American Revolution (1775–1783)
Event that severed the political ties between Great Britain and
its 13 North American colonies, setting the stage for the
development of the United States of America.
In its Navigational Acts of the latter half of the seventeenth
century, England created a closed mercantile system designed
to control, regulate, and tax trade with its American colonies
and to ensure that New World wealth flowed back to
England. This system benefited the English state and economy, but for the American colonies it created problems, as
their specie (gold and silver coin used as money) flowed back
to England. As the trans-Atlantic trade flourished, the British
encountered difficulties enforcing the restrictions on their
10 American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizationsdistant colonies and failed to maintain a truly mercantile
closed system that benefited the mother country. The
American colonies quickly discovered that throughout the
Atlantic trading world, trading partners other than the
English were ready and willing to purchase their commodities. This illegal trade proved extremely profitable, and thus in
the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Americans
engaged in smuggling on a regular basis. The profits provided Americans with money to consume English goods, while
English merchants extended credit to Americans, thus allowing them to purchase even more products.
In 1763, the French and Indian War ended, with Britain as
the victorious master of North America. A long series of wars
had left the British state deeply in debt and ready to reexamine its empire for new sources of revenue. Parliament and the
king’s ministers decided that the colonies had not paid
enough in taxes for their own support and maintenance. In
1764, Minister George Grenville and the British Parliament
passed the Sugar Act as a way to curtail America’s smuggling
and increase Britain’s revenue. This act reduced the tax on
molasses, making it cheaper to purchase it legally. Parliament
then passed the Currency Act, forbidding the use of paper
money as legal tender. For Americans, these acts were intrusive and damaging interference in their economic growth
and, when Parliament passed the Stamp Act in 1765, resistance began. The Stamp Act taxed all printed documents in
the colonies, such as newspapers, legal documents, and playing cards—another example of England’s increasing tyranny.
American resistance stemmed from the slogan “No taxation without representation.” Americans believed that when
the government created a new tax it took private property
away from its citizens. Government could only do this with
the permission of the people. Because the colonies held no
seats in Britain’s Parliament, they lacked representation and
therefore could not be taxed. Parliament responded with the
argument that all colonies received “virtual representation,” as
each member of Parliament represented all of the British
Empire. Americans resisted the Stamp Act and argued against
Britain’s tyranny by effectively employing the strategy of nonimportation, refusing to purchase any new British commodities or to pay their debts to British creditors. The Marquis of
Rockingham repealed the Stamp Act for this reason.
During the Stamp Act crisis, Americans argued that there
was a difference between a tax for revenue and a tax for the
regulation of trade—Parliament, the Americans said, lacked
the authority to pass the former but not the latter. The
Townshend Acts (1767) were Parliament’s attempt to establish an external regulatory tax against the colonies, but the
Americans responded by implementing a boycott of British
goods, as they had done during the previous attempt to
implement an external tax. The Townshend Duties hurt
British manufacturers and Britain’s internal economy.
The Americans continued to combine their political and
economic arguments against Britain’s tyranny in the years
leading up to the American Revolution. Colonists realized
that to improve economically they needed a voice in the
political process. The events that led to the Declaration of
Independence and the war allowed American patriots to
reject an imperial motherland thousands of miles away in
favor of developing a political and economic ideology that
better suited their needs. Americans fought against Britain to
gain control over their own destiny, realizing that political
sovereignty would eventually provide economic prosperity.
During the American Revolution, Americans struggled
with a limited supply of specie (gold and silver). At the same
time, many long-established trade relations between England
and the colonists were disrupted, creating a trade deficit.
Americans attempted to negotiate favorable trade relations
with France and Spain, but the lack of economic and political strength forced the struggling U.S. government to accept
terms that were less than favorable.