The Causes of the American Revolution

How the Colonials Won

Creating a New Nation

Prologue:  America on the Brink of Revolution

America in 1775 was a very different English colony than in 1700. In 1700, America was a poor “country” compared to England. By 1775, America’s total output was about 40% of England’s. About one-third of England’s total trade (imports plus exports) was with the American colonies. America’s total output and population were growing faster than England’s.

Besides providing raw material imports that England taxed and exported to other countries, primarily tobacco, America was becoming an important market for English manufactured goods. America also provided ships, shipbuilding, and sailors augmented the British merchant marine in times of peace and the English navy in times of war. About one-fourth of England’s merchant marine was American.

But England had to be careful. Again, America was a very different colony in 1775 than in 1700. Its population was greater and more diverse. In 1700, almost all the white population in the 1600s came from England. But in the 1700s, about half of immigrants from England were convicts forced to serve long indenture terms in the American colony. German immigrants had no personal or nostalgic ties to England. Many Scot immigrants had good reasons to hate the English. Descendants of Puritans would fight against the French-Canadian Catholics but many had no love-lost for English kings.

North America was an English colony but it was not primarily a colony of Englishmen.

American grievances did not just begin after the French and Indian War. There were periods of conflict throughout the colonial period that should have been a warning to England. Americans appreciated the economic advantages of being inside the British imperial system but objected to earlier English attempts to impose stricter political control.

The French and Indian War, 1755-1761

History is irony. Things turn out differently than expected or planned, there are unintended consequences, a short-run success can be the source of a long-run failure.

The French and Indian War (1755-1761) is an example. England, with help from American militias, won the war. But, as a consequence of the war, England changed its policies towards its American colony. And lost America.

The loss of the American colonies was more important than the gain of Canada.

The French and Indian War was part of a global conflict between England and France. After England’s victory in North America, they made bad decisions affecting their American colonies. From being an ally, Americans became increasingly angry at English policies. The result was that only twelve years after the official end of the French and Indian War (1763), Americans rose up in revolt against English rule. The American Revolution was on.

Fighting broke out between English soldiers and their American allies on the one side and French Canadians and their Native American allies on the other in 1755. Americans, especially from New England, fought with the British army against the French Canadians and their Native American allies. American colonists contributed many troops and much material support. Thousands of Americans died or were wounded. 

The first shots of the war were probably fired by the Virginia militia on a recon mission scouting the French fort in what is now Pittsburgh. The commander of the Virginians was Colonel George Washington.

This conflict then became part of the Seven Years War (1756-1763), a global conflict between England and France. This war was fought in Europe, India, the Caribbean, and North America. It ended in victory for the English; England took over French Canada and French territory in the upper Ohio Valley.

A common enemy had been eliminated. Both England and Americans began to reassess their expectations and relationship.

America and England After Victory

By helping to defeat French Canada, Americans expected advantages. French forts west of the Appalachians were eliminated. French support of Native American raids on frontier farms and villages ceased. Americans expected that land between the Appalachians and the Mississippi River would now be open to American settlement. They expected protection from Native Americans from English forts and English troops.

But England had a problem. England had been fighting a series of expensive wars against France since 1689. The English government was deeply in debt. England’s population was being heavily taxed. Americans set their own domestic taxation rates, which were typically less than 1/4 the average tax rate in England. In some colonies, far less. England was hesitant to spend money protecting their American colonists.

On the contrary. An economically-growing, increasingly wealthy America looked like a good source of new tax revenue.

England was now a global imperial power, ruling part of India, much of the West Indies, and much of North America. But England had a problem. The war, like the prior three, had been long and very expensive. Taxes were greatly increased at home and the government’s debt went way up. England’s government had to issue new bonds and pay interest to the bondholders. The government of George III looked around for new sources of revenue.

England had another problem. It had to leave troops in North America to protect Americans along the frontier from Native American attacks, to occupy Canada, and to garrison the former French forts west of the Appalachian Mountains. The Native American tribes west of the Appalachians had fought with France. Conflicts with Native American tribes broke out right after the war ended. American farmers, plantation owners, and land speculators started to move west into former French territory. British commanders estimated it would take about 10,000 troops and £350,000 a year to man the forts and keep the colonists and Native Americans separated.

To minimize English military expenditures and try to avoid warfare with the Native Americans, the English government decreed that Americans had to stay out of the new territory (all territory west of the Appalachian Mountains, which were effectively the western border of the colonies). Nothing could have dissolved American goodwill towards England faster. Pride in being part of England’s victory quickly turned to anger. Americans believed that access to free or cheap new lands was part of their birthright. Many Americans, especially in New England and along the frontier, saw the new lands west of the Appalachians as an opportunity to own farmland and be independent.

