American War of Independence

Paper Summary:

This paper looks at what should be considered the ultimate cause of the American Revolution. The paper first points out that the physical and political presence of England's colonial rule was limited from the beginning and this led to the substantial tax and trade burden upon the American colonies, which, in turn, fueled the revolutionary cause. The paper also explains that the failure of the crown to recognize the independent development of the colonies and alter the laws to meet the changing needs of the colonial interest and independence was the ultimate source of the revolutionary cause. The paper believes that had England responded to the American tumult with swift and decisive changes to policy, history may have been written by a different victor.

From the Paper:

"There are many reasons sited by countless historians and even the primary sources of the American War for Independence, that presume to encompass the causes of America's relatively early insurrection from the colonial rule of England. Among those are political, philosophical and even economically practical reasons. Many of these independent causal reasons are likely to ring true as partial factors associated with the phenomena known as the American Revolution, yet in reality the most encompassing reasons given include the lack of English policies and enforcement to keep the colonists in check. As years passed Americans who were fundamentally loyal to the crown still developed an unflagging sense of autonomy from it which eventually culminated into a revolution. The physical and political presence of the Crown was limited from the beginning, and as generations passed and more and more "loyal" subjects were born without ties to anywhere but America and fewer and fewer first generation sources of English representation were sent to America, the loyalty took on a life of its own. England did not respond effectively to the fundamental divergence of ideals that were present between colonists in the Americas and the ideals of the Crown for the colonial purpose."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Bancroft, Hubert H.. American war for Independence: Early Causes. 2002-2003. http://www.publicbookshelf.com/public_html/The_Great_Republic_By_the_Master_Historians_Vol_II/americanw_bb.html.
• Leach, Douglas Edward. Roots of Conflict: British Armed Forces and Colonial Americans, 1677-1763. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1986.
• Miller, John C. Origins of the American Revolution. Boston: Little, Brown, 1943.
• Morison, S. E., ed. Sources and Documents Illustrating the American Revolution, 1764-1788, and the Formation of the Federal Constitution. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1923.
• Rickard, John., American War of Independence (1775-1782), 25 May 2003 http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/wars_american_independence.html

More papers on American War of Independence:

• Essay # 25560 : "The British and the American War of Independence"
• Analytical Essay # 146120 : "Colonial Victory in the American War of Independence"
• Essay # 14841 : "The American War Of Independence"

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