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== Origins of the Revolution ==

== Origins of the Revolution ==

[[Image:american-revolution-map.gif|thumb|200px|The 13 British colonies in North America by 1770]]

[[Image:american-revolution-map.gif|thumb|200px|The 13 British colonies in North America by 1770]]

The American Revolution came about fundamentally because by 1763 the English-speaking communities on the far side of the Atlantic had matured to the extent that their interests and goals were distinct from those of the ruling classes in the mother country. [[British]] statesmen failed to understand or adjust to the situation. Ironically enough, [[British]] victory in the [[Seven Years' War]] set the stage for the revolt, for it freed the colonists from the need for [[British]] protection against a French threat on their frontiers and gave free play to the forces working for separation.  

The American Revolution came about fundamentally because by 1763 the English-speaking communities on the far side of the Atlantic had matured to the extent that their interests and goals were distinct from those of the ruling classes in the mother country. [[British]] statesmen failed to understand or adjust to the situation. Ironically enough, British victory in the [[Seven Years' War]] set the stage for the revolt, for it freed the colonists from the need for British protection against a French threat on their frontiers and gave free play to the forces working for separation.  

        

        

In 1763 the [[British]] government, reasonably from its own point of view, moved to tighten the system of imperial control and to force the colonists to contribute to imperial defense. As part of an effort to make the costs of empire be borne by all [[British]] subjects, his majesty’s government sought to create an "American Establishment," a force of 10,000 [[British]] regular soldiers in North America. The cost of this military force would be paid for by taxes the British Parliament levied on Americans. This imperial defense plan touched off the long controversy about Parliament’s right to tax that started with the Stamp and Sugar Acts and led to a final provocative deed in December 1773: protesting "taxation without representation", a patriot mob dressed as Indians boarded several ships of the [[East India Company]] moored in Boston harbor and destroyed their cargo of tea in an event since called the "[[Boston Tea Party]]".

In 1763 the British government, reasonably from its own point of view, moved to tighten the system of imperial control and to force the colonists to contribute to imperial defense. As part of an effort to make the costs of empire be borne by all British subjects, his majesty’s government sought to create an "American Establishment," a force of 10,000 British regular soldiers in North America. The cost of this military force would be paid for by taxes the British Parliament levied on Americans. This imperial defense plan touched off the long controversy about Parliament’s right to tax that started with the Stamp and Sugar Acts and led to a final provocative deed in December 1773: protesting "taxation without representation", a patriot mob dressed as Indians boarded several ships of the East India Company moored in Boston harbor and destroyed their cargo of tea in an event since called the "Boston Tea Party".

        

        

The ten-year controversy over taxation escalated to violence in large measure because several successive British ministries failed to understand the differences that had grown between the American colonies and the metropolitan power. Although possessing a professional army and navy, the British government nevertheless failed to act decisively enough to enforce British regulations or work toward the more viable form of imperial union that the colonial leaders, at least until 1776, insisted they sought.

The ten-year controversy over taxation escalated to violence in large measure because several successive British ministries failed to understand the differences that had grown between the American colonies and the metropolitan power. Although possessing a professional army and navy, the British government nevertheless failed to act decisively enough to enforce British regulations or work toward the more viable form of imperial union that the colonial leaders, at least until 1776, insisted they sought.

In response to the [[Boston Tea Party]], the King and his ministers blindly pushed through Parliament a series of measures collectively known in America as the [[Intolerable Acts]]: closing the port of Boston, suspending civilian government in Massachusetts, and massing troops in Boston under the military rule of Maj. Gen. Sir Thomas Gage. Outraged by the heavy-handed response to one colony, the other American political leaders called for a continental congress, in effect an American parliament, to coordinate a political drive to defend what the colonists deemed to be their rights and interests as Englishmen.  

In response to the [[Boston Tea Party]], the King and his ministers blindly pushed through Parliament a series of measures collectively known in America as the [[Intolerable Acts]]: closing the port of Boston, suspending civilian government in [[Massachusetts]], and massing troops in [[Boston]] under the military rule of Maj. Gen. Sir Thomas Gage. Outraged by the heavy-handed response to one colony, the other American political leaders called for a continental congress, in effect an American parliament, to coordinate a political drive to defend what the colonists deemed to be their rights and interests as Englishmen.  

        

        

Since 1763 the colonial leaders, in holding that only their own popular assemblies, not the British Parliament, had a right to levy taxes on Americans, had raised the specter of an arbitrary British government collecting taxes in America to support red-coated regulars who might be used not to protect the frontiers but to suppress American liberties. Placing Massachusetts under military rule gave that specter some substance and led directly to armed revolt.

Since 1763 the colonial leaders, in holding that only their own popular assemblies, not the British Parliament, had a right to levy taxes on Americans, had raised the specter of an arbitrary British government collecting taxes in America to support red-coated regulars who might be used not to protect the frontiers but to suppress American liberties. Placing Massachusetts under military rule gave that specter some substance and led directly to armed revolt.