The American Revolutionary War, also referred to as the American War of Independence, was a war from 1775 to 1783 between Britain and its colonies established in North America. In many ways, it changed the world’s balance of power and defined the course of future history. This war can be considered the peak of another, much broader event – the American revolution. The reasons behind the American colonists’ desire for change vary from ideological to economical and, most interestingly, come from Europe in their majority. The ideas about human rights as something fundamental for society draw a lot of inspiration from the philosophy of the European Enlightenment.1 In addition, a class struggle in the context of the American revolution added a substantial social context and an alternative democratic vision for it.2 In the meantime, the taxes that British Empire imposed on its colonies drastically impacted the latter’s economy, thus also showing the connection to the revolutionary process.3 With a closer inspection of mentioned revolution’s sources, it becomes clear that the unfair taxation was the last needed straw that ultimately sparked the revolution.
European political thought could not escape the influence of Enlightenment ideals, the idea of human rights among them. Consequently, when the Europeans emigrated to colonize America, they intended to establish a purer and more unrestrained civil and ecclesiastical government in the new land. These people came from an unsullied branch of the nation, filled with the visions of freedom, and they found the place ideally suited for the growth of such a community. According to Bailyn, in the colonies that were “sought and established as a haven of freedom, civil and religious,” integrity was continuously supported by a simple lifestyle different from the complexity of a European one.4 Although the idea that America was purer and freer than England originated mainly from local, non-conformist perspectives, various essential supporters of Enlightenment, such as Voltaire, agreed with that notion.5 The belief was that colonists understood the rights common to every human individual even better than the Europeans.6 Consequently, many people who shared this vision of life decided to migrate and join the colonies.
Nevertheless, it was not possible to completely eliminate the detrimental influence of the old world. The class stratification presented in the division of new American elites and the ordinary people, along with the women and enslaved people who had no vote rights, resulted in the different expectations from the revolutionary ideas. Although the main course was to escape the tightening clutches of British rule, the American elite also became the target of violence on some occasions.7 According to Passant 8, the “true” revolutions were the people who desired root changes to the political and social structures – common artisans, laborers, farmers, enslaved people who had escaped slavery, and women fighting for emancipation. In contrast to them were the wealthy Americans – enslaved people and property owners. On the one hand, they wanted to overcome the political and economic limits set by the British; however, on the other hand, they were afraid of the pure democratic tendencies of the lower classes. Ultimately, they managed to prevail in both winning the independence and staying in the top society echelons due to their higher political maturity.
So far, the ideological and social context can showcase the stimuli and motivations for the revolution, but it lacks the trigger that could set the accumulated dissatisfaction in motion. Consequently, the role of the final catalyst was assumed by the tax policy of the British Empire toward the American colonies. The majority of the taxes targeted the colonies’ trade revenues and property owners primarily; however, some taxes, such as taxes on molasses (1764) and stamps (1765).9 Nominally, the British intended to make its colonies pay for the Seven Years’ War, the colonization price, and the cost of British troops in America.10 Practically, however, the British Empire used taxes as “an instrument of rule and a message of servitude.”11 Colonies responded in the form of riots and activities of different local governments that represented higher and lower classes. Eventually, class unity was achieved, and a common frontier against the British was created, followed by the War of Independence shortly after.
The American revolution had several ideological, social, and economic reasons for its outbreak. In its foundation laid the vision for freedom and equality – the human rights that are supposed to be available to every individual. The enlightened ideology found the implementation in the class stratification present in the American colonies; the lower classes had the strength, the desire, and the potential to invoke political and social changes. The last straw in the American population’s dissatisfaction was the economic policy of the British Empire, which used taxes to subdue colonies and make them pay for the Empire’s expansive ambitions. I believe that the latter was the essential feature of the American revolution because, without a trigger, the desired revolution could have been delayed, thus making the process and the outcome more unpredictable.
Bibliography
Bailyn, Bernard. The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution. London: Harvard University Press, 2017.
Clark, Jonathan Charles Douglas. “How Did the American Revolution Relate to the French? Richard Price, the Age of Revolutions, and the Enlightenment.” Modern Intellectual History, 19 no. 1, (2022): 105-127.
Passant, John. “Taxation and the American revolution.” Australasian Accounting, Business and Finance Journal 11, no. 3, (2017): 20-29.
Footnotes
- Bailyn, Bernard, The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution (London: Harvard University Press, (2017), 96.
- Passant, John, “Taxation and the American revolution,” Australasian Accounting, Business and Finance Journal 11, no. 3, (2017): 20-29.
- Clark, Jonathan Charles Douglas, “How Did the American Revolution Relate to the French? Richard Price, the Age of Revolutions, and the Enlightenment,” Modern Intellectual History, 19 no. 1, (2022): 105-127.
- Bailyn, The Ideological Origins, 96.
- Bailyn, The Ideological Origins, 97.
- Clark, “The Age of Revolutions”, 8.
- Passant, “Taxation and the American revolution,” 25.
- Passant, “Taxation and the American revolution,” 22.
- Passant, “Taxation and the American revolution,” 24-25.
- Passant, “Taxation and the American revolution,” 24-25.
- Passant, “Taxation and the American revolution,” 25.