American Revolution - Causes

The end of the war the colonial Anglo-French, American appendix to Seven Years' War (1756-1763), brought about the expulsion of France from its possessions on the North American continent and in India. These went to Great Britain, which was imposed so that more power and absolute ruler of the seas. Despite having taken control of an enormous share of world maritime trade, the British Crown found itself however have to bear the huge costs of war and the responsibility to administer and defend the new territories acquired in North America. The consequent elimination of France made no longer need military support of the motherland and allowed an easier conquest of the land. The aspirations of the settlers, however, were frustrated by the decisions unexpectedly English. In fact, a Royal Decree (1763) forbade the expansion beyond the Appalachian Mountains.
In order to contribute to the expenses of the empire also the settlers, the British Parliament it launched in March of 1765 the Stamp Act, which weighed a stamp duty all legal documents, contracts, licenses, but also newspapers, brochures, playing cards etc., printed in America. The tax sparked strong opposition among the settlers (who already during the Seven Years' War had expressed some impatience of British authority, ignoring in particular the obligations and limitations imposed on their businesses from the Acts of Navigation). Normally, in fact, were the local representative assemblies to legislate on taxation and the organization of internal security; in addition to violating the fundamental right of every British subject not to be taxed in the absence of its representatives in Parliament, the Stamp Act was perceived by the settlers as an attempt to limit their areas of self-government. In October 1765, while the boycott of British goods, organized by traders colonial paralyzed exchanges between the two sides of the Atlantic, delegates from nine colonies met in New York in the Stamp Act Congress to notify the motherland their grievances . The following March, Parliament abolished the Stamp Act, but it was not determined by the objections of the settlers on the constitutionality of the tax, but the pressures of English merchants, heavily damaged by the boycott in protest. In Boston, to ensure the application of the tax measures, they were sent two British regiments. In 1770, during a protest rally, some British soldiers fired on the crowd killing five colonists. Once again we find ourselves faced with violent reactions dictated by intolerance and inability to stem a growing dissent. If in Philadelphia and New York was not allowed to British ships to unload tea from the holds, in Boston, with the so-called Boston Tea Party, their cargo was even spilled into the sea. In response, in 1774 the English Parliament passed some repressive measures, dubbed by the settlers as the "Intolerable Acts", designed to fully reassert royal authority: the Boston harbor was closed and was strengthened the regime of military occupation city; the powers of self-government guaranteed by the original Charter of Massachusetts were also drastically reduced. In summary, the causes of the American War of Independence are not due to social factors such as poverty and misery, but in search of independence, in fact, and freedom in its most near political and economic issues. The purely economic causes and the violent reactions have forced British events and open the doors to the revolution. As already mentioned, the settlers did not immediately realized their actions, during the years of fighting from 1775 to 1781 but also in the tensions preceding the outbreak of war, so much so that many sought reconciliation with the mother country. This feeling of rappacificamento manifested during the second Continental Congress, meeting in Philadelphia on May 10, 1775. On that occasion, it turned out among the delegates a clear attempt to meet with the UK, which was expressed in the adoption of so-called "Petition twig olive ", with which they reaffirmed loyalty to King George III of the Americans, but asking him to disavow the work of its ministers. The answer was negative, but the Americans, thanks to substantial support Franco-Spanish army and a highly motivated, albeit poorly trained, they continued to pursue their dreams of freedom and independence. The Declaration of Independence (July 4, 1776), with which the colonies formed in free and independent states, pledging to repel the invasion of what was now considered a foreign power, is the sum of all these ideals. Unlike the French Revolution, the new continent there were problems related to the living conditions of the settlers. There was what is called "social question". One can then understand why the American Revolution, where he was absent that question, does not represent the eyes of many a revolution in the complete sense. Instead, for Arendt, the fortune of the American Revolution lies precisely in the absence of a social issue. The revolution was essentially political and had political outcomes since there had social concerns. In fact, the condition of life of the men of the colonies, especially in the center - north, was far removed from the average wealth is poverty, except for the condition of the slaves. The lack of a large number of poor surprised foreign observers, that this does not pose the American War of Independence like the '700 French or the' 900 Russian. An entirely different view is the historian Boorstin who argues: "I am convinced that the main object is at issue in the American Revolution was the nature of the constitution of the British Empire, that is something purely legal". With this, he believes that the high ideals that the American Revolution exalted, were nothing but the facade of a mere formality. The Americans, in the Declaration of Independence, have taken on George III with the same political and legal weapons law inglese.Eccetto moderate "Petition of olive branch", there was no internal conflicts as may be infighting between Jacobins and Girondins or between maximalists and minimalists. The American people, after starting very uncertain, was immediately united under one banner represented by symbols like the American flag and the Constitution. The only force conflicting upheavals Americans consists England with amendments designed to weaken colonies and economically with its efficient army. We have already mentioned the Stamp Act preceded by the Molasses Act (1733) and the Sugar Act (1764). The first, designed to extort money from the trade of sugar and molasses, increased the phenomenon of corruption and smuggling. The second was designed to limit the smuggling of material that came from the French Indies and Spain. These measures and the great battles of Lexington and Saratoga were the only impediments to the revolution. Arendt points out often in the revolutions the moment that captures more attention is liberation. The act by which a people breaks ties with oppression is certainly exciting, but the end of the revolution, is the establishment of freedom. And because there is no real freedom, not just to be freed from what appears as an oppressive power, but it is necessary for the birth of a political order that can make you free. The American Revolution was able to do this and, in fact, the Constitution, the highest outcome that has been produced by those facts, states, since 1789, a new political order. The Constitution, the natural conclusion of the American Revolution, in turn marks the beginning of the United States of America, as a state and as a political body. The word "revolution" is then used here about because it marks the birth of something truly original: the foundation of a new state and the creation of the first modern constitution in history. The fact that the colonists fought against a constitutional monarchy, clearly influenced the formation of the new kind of power. However, what is really new in this Constitution is the figure of the president elected by the people and serve for a period limitato.Eppure according to Arendt this revolution, fully successful, since it has generated a political order that guarantees civil rights citizens and the exercise of freedom, not a great influence on revolutionary thinking next. To understand the reasons for this lack of influence may be useful to compare with the other great revolution of the '700: the French. What emerges from this comparison is the absence in the American Revolution of the strong social connotation that many believe should accompany such events.
The belief that revolutions are connected with problems of social origin and in particular with poverty is just a legacy of the French Revolution. The American Revolution is very different from the French and for some it's not even a real revolution. But although it has had no influence on the political theory of the French revolutionaries this does not mean that it has not had a major impact on public opinion and European French. America did not know the feudal social organization instead oppressed Europe and even the tyranny of kings. These considerations were circulating at the time in France show that was emerging a revolutionary mentality. In fact, it was off the idea that reforms should be based on longer-lasting than a clean slate and not on a political and social system has long been considered completely wrong. The French watched with admiration the fact that the settlers had created intentionally and rationally their institutions and the new form of government. Reading the "Declaration of Independence" drafted by the Second Continental Congress in Boston is easy to track echoes the thought of Locke. Statements such as "men are naturally equal" or "property and freedom are his inalienable rights" occur constantly in these writings.