American Revolution

Causes of the American Revolution

When George III came to the throne in 1760 scarcely anyone in England or America foresaw independence for thirteen of the British colonies in North America. Colonists were proud of their affiliation with Great Britain and satisfied with the prosperity they enjoyed as part of Britain's commercial empire. Only in retrospect do the irritations that arose in the course of Britain's management of its vast empire appear to point toward revolution.

From the seventeenth century on, colonists bridled under the governance of royal officials sent to protect the Crown's interests in North America. The policies themselves were not at issue, since for the most part they harmonized well enough with the colonists' interests. The colonists worried more about bureaucratic avarice. They suspected that the officials, whether governors, customs officers, or surveyors of the woods, pursued their personal interests under the guise of enforcing royal policy. It seemed all too likely that fees, taxes, and fines collected in the name of the king would end up in the pockets of the officials rather than the royal treasury. These suspicions persisted throughout the eighteenth century, but against this ever-present danger the colonists erected a "hedge" to keep them, as they said, "from the wild Beasts of the field." The hedge was the right of their local legislatures to pass laws, raise taxes, authorize military operations, and audit accounts, free from official intimidation. The colonists' success in establishing the rights of their legislative assemblies, always in the face of complaints of their obstinacy, gave a measure of confidence that their liberty was secure. Everywhere in 1760 the colonists enthusiastically celebrated the ascent of the new king to the throne.

Imperial officials in London, though always uneasy about the assertiveness of the colonial legislatures, had no concerted plan for reform at the end of the French and Indian War in 1763. The events that led to revolution in 1776 did not grow out of a British resolve to bring the loosely governed empire under control at last. That came to be a secondary goal of policy, but initially Parliament naively stumbled into the American controversy in pursuit of other ends. They were looking in another direction entirely when in 1765 the colonies exploded in rage at parliamentary taxation.