independent nation.
• The Declaration stated that the King had “a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having a direct object of the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states.”
  • These “injuries” included dissolving colonial government, controlling judges by limiting trial by jury, sending armies of occupation, cutting off colonial trade with other parts of the world, and taxing without colonial consent.
• It also declared: “We hold these truths to be sacred & undeniable; that all men are created equal & independent, that from that equal creation they derive rights inherent & inalienable, among which are the preservation of life, & liberty, & the pursuit of happiness.”
  • When a government fails to protect those rights, it is not only the right but the duty of the people to overthrow that government, and in its place establish a government designed to protect those rights.
  • The phrase “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” was influenced by the British philosopher John Locke, who, in 1689, argued in his Two Treatises of Government that political society existed to protect “property” — which he defined as a person’s “life, liberty, and estate.”

The Significance of the Declaration of Independence

• Abraham Lincoln considered the Declaration the foundation of his political philosophy, arguing it was a statement of principles through which the U.S. Constitution should be interpreted; it helped in countering slavery in the USA.
• The Declaration inspired many other similar documents in the USA and other countries.
  • The Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution declare that governments cannot deprive any person of “life, liberty, or property” without due process of law.
  • It served as the primary model for numerous declarations of independence across Europe, Latin America, and Africa (Liberia) during the first half of the 19th century, encouraging Antonio de Nariño and Francisco de Miranda in their efforts to overthrow the Spanish empire in South America.
  • Article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights reads: “Everyone has the right to life, liberty, and security of person.”
• Many leaders of the French Revolution admired the Declaration of Independence.
  • The inspiration and content of the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen (1789) emerged largely from the ideals of the American Revolution; its key drafts were prepared by Lafayette, working closely in Paris with his friend Thomas Jefferson.
  • The Declaration of Independence was quoted with enthusiasm by the Marquis de Mirabeau during the French Revolution.
• It remains a great historical landmark, containing the first formal assertion by a whole people of their right to a government of their own choice — what Locke had contended for as an individual, the Americans proclaimed as a body politic, and made good the argument by force of arms.
  • The Declaration continues to play a significant role in the world today: it is because of its influence that women are now treated the same as men, and all races are treated equally, and without the words of the American founding fathers, some of the civil rights later won might never have come to light.

Articles of Confederation (1777–1781)

• The Second Continental Congress approved a new constitution, the “Articles of Confederation,” for ratification by the states on 15 November 1777.
  • The Articles were formally ratified on 1 March 1781; at that point, the Continental Congress was dissolved, and the following day, a new government — the United States in Congress Assembled — took its place, with Samuel Huntington as presiding officer.
• The Articles of Confederation served as the written document establishing the functions of the national government of the United States after independence.
  • It established a weak central government, which mostly — but not entirely — prevented the individual states from conducting their own foreign diplomacy.

Outside Help for Americans

• In 1778, the Patriots’ prospects for victory improved.
  • The American militia’s victory against a trained British force gave the Americans confidence. The French government now decided to help the colonies with troops, supplies, and funds, in order to embarrass Britain, France’s old enemy. Other enemies of Britain — Spain and Holland — soon joined the fight elsewhere.
• The alliance brought the Americans money, troops, and supplies, and transformed the conflict from a colonial rebellion into an international war.
  • Thereafter, British forces not only confronted troops in North America, but also had to defend the West Indies and India against France, and Gibraltar against Spain.
  • Meanwhile, trouble was brewing for Britain at home: there was a threat of rebellion in Ireland, and strong leaders in Parliament opposed the war with the colonists.

Yorktown 1781: Surrender of the British Army

• The British army under Cornwallis marched to Yorktown, Virginia, where he became trapped.
  • In October 1781, under a combined siege by the French and Continental armies under Washington, the British surrendered.
• Though the British Army surrendered at Yorktown in October, it took diplomats two more years to end the war.
  • Peace talks began in 1782, but the French stalled for time, hoping for a naval victory or territorial conquest. Britain’s strategic and tactical decisions proved fatally flawed, as they underestimated the challenges posed by the Patriots.
  • Support for the conflict had never been strong in Britain, where many sympathised with the rebels — and it now reached a new low. Although King George III personally wanted to fight on, his supporters lost control of Parliament, and no further major land offensives were launched.

Peace of Paris (1783)

• The Peace of Paris of 1783 was the set of treaties that ended the American Revolutionary War.
  • On 3 September 1783, representatives of King George III signed a treaty in Paris with representatives of the United States (Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, John Jay) — commonly known as the Treaty of Paris (1783) — along with two treaties at Versailles with France and Spain, known as the Treaties of Versailles (1783); a peace treaty was also signed with Holland.
  • Collectively, the Treaty of Paris and these separate peace treaties between Great Britain and the nations that supported the American cause — France, Spain, and Holland — are known as the Peace of Paris.
• The Treaty of Paris formally recognised the independence of the 13 British colonies as the United States.
  • Britain retained Canada, north and west of the Great Lakes. All land between the Appalachians and the Mississippi River was ceded to the new American republic, and Britain promised to withdraw its garrisons throughout the territory.
  • The United States agreed to end the persecution of Loyalists and restore property confiscated from them during the war; all prisoners of war were to be released.
• The American Congress of the Confederation ratified the Treaty of Paris on 14 January 1784.
  • It is said the treaty was very generous to the United States in terms of greatly enlarged boundaries. In the simultaneously signed Treaty of Versailles, Britain made peace with France and Spain.
    • France’s territorial gains included Saint Lucia and Tobago in the West Indies, Senegal in Africa, and some regions in India.
    • Spain reacquired Florida from Britain.
  • Spain probably fared better out of the American Revolutionary War than any other participant, regaining significant territories lost in earlier conflicts, without the massive costs sustained by France and the United States.
• The treaties were vague in defining the boundaries between the United States and its British and Spanish neighbours, so territorial disputes would mar relations for the next 30 years.
  • The British abandoned their Indian allies living in the region, who were not party to the treaty and did not recognise it until they were defeated militarily by the United States.
  • Since the blockade was lifted and old imperial restrictions were gone, American merchants were free to trade with any nation anywhere in the world, and their businesses flourished.

