The Policies And Distractions That Caused The Revolutionary War

The messy and disorganized British rule of the American colonies led to the outbreak of the Revolutionary War. The mismanagement of the colonies, the taxation policies that violated the colonists’ rights, the distractions of foreign wars and politics in England, and mercantilist policies that benefited the English to a much greater degree then the colonists. All these establish the British incompetence in their rule over the colonies. These policies and distractions were some of the causes of the Revolutionary War.

The interests of England within the colonies were self-centered. The English were exploiting the colonists by overseeing the colonial system of trade. This is known as mercantilism. “Mercantilism meant that the state directed all economic activities within its borders” (Blum 27). England was not attempting to make any changes that would help the colonists; in fact England was looking to profit from this system of trade. They would in fact limit the colonies more and only allow trade with the mother country and other ports in the empire (Miller 9). The English demanded that the colonies import more from England then they exported to the colonies.

England were importing raw materials from the colonies and making them into exportable goods in England. They would then ship these goods to foreign markets all around the world, including the colonies. Throughout the seventeenth century, the English saw the colonies as a place to get materials, and not have to purchase them from other countries. They also a market to sell finished products after the goods had been manufactured. This was detrimental to the colonies because it prevented them from manufacturing any of the raw materials they produced, which made them more dependent upon England (Miller 9).

In 1773 the Tea Act was passed. The Tea Act not only put a three penny per pound tax on tea, but it also gave the British East India Company a near monopoly. England allowed the company to sell directly to the colonial agents avoiding any middlemen. In Boston the colonists held a town meeting to try to get their Tea Agents to resign. Despite the meeting, the Tea Agents would not resign. A few months later angered Boston citizens dressed as Indians, boarded three tea ships, and dumped all the tea into Boston Harbor (Blum 94).

During these years of ineffective rule, the causes of the Revolutionary War emerged. Laws and policies enacted were self-serving, causing the colonists to strongly resist and try to avoid British authority. The colonists’ moves toward religious and commercial self-determination were overlooked while England dealt with the Seven years war and a domestic political crisis. All these factors highlighted the differences and miscalculations of the British and were the beginnings of the Revolutionary War.

In the years leading up to the final decade before the American Revolution, the relationship between Great Britain and her colonies in North America continued to deteriorate. Relations began to worsen with the great victory over the French and Indians in the Seven Years War. Unwelcome British troops had remained in the colonies afte

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