As if this weren’t enough, England decided it was time to bring its American colonies under stricter English control. Their policy of “salutary neglect” of over 150 years was at an end. English warships patrolled American waters to capture American smugglers. English officials were sent to America to enforce the Navigation Acts and collect tariffs (taxes on imports) and taxes. All governors had to be appointed by London; before, some had been elected by provincial voters. They answered to English government directives. 

England also felt that Americans benefited from the war and should help pay for it. So the English government passed a series of laws increasing already high tariffs on imported American tobacco and imposing new taxes on their American colonies. Americans were not accustomed to paying taxes, except the low local taxes they voted on themselves. Every time England imposed a new tax, howls of protest went up in America. Then Parliament would repeal (cancel) the tax and try a different one. That just made the Americans angrier. Protests became larger and better organized. Americans from the different colonies set up a correspondence network to share information and coordinate strategies. Local opposition groups called “Sons of Liberty” were formed. Some Americans began talking about their rights as Englishmen, shifting the opposition from new taxes to abstract rights. This is always dangerous. Shouts of “no taxation” became “no taxation without representation,” meaning Americans shouldn’t pay taxes unless they voted for the taxes themselves or were represented in Parliament. This was not going to happen since most Englishmen were not represented in Parliament.

Tea 

And then came tea. Americans imported tea from the English East India Company, which had a monopoly to buy and distribute Chinese and Indian tea throughout the British Empire. The East India Company sold tea to English and American distributors and exporters in England. But in the early 1770s, the company had warehouses full of tea in England they couldn’t sell. One reason they couldn’t sell enough tea in England was because there was a very high tariff (tax) on imported tea and some of it was smuggled in without paying the tariff. For English consumers, the smugglers’ tea was cheaper.

So the East India Company decided to sell tea directly to the American colonies, bypassing the wholesalers and merchants. They would bring tea to America in their own ships and sell tea directly to Americans at a lower price. They believed that, even with the tariff on tea, this would reduce the price of tea to American consumers and American tea drinkers would buy more.

Everyone focused on the tariff, not the lower price. Another colony-wide boycott was begun. As East India Company ships arrived at American ports, local mobs (or protest groups) blocked the unloading of the tea. In Boston, a mob boarded a ship and dumped the tea into the harbor. This was the final straw for the frustrated English. The damned colonists were destroying English private property! 

Boston was singled out for harsh punishment. English soldiers were sent to seize Boston, close the port, suspend elected governments, and close the courts. In short, martial law was declared. The head of the English army in North America, General Gage, had total authority. This was probably unexpected. In the past, England always backed down in the face of organized protests and boycotts. Worse yet, English soldiers killed five Americans in the so-called “Boston Massacre.”

New England Puritans, who had little patriotic feelings for English kings anyway (many supported the beheading of an English king by English Puritans during the English Civil War), increased organized protest and boycotts, and stepped up the size and training of local militias. Weapons and gunpower were stockpiled. Anti-British propaganda, most notably from Sam Adams, became more critical. Puritan ministers began denouncing English actions from their pulpits. Once more, New Englanders strengthened their ties with sympathetic groups throughout the colonies. 

1775

War was not inevitable.

The Boston Tea Party happened in December 1773. The first shots of the Revolution were fired in April 1775. Still, the war could have been avoided. It was more than a year later before the Continental Congress declared independence from England. Until it happened, most Americans did not want a break with England. Many Americans had personal and families ties with England. Wealthy Americans sent their sons to schools in England. Until the very end, most members of the Continental Congress tried to avoid a break with England. But King George and his cabinet were in no mood to negotiate. As far as King George was concerned, the damned colonists were there to be milked like cows, not real or proper Englishmen.

Until 1775, almost all Americans did not think of themselves as Americans (except Sam Adams). Many, especially the political and economic elite, thought of themselves as Englishmen with all the historic rights of Englishmen. Others identified with different religious, language, and ethnic groups. If anything, most of the white population identified with their own colony. Before 1775 (and after the Revolution), it was common for someone in a colony or state to refer to people from other colonies or states as “aliens.”

How did the Americans win the Revolution? 

Before the war began

Most textbooks tell the story as a David vs. Goliath contest. On paper, the English should have won easily. They were a world power. They had a professional, well-trained, experienced army, considered one of the best in the world. England also had a large and powerful navy. It had proven during the last war that military forces in America could be supplied by the British navy and merchant marine from England. England was not at war with France, so it could concentrate its military might on America.

Many of its officers and soldiers had fought in North America during the recent French and Indian War. They had fought alongside American militia units. General Gage had been the commander of British forces in America for 12 years. His wife was American. He owned property in America. America was not a foreign territory. 

If this were a traditional war fought in the traditional European manner, England would have won. But it mostly wasn’t. It was something new. And something modern – grassroots political organization, a vigorous propaganda campaign emphasizing rights, guerrilla warfare, wearing down the will of the occupying country until they decided the cost of trying to stay was too high. I found it amazing in the 1960s that America’s strategic and military planners didn’t see the analogy between a massive American commitment in Vietnam and the massive English commitment at the start of the American Revolution. 