How The Wealth of Nations Influenced the Course of the Revolutionary War

• The Wealth of Nations, published in 1776 by Adam Smith, was probably the most influential book ever written on market economics.
  • In 1766, Smith began research for the book, starting with a study of the Seven Years’ War and how the British government had decided the colonists must help pay down the war debt through tax measures.
• In the book, Smith attacked the 18th-century European economic system of mercantilism, in which each nation’s goal was to increase exports to its colonies and other nations, limit imports from them, and secure a “favorable balance of trade.”
  • Mercantilists believed that the more gold and silver they acquired, the more wealth they possessed. Smith felt this was foolish, arguing it limited the potential for “real wealth,” which he defined as “the annual produce of the land and labor of the society.”
  • He insisted that the British colonial empire, and the mercantile trade restrictions it placed on its colonies — especially in North America — were “hurtful to the general interest of society,” helping only British special interests rather than society as a whole.
• His solution: Britain should institute a free market system — “an obvious and simple system of natural liberty” — that would produce true national wealth.
  • A free market economy — based on supply and demand, with little or no government control — occurs when buyers and sellers are allowed to freely buy, sell, and trade goods based on mutual agreement on price, without state intervention through taxes, subsidies, or tariffs. Smith argued this would benefit all social classes, not just the privileged few who benefited from mercantilism.
  • To achieve economic growth and social betterment, Britain should dismantle its network of government economic privileges and restrictions, letting the “free market mechanism” operate on its own, without government interference — laissez-faire.
  • Since the colonies had cost Britain more than they gained through maintaining a monopoly of trade, Parliament should let the American colonies peacefully go their own way.
• These ideas of a free market economy greatly influenced the thinking of American colonial leaders as they moved toward war with England.

Practice Question

“A roster of talented leaders emerged during 1763 to 1775 to make the American Revolution happen.” Comment.

The rise of talented thinkers, philosophers, and leaders — many of them representing the ideas of the Enlightenment — drove the American Revolution and the independence of the United States.

Thomas Jefferson

• Governor of Virginia, a political philosopher, and statesman.
  • Wrote the Declaration of Independence (1776), making his famous declaration that “all men are created equal.”
  • Drew on both English and French Enlightenment thought.

Thomas Paine

• Greatly influenced by the French Enlightenment (the ideas of Rousseau, Montesquieu, Voltaire, among others), and known for his revolutionary thought.
  • Anti-monarchy and a believer in the republic; supported the idea of natural rights.
  • Composed works such as Common Sense and Rights of Man. In Common Sense, he found it absurd that an island like Britain would rule a continent like America.

Benjamin Franklin

• A thinker, scientist, and founder of the American Philosophical Society.
  • Foundational in defining the American ethos as a marriage of practical values — thrift, hard work, education, community spirit, self-governing institutions, and opposition to political and religious authoritarianism — with the scientific and tolerant values of the Enlightenment.
  • Had visited France and been influenced by French Enlightenment ideas; a major figure in developing positive Franco-American relations, whose efforts proved vital in securing crucial munitions shipments from France for the Revolution.
  • Also served as Postmaster General.

George Washington

• As commander-in-chief of the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War, he was the principal force behind victory, effected with the surrender of the British at Yorktown.

John Adams

• A political theorist and revolutionary who helped formulate the argument that the American colonies had never been legitimately subject to the jurisdiction of the British Parliament.
  • Declared that the history of the American Revolution went back to 1620, and that the revolution was, at its core, in the minds and hearts of the people.
  • Sent as a delegate from colonial Massachusetts to the Continental Congress, where he played a leading role in persuading Congress to declare independence, and assisted in drafting the Declaration of Independence (1776).

Samuel Adams

• Founder of the “Sons of Liberty” organisation, which organised the Boston Tea Party.
  • Argued that the Tea Party was not the act of a lawless mob, but a principled protest — the only remaining option the people had to defend their constitutional rights.

Patrick Henry

• An attorney, planter, and orator, well known for his declaration to the Second Virginia Convention (1775): “Give me liberty, or give me death!”

James Madison

• A political philosopher and statesman, and a strong supporter of American nationalism.
  • Hailed as the “Father of the Constitution” for his pivotal role in drafting and promoting the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

Alexander Hamilton

• One of the main leaders of the war of independence, having participated in the revolution as part of the revolutionary army.

Other Leaders

• James Otis, John Hancock, Jonathan Mayhew, and Oxenbridge Thacher, among others, played important roles in the revival of American feeling from 1763 onward, which led to the independence of America.