Discuss the causes of the American War of Independence.
Discuss the causes of the American War of Independence.
INTRODUCTION: In the early seventeenth century, many English people settled in 13 colonies of America , outraged by the religious immorality of the Stuart dynasty in England. The colonists, along with the original inhabitants of the colonies, the Red Indians, were under autonomy under one governor. But in 1766 AD, the British authorities passed the Declaratory Act, saying that from now on, the rights of the colonists would be decided by the British Parliament. According to this declaration, various taxes were being imposed on the colonists. Against this , the colonists declared the war of independence in 1776 AD . According to Lord Acton it was the "American Revolution. The reasons for this revolution are as follows: -
1. Religious hatred: -
Many of the English who left the motherland and came to the American colonies to escape the religious persecution of the Stuart kings of England are descendants of the Puritan Englishmen. For generation after generation the Puritans were against England . They did not want to go through under the king of England .
2. Emergence of nationalism: -
Living side by side in different adversities for several generations, worshiping in the same church, a sense of unity developed between the colonialists. They felt their existence was different from that of the British. Having been away from the motherland for generations and having secured their existence in America, they became united with the American national consciousness. Influenced by the philosophical ideas of Tom Payne, Thomas Jefferson, Milton, Montesquieu, etc., it was easy for colonialism to develop a sense of nationalism.
3. Impact of the Seven Years' War: -
After the defeat of France in the Seven Years' War (1856-63), the French colony of North America was annexed by England. As a result, the French fear was removed from the minds of the colonialists. They united and jumped for independence. According to the historian Edmund Wright, the American revolution became inevitable as the French fear disappeared.
4. Navigation Act : -
The law passed during the reign of Sturt King Charles II (1660) states:
(i) No industrial enterprise or factory may be established in America.
(ii) Materials produced in thirteen American colonies - such as indigo, sugar, cotton, tobacco, etc., may be exported to England only by English ship.
(iii) All English goods will also come to the 13 American colonies via English ships.
(iv) No cotton products should be prepared in the colonies.
5. Warrant of Assistance: -
The National Debt was greatly increased as England suffered heavy financial losses during the Seven Years' War. It was taken as the policy of the British to collect from the colonists to cover this financial loss. The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Lord Grenville, passed a law called the Warning of Assistance (1763) to stop smuggling and increase revenue. According to this law, the houses of the colonists were searched without any prior warning.
6. Sugar Law (1764 AD): -
The British Prime Minister Grenville enacted the Sugar Act. For so long the colonists used to import cheap sugar and molasses from the French colony of Canada, but after the seven-year war, Canada was annexed by the British and the tax on these imports was increased from 2.5 to 5 percent. The indirect effect of this was to increase the price of alcohol in America, which angered the colonists.
7. Stamp Act (1765): -
The Grenville Cabinet issued the Stamp Act to raise one-third of the total cost of the 10,000 British troops stationed in the colonies. The law states that all documents and licenses in the United States must be stamped with a purchase from the British government, otherwise it will not be legal. James Otis, a Boston lawyer who opposes the black law, said that since the United States has no representative in the British Parliament, Americans are not obliged to pay any taxes imposed by the British Parliament.
8. Declaration Act (1766 AD): -
The next British Prime Minister, Rockingham withdrew the Stamp Act. Cabinet Revenue Minister Charles Townsend issued the Declaration Act. The law states that the British Parliament has the right to impose taxes on the colonists. The law imposes taxes on tea, sugar and glass imported into the American colonies. The colonists were outraged by the law.
9. Boston Tea Party: -
The next prime minister, Lord North, withdrew all taxes in 1770 AD after a storm of protests against various taxes across 13 American colonies. But to maintain the British Parliament's right to impose tax on the colonists, he only imposed a tax of 3penny per pound on tea. In protest, at the behest of Samuel Adams, several colonists, disguised as Red Indians, boarded a ship called Dartmouth at night (December 16, 1773) and threw 342 cans of tea into the sea. This event is known as the Boston Tea Party. After this incident, the British government closed the port of Boston and adopted various repressive policies which set the stage for the war of independence.
10. Declaration of Independence: -
The American colonies became furious against the British colonial rule. The 51 delegates from the 12 American colonies, excluding Georgia, met in a session in Philadelphia (September 5, 1774). It was at this session that King George III of England was asked to remedy the various problems of the American people. But all the appeals of the colonists to George III failed. The rebellion intensified as British troops opened fire on Lexington and Concord near Boston. The colonists elected George Washington as their leader or commander-in-chief and declared independence on July 4, 1776 in a proclamation by Thomas Jefferson. Eventually, through the Treaty of Versailles, the British accepted the independence of the American colonists.
Conclusion: -
Holland, France and Spain joined the colonists in the American independence struggle. With the surrender of the British general Cornwallis and the able leadership of Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, John Adams, etc., the American people witnessed the dawn of independence. Washington, the father of the nation, is the first president of the independent United States.
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