Each colony was separate and different until years of colony-wide protests and boycotts promoted some cooperation. Political networks throughout the colonies had been established. Local protest leaders and organizers corresponded with similar leaders elsewhere (Americans, like the English, were prolific letter writers.)

Public opinion shifted quickly in 1775 and 1776 as England cracked down on Boston. The rhetoric of the English government was belligerent and showed no signs of wanting to negotiate differences or grievances. In the colonies, the change in sentiment towards independence accelerated with the publication of Tom Paine’s Common Sense in early 1775. His short book was an instant best-seller. It was read aloud and debated throughout America (often in taverns). It was a brilliant and effective piece of political propaganda. It set out in plain language how England had a tyrannical government, oppressed Americans, and why America should be free of English rule.

Organized protests and boycotts against tea and other English imports evolved into organization for independence. Local “patriotic” groups like the Committees of Safety, seized local (county) governments and local militias. They demanded that everyone sign a loyalty oath to support American independence. Local Tories (supporters of England) were harassed, humiliated, shunned, attacked, driven from their homes, and occasionally killed. The most politically-active rebels had seized the initiative and silenced active and potential opposition.

The story of American farmers putting down their plows and taking up their guns to fight the British had some truth, especially in the first months of the war, but is not the whole story. Americans were not quite the untrained and unorganized military amateurs pictured here. Most were already members of local militias, whose training became more serious as the war approached. Many American officers and soldiers had fought in the French and Indian War. Since they fought as detachments of the regular British army, they knew how British officers thought and the strengths and weaknesses of British soldiers. Many future American generals saw combat in the earlier war, including George Washington, Israel Putnam, Philip Schuyler (future father-in-law of Alexander Hamilton), Benedict Arnold, and Daniel Morgan. Two other American generals, Charles Lee and Horatio Gates, had been officers in the English army. Ethen Allen was part of the joint force that captured Fort Ticonderoga from the French. He returned 16 years later, along with Continental Army troops under Benedict Arnold, to take it away from the English.

Americans had “home court advantage.” They knew the geography. The American colonies were a large area of about 100,000 square miles, larger than the English isles. Much of it was wilderness or sparsely populated. Poor roads. A logistics nightmare. There was no way English forces could occupy this much territory.

Besides the “home court advantage,” the Americans had a psychological advantage. After the fighting began and King George made it clear there would be no negotiations, the Americans knew their only choices were to lose the war and suffer under harsher English rule (and the leaders would be hung as traitors) or be independent. And Americans were motivated by a radical new ideology of liberty and equality. They knew the potential advantages of self-rule under their own national government. To paraphrase Tom Paine, England might be able to defeat an American army, but they could never conquer the country. And there were armed rebels everywhere.

Winning the war

In England, there were groups that supported American independence or favored negotiating differences. They included Adam Smith, political and philosophical liberals, Edmund Burke, manufacturers, merchants, and William Pitt, the former English prime minister who devised the brilliant strategy that won the Seven Years War. But these groups had little political power and were ignored by King George and his ministers. But they persisted and their opposition grew as the war dragged on.

After the battle of Bunker Hill (June 1775),  fought by local militias, the Americans realized they needed a permanent standing army. They could not continue to fight the British with part-time militias. So they formed the Continental Army under the command of George Washington.

General Washington, when he assumed command of the new Continental Army around Boston, proposed a toast at an officers’ dinner. He hoped for a short war. But Israel Putnam, one of his three generals, countered with “I expect nothing but a long war, and I would have it a moderate one, that we may hold out till the mother country becomes willing to cast us off forever.” Putnam seemed to understand that a long, indecisive war would ground down the will of the more powerful England and promote American nationalist feeling and cooperation.

After being forced to evacuate Boston the following spring, because of the surrounding guns the Americans brought down from Fort Ticonderoga. the English government decided on a major commitment of English forces to occupy the colonies and punish the rebels. The obvious first target was New York City. Both sides believed that controlling the port of New York was key. In the spring of 1776, the British sent over about half of their regular army and over half of their navy. In the battle of New York, the Brits routed Washington’s Continental Army, drove the remnants across the Hudson River, and pursued the Americans as they retreated through New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Lord Cornwallis’ cavalry almost caught them. Later, in Washington’s most daring move of the war, his small army crossed the Delaware River, caught England’s Hessian mercenaries napping (drunk) in Trenton, drove north to capture Princeton, and once more eluded Cornwallis.

