The American Revolution is also known as the American revolutionary war and the American war of independence. It took place between the years 1775 – 1783. There are several political, economic and cultural factors that led to the revolution as discussed below.
Among the political factors, first there the tightening of the control over the colonies by the British after the French and Indian wars. This was done through a number of government policies and legislations such as: the proclamation of 1763 that forbade colonists moving westwards past the Appalachian mountain; the Stamp act of 1765 which taxed all kinds of printed paper; and the Townshend Act which taxed tea, glass, paint among others.
The other political factor was the Boston massacre of 1770 which involved the killing of five colonists and wounding several others by the British soldiers. The guilty soldiers were punished by only burning their thumbs, a punishment viewed by the colonists as too light thus generating more anger and resentment by the colonists.
The Boston tea party of 1773 led by Paul Revere was also a significant political factor. It involved a group of colonists throwing over 90,000 pounds of tea into the water in protest of the tea Act that granted the British East India Company tea trade monopoly.
The hiring of the Hessians soldiers from Germany known for their brutality and cruelty by King George in 1775 further ignited the revolution as the colonists now felt they had to organize and defend themselves from the Hessians in addition to the British troops. Thomas Paine in 1776 in his book ‘Common Sense’ encouraged Americans to fight for their independence. The book claimed that all monarchies, England inclusive were bad and that Americans should be free to form their own government. All these revolutions were successful and the declaration of independence that declared the thirteen colonies as Free states.
The economic factors also led to disgruntlement especially among the colonists from the business community thus leading to the revolution. First, mercantilism where the colonies were seen as important sources of raw materials to Britain led to discontentment hence rebellion.Legislations such as the navigation act of 1651 and the molasses act of 1773 which banned imports and exports from foreign countries and forced colonists to purchase expensive products from the British caused uneasiness among the American colonists.
Coercive Acts such as the Quartering act that required towns to cater for the needs of the British troops with their money made the colonists feel the economic pinch. In addition, the British troops took odd jobs after work hours competing with unemployed colonists for jobs. Legislations such as the Tea crisis act that imposed huge taxes on the colonists goods while allowing the British preferred goods tax free made it hard for the colonists trader’s goods to compete with the cheap tax free goods from the British hence frustrations.
Cultural factors such as race, religion, gender and social class also had a role to play in the revolution in the following ways. American colonists were tolerant to religious diversity and attempts by the British to curb religious freedom were resented. Further, the white colonists defined the revolution in racial terms and therefore felt that all whites should be free because enslaved Africans were not. Enslaved African Americans on the other hand felt that the revolution would lead to their freedom from bondage.
Women who were culturally viewed as the weaker gender felt that the ideals of the American revolution enabled them to claim greater social authority and intellectual equality with men.The white Englanders who had a religious belief that they were heirs of the Puritans felt that they had to protect their autonomy and individual rights.
The Philadelphia merchants felt that independence would increase their wealth and social standing while the Philadelphia artisans felt that the equality and natural rights ideals of the revolution would give them an opportunity to advance.The transatlantic slave trade involved the transportation of slaves from their African homeland to America. The slave trade was brutal and horrific and involved inhumane treatment.
By the beginning of the 16th century, African slaves were brought to Hispaniola to grow sugarcane and to work in mines. They were forced to drain the shallow lakes of the Mexican plague thereby finalizing the Aztec nation subjugation. With time, towards the mid 17th century demand for slaves increased. This was a consequent of the increased demand of the raw materials such as sugarcane from America by the Western European countries. Increased demand for sugarcane meant an increase in production was inevitable. More Americans started owning larger sugar plantations. This obviously demanded more labour and therefore more demand for the slaves. In addition, more crops such as rice, cotton, coffee, tobacco were now being grown thereby increasing the slave demand.
The capture of slaves from Africa were through various ways such as kidnapping, slave raiding and buying. War and politico-religious struggles also led to their capture . Among the important wars is the Akan war of the late sixteenth century, the battle between Oyo and the Yoruba states, the wars between the various Gbe groups among others. These led to the massive transportation of war prisoners across the Atlantic.
The middle passage was the name given to the part of the voyage of the triangular trade that involved transportation of slaves from Africa to America. This stage was dreadful and was characterized by violence and inhumane treatment. Men were lashed, women and children were raped and the conditions were unbearable during the voyage which lasted for one to three months. Ships which had a normal capacity of 350 for instance could transport 800 or more slaves. Due to this, a large number of the slaves died of diseases such as smallpox, dysentery, malnutrition among others.
The Columbian exchange refers to the exchange of diseases, ideas, food crops and populations between the Americas(new world) and the eastern Hemisphere especially Europe(old world) following the voyage to the Americas by Chris Columbus in 1492. The voyage by Columbus is the one that had the most impact and resulted to European exploration, conquest and colonization of the Americas. This led to various exchanges mainly by the European sailors who sailed to and from America.
The food crops exchanges to the old world included; new staple crops such as sweet potatoes, maize and cassava; less calorie foods such as peanut, pineapples, chili pepper and tomatoes. The food crops to the new world included sugarcane and coffee. The disease exchange occurred in that the European sailors took to the new world deadly viruses and bacterial diseases such as typhus, measles, smallpox, chickenpox, cholera among others. From the new world to the old world was mainly syphilis. Although most impact was mainly felt by Europe and America, Africa and Asia also felt the indirect impact.
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