The Grounds For The American Revolution Were Based On Economic Conflict, As

The grounds for the American Revolution were based on economic conflict, as

Louis Hacker states, “The struggle was not over high-sounding political and
constitutional concepts; over the power of taxation or even, in the final analysis,
over natural rights. It was over colonial manufacturing, wild lands and furs,
sugar, wine, tea and currency, all of which meant, simply, the survival or
collapse of English mercantilist capitalism within the imperial-colonial framework
of the mercantilist system.” The Revolutionary War was based on economic
strife brought about by taxes and limitation of trade imposed on America by the

British. Although ideological arguments concerning liberty, justice, and the
natural right of man were used to justify their rebellion, the underlying motive for
the Revolution was to be freed from England’s economic restraints. Two of the
initial outbreaks in the Revolutionary War, the Boston Massacre and the Boston

Tea Party, were a direct result of economic discontent. The rebellion began with
the people of power in the colonies, the merchants. This group of people were
the most outraged about the trade sanctions England placed on the colonies,
and had the greatest motive for rebellion. The majority of Americans were not
overly concerned with the economic disputes, and therefore had less grievances
against England. The purpose of this paper is to prove that the main cause of
the American Revolution was economic contention between the rich merchants
of America and England.

Beginning in the middle of the eighteenth century, Britain began to
institute a series of checks on America’s trade and economy. In order to pay off
their debt gained during the French and Indian War, England needed to obtain
revenue from its American colonies. This began with the Molasses Act, which
tried to limit America’s lucrative rum and molasses trade to only deal with

England. This resulted in widespread smuggling from both the French West

Indies and Africa. England also placed several domestic taxes, such as the

Stamp Act and the Sugar Act. These acts enforced taxes on goods such as
sugar, stamps, and printed materials. Other Acts passed onto America were the

Townshend Acts. These acts imposed taxes on items such as paper, paint,
glass, and lead. This lead to a general boycott of British luxury items and a
growing displeasure with the actions of the British government. This resentment
finally came to a head in the Boston Massacre when a group of protester were
objecting to the various taxing acts. This group flustered some British soldiers
who shot at the group and killed five people. This incident caused the colonies
to rally behind the protesters’ cause. This Boston Massacre shows how the
beginning altercations of the Revolution were fueled by anger over British
economic policies toward the colonies.

Another serious point of contention that started the American Revolution
was the Tea Act. Tea taxes had been included in the Townshend Acts, and this
provoked the ire of the colonist. Moreover, the merchants were being drastically
cut off from all tea profits. The British East India Tea Company was floundering,
and England had invested heavily in it. In order to bolster its income, England
granted the East India Tea Company a monopoly on the tea trade in America by
allowing it to sell their tea for much lower prices than the American merchants
could sell theirs at. This resulted in a serious loss of profit for the American
merchants. This infuriated the merchants, and they decided to take action. A
group of men, dressed up as Indians, took tea from an East India Tea Company
ship and dumped into the Boston Harbor. This was known as the Boston Harbor
and was one of the most important events of the Revolution. It was a direct
result of the hostility caused by the tea taxes and trade restrictions. The Boston

Tea Party proves the economic motivation of the Revolutionary War.

The American Revolution was a result from the economic struggles
between England and America. The taxes and trade restrictions that England
placed onto the colonies caused the Americans to rebel in the Revolutionary

War. Although political and intellectual reasons were used to justify the break
with Britain, at the center of the conflict were economic grievances. Both the

Boston Massacre and the Boston Tea Party illustrate that the primary concerns
that instigated the American Revolution were economic. These two events dealt
with economic issues, and they were both extremely important to the start of the

Revolutionary War. Therefore, the principal motives for the American

Revolution were to rectify the economic oppression of the colonies by England.

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