America's War of Independence was a political and military struggle among the thirteen American colonies and England. Since the British defeated the French and their Indian allies in the French and Indian War, the result was British control over much of North America. This was had cost England a great deal of money and Parliament decided it was time for the colonies to pay a share for their own defense. The movement to resist the new imperial policies, a movement for which many people would die for, was thus at the same time democratic and conservative. It was a movement to conserve liberties Americans believe they already possessed. While it would be hard to point to any one event that singularly led to the revolution, there is no doubt that the American view that they were entitled to full democratic rights of Englishmen, while the British view that the American colonies were just colonies to be used and exploited in whatever way best suited Great Britain, insured the war was inevitable.
Boston
Boston ball grounds - 1912 (1st part of panorama),...
"The Destruction of Tea at Boston Harbor", lithogr...The American Revolution could have been avoided. England exposed harsh acts and taxes on the colonists without the citizen's consent and the effect was that they fought back. If the money-hungry Parliament members had noticed that they had neglected them for so long; peaceful negotiations would have been possible. Parliament could have done this, or the colonies could have abided by England's acts and cooperated peacefully. With England's tradition of salutary neglect, resentment from the colonies should have been expected.
One basic principle, American's truly believed, was the right of people to be taxed only with their own consent. The clamor about "representation" made little sense to the English. According to them, they represented the interests of the whole nation, not particular individuals. This English theory shows when in...