The causes of the American Revolution are many, but they can be broadly broken down into six factors. Show
In this article we will discuss these causes of the American Revolution in great detail, then get into the timeline of events leading to the Revolution itself, from the end of the Seven Years War to the Shot Heard ‘Round the World. I. Changes in Warfare and WeaponsJust prior to the 1600’s we see the use of matchlock rifles. The matchlock was the best mechanism for firing a musket prior to the flintlock rifle. If you can picture the rifles and muskets used during the American Revolutionary War or the American Civil War, you should see a small hammer on the side of the rifle that would strike a flint, causing a spark that lit the gunpowder that in turn burned then lit the gunpowder inside the barrel, forcing the gun to fire. Matchlocks were similar but lacked a flint. Instead, they literally had a burning piece of rope that would fall onto the powder when the trigger was pulled. II. Changes in Government/Society (The Early Modern Era)Historians in recent decades have argued that from a worldwide standpoint, the most important feature of the early modern period was its globalizing character. The period witnessed the exploration and colonization of the Americas and the rise of sustained contacts between previously isolated parts of the globe. New economies and institutions emerged, becoming more sophisticated and globally articulated over the course of the early modern period. Other notable trends of the early modern period include the development of experimental science, accelerated travel due to improvements in mapping and ship design, increasingly rapid technological progress, secularized civic politics, and the emergence of nation states. Historians typically date the end of the early modern period when the French Revolution of the 1790s began the “late modern” period. III. Changes in Political Philosophy and Humanity’s Understanding of Itself“Modernity” has many guises. It marks a historical period in Europe and its colonies, roughly from the late eighteenth century onward. By 1750, many leading intellectuals of Europe were convinced that there was an ideal of “modern” man-a man (not yet a woman) who saw himself as an intellectual and moral individual, believing in the findings of experimental science, and in the desirability of theological and political freedom. But this is not the modernity of the nineteenth century. By 1850, with industrial expositions and railroads spreading across Europe and its colonies, most of the populations of these countries accepted that they were living in a new, “modern” age. IV. Changes in British Governing PolicyTrying to pinpoint the main causes of the American Revolution is difficult at best because there were many contributing factors and even historians can’t agree on what they were. Author and Harvard professor, Bernard Bailyn argues in his book, The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution, that one of the underlying causes of the American Revolution was a growing belief among colonists that the British government was secretly conspiring to create an autocratic government in which the King would have unlimited power. V. Changes in the American ColoniesBefore the French-Indian war and the “intolerable acts, there were changes happening in the American colonies that made waging the Revolutionary War possible. To put it succinctly, the war could not have been fought in 1710 because an independent culture had not developed in America. What led to the development were things like decreased English immigration to America (ties with England were weakened), the First Great Awakening, and trans-colonial institutions like postal networks and newspapers. Below are other causes of the American Revolution The Colonies after the Seven Years’ War
"Causes of the American Revolution" History on the Net© 2000-2022, Salem Media.November 16, 2022 <https://www.historyonthenet.com/causes-of-the-american-revolution> More Citation Information. |