The Grounds For The American Revolution Were Based On Economic Conflic

The grounds for the American Revolution were based on economic conflict, as Louis Hacker states, The struggle was not over high-sounding political and constitutional concepts; over the power of taxation or even, in the final analysis, over natural rights. It was over colonial manufacturing, wild lands and furs, sugar, wine, tea and currency, all of which meant, simply, the survival or collapse of English mercantilist capitalism within the imperial-colonial framework of the mercantilist system. The Revolutionary War was based on economic strife brought about by taxes and limitation of trade imposed on America by the British. Although ideological arguments concerning liberty, justice, and the natural right of man were used to justify their rebellion, the underlying motive for the Revolution was to be freed from Englands economic restraints. Two of the initial outbreaks in the Revolutionary War, the Boston Massacre and the Boston Tea Party, were a direct result of economic discontent. The rebellion began with the people of power in the colonies, the merchants. This group of people were the most outraged about the trade sanctions England placed on the colonies, and had the greatest motive for rebellion. The majority of Americans were not overly concerned with the economic disputes, and therefore had less grievances against England. The purpose of this paper is to prove that the main cause of the American Revolution was economic contention between the rich merchants of America and England. Beginning in the middle of the eighteenth century, Britain began to institute a series of checks on Americas trade and economy. In order to pay off their debt gained during the French and Indian War, England needed to obtain revenue from its American colonies. This began with the Molasses Act, which tried to limit Americas lucrative rum and molasses trade to only deal with England. This resulted in widespread smuggling from both the French West Indies and Africa. England also placed several domestic taxes, such as the Stamp Act and the Sugar Act. These acts enforced taxes on goods such as sugar, stamps, and printed materials. Other Acts passed onto America were the Townshend Acts. These acts imposed taxes on items such as paper, paint, glass, and lead. This lead to a general boycott of British luxury items and a growing displeasure with the actions of the British government. This resentment finally came to a head in the Boston Massacre when a group of protester were objecting to the various taxing acts. This group flustered some British soldiers who shot at the group and killed five people. This incident caused the colonies to rally behind the protesters cause. This Boston Massacre shows how the beginning altercations of the Revolution were fueled by anger over British economic policies toward the colonies. Another serious point of contention that started the American Revolution was the Tea Act. Tea taxes had been included in the Townshend Acts, and this provoked the ire of the colonist. Moreover, the merchants were being drastically cut off from all tea profits. The British East India Tea Company was floundering, and England had invested heavily in it. In order to bolster its income, England granted the East India Tea Company a monopoly on the tea trade in America by allowing it to sell their tea for much lower prices than the American merchants could sell theirs at. This resulted in a serious loss of profit for the American merchants. This infuriated the merchants, and they decided to take action. A group of men, dressed up as Indians, took tea from an East India Tea Company ship and dumped into the Boston Harbor. This was known as the Boston Harbor and was one of the most important events of the Revolution. It was a direct result of the hostility caused by the tea taxes and trade restrictions. The Boston Tea Party proves the economic motivation of the Revolutionary War. The American Revolution was a result from the economic struggles between England and America. The taxes and trade restrictions that England placed onto the colonies caused the Americans to rebel in the Revolutionary War. Although political and intellectual reasons were used to justify the break with Britain, at the center of the conflict were economic grievances. Both the Boston Massacre and the Boston Tea Party illustrate that the primary concerns