View source for American History Lecture Two

== Causes of the Revolutionary War ==

There were 9 major causes of the Revolutionary War, also called the "American Revolution":

:(1) Colonists were accustomed to much independence and self-determination, and British efforts (led by the Tory political party in England) to regulate and tax were bitterly opposed by the colonies (and by the Whig political party in England; the conservative Edmund Burke was a British politician who sided with the American colonists).

:(2) British burdens hurt nearly all the colonists in all walks of life.

:(3) Taxes hit at a bad time: during a postwar economic depression.

:(4) Legally, colonies disagreed with the concept of "virtual representation" rather than direct representation in Parliament.

:(5) Religious reasons: many colonists disliked Anglicans (and Catholics), and feared England would install an Anglican bishop.

:(6) Colonists disliked English class distinctions.

:(7) 1/3 of colonists were not even English, and thus felt no attachment to the British.

:(8) Colonists accepted John Locke's philosophy of natural rights and a social contract, which conflicted with rule by a monarchy.

:(9) Colonists saw bright prospects for their own independent future.