In September/October 1777, the Americans won the most important victory of the war. They defeated a large English army at Saratoga, New York. The battlefield American commanders, who were most responsible for the victory, were Benedict Arnold and Daniel Morgan, under the overall command of Horatio Gates. The English strategy of controlling the Hudson River area and isolating New England failed. But just as important, the American victory (and Benjamin Franklin’s brilliant diplomacy in France) convinced the French to support the rebels. England was now at war with France again, not just with the American rebels.

This was crucial for another reason besides French support of the Americans. England now had to commit forces to protect their valuable West Indies sugar islands and Gibraltar. Both were consider crucial; this lessened the necessity of conquering America. 

Over the next three years, England won battlefield victories but didn’t annihilate the Continental Army or convince the rebels to give up. The Brits occupied Philadelphia after defeating Washington’s troops, but were overextended and evacuated its army later. George Washington, who started with the conventional belief that you won wars by winning battles, began to realize that the goal of winning independence was avoiding defeat and keeping the Continental Army together.

On the other side, after Saratoga, the Brits had all but given up the idea of militarily conquering America. About 8,000 British soldiers and ships were assigned elsewhere, mostly to the West Indies to protect the sugar islands from the French. General Clinton, the commander of English forces, knew that his diminished forces could not conquer America and that England would probably eventually leave.

By 1780, France had made a major commitment in arms and money. A large force landed in New England and preliminary discussions with Washington about joint operations began.

At about the same time, Clinton and Lord Cornwallis decided on one last attempt at offensive action. They thought if they could conquer the southern colonies, they could at least keep them separate from the other colonies. Starting with the assumption that there was widespread southern support for England, an illusion the Committees of Safety had destroyed years earlier, Cornwallis was to lead a large part of the English army through the South, rally local support, and defeat the Continental Army units sent to oppose him.

They started by occupying Savannah and Charles Town. Using Charles Town as a base, Cornwallis marched his army north, mostly through wild “backcountry” territory. It was a slow-moving disaster. He was constantly ambushed and harassed by the highly-effective guerrilla tactics of local militias under Frances Marion and a detachment of mobile Virginian cavalry and infantry under Henry “Light Horse Harry” Lee (father of Robert E. Lee). Frustrated and unable to engage the main Continental Army force under Nathanael Greene, Cornwallis approved a terrorist campaign by his ruthless cavalry commander, Colonel Banastre Tarleton, to intimidate the locals (the basis of the Mel Gibson movie, The Patriot). It had the opposite effect. Angry local militias and state troops rallied to the side of the Continental Army; Daniel Morgan came out of retirement. After a campaign of small-scale encounters, Morgan and Greene decided on a battle at a place called Cowpens. Morgan adopted a daring, unorthodox strategy based on his understanding of Tarleton’s aggressive, rash personality. After inflicting heavy losses on the English, especially Tarleton’s forces, the Americans withdrew. Cornwallis continued his pursuit, fought further small engagements but couldn’t force a decisive battle with the elusive Greene. Green’s strategy was fight and retreat. Grind down Cornwallis’ army. It worked; Cornwallis’ army was reduced in numbers and effectiveness, exhausted, and riven with malaria. He headed for Yorktown, Virginia, dug in, and sent a message to Clinton asking for the British navy to rescue his army.   

This created a dilemma for Washington. Washington always hoped that someday his forces would be strong enough to attack the English stronghold of New York and remove the personal disgrace of his earlier loss. Most of the Continental Army was deployed in a ring around New York. With French support, he felt the time had come. But Rochambeau, the French army commander and deGrasse, the French naval commander, were against attacking the main English force in New York. Yorktown appeared as an alternative. Washington reluctantly agreed and the combined force marched and sailed south.

Luck was with the Americans and the French. Clinton had sent a fleet to evacuate Cornwallis and his army. But a French fleet under de Grasse, sailing north from the West Indies, arrived just in the nick of time and fought off the English fleet, which returned to New York. The Americans and French started a classic siege, moving closer and closer to British defensive positions. American and French artillery pounded the English. Finally, Colonel Alexander Hamilton stormed a key English redoubt (strong defensive position) and took it. English defenses crumbled. Cornwallis and his army surrendered.

It was over. The war had been long, expensive, and indecisive for England. England’s national debt doubled. Over 2,000 English merchant ships were captured or sunk by American privateers. Opposition to the war in England was growing. Everyone in the English government, except King George, knew it was time to negotiate a treaty.

Approximately 25,000 men died on both sides. England could absorb this loss and continue to be a world power. About 50,000 Americans left for Nova Scotia and England. Including Benedict Arnold.

Independent America

The American rebels had won the war, but America was not a country.

There was almost no central (federal) government. The Confederation government had stopped functioning.

As during the war, the federal government could not tax the people to raise revenue.

The currency, named the Continental, was worthless. There was no gold or silver to mint coins.

With England gone, governments in the separate colonies no longer had any strong reasons to cooperate with each other. There were border disputes. Slavery was an issue. Northern states