Causes of the Revolutionary War
Uploaded by Admin on Jul 02, 1999
The haphazard and disorganized British rule of the American colonies in the decade prior to the outbreak led to the Revolutionary War. The mismanagement of the colonies, the taxation policies that violated the colonist right's, the distractions of foreign wars and politics in England and mercantilist policies that benefited the English to a much greater degree then the colonists all show the British incompetence in their rule over the colonies. These policies and distractions were some of the causes of the Revolutionary War.
The interests of England within the colonies were self-centered. The English were exploiting were trying to govern the colonies by using the mercantilist system. Mercantilism is when the state directs all the economic activities within it's borders(Blum 31). England was not attempting to make any changes that would help the colonists. They limited the colonies commerce to internal trade only(Miller 9). The English were exploiting the colonies by demanding that the colonies import more from England then they exported to the colonies. They were importing raw materials from the colonies and making them into exportable goods in England. They would then ship these goods to foreign markets all around the world including the colonies(America Online ). Throughout the seventeenth century the English saw America as a place to get materials they didn't have at home and a market to sell finished products at after the goods had been manufactured. This was detrimental to the colonies because it prevented them from manufacturing any of the raw materials they produced and made them more dependent upon England.
In addition to the unrest caused by their mercantilist policies, domestic political issues distracted them from the activities of the colonies. Throughout the sixteen hundreds, Great Britain was more involved in solving the Constitutional issue of who was to have more power in English government, the king or parliament. When this complex issue was finally resolved in the Glorious Revolution of 1688, England turned its attention back to the colonies and found that colonists had developed their own identity as American.
There was no central office in England to control what was happening in the colonies. The executive authority in England was divided among several ministers and commissioners that did not act quickly or in unison. Also, the Board of Trade, the branch of government that knew more about the colonies than any other governing body in England, did not have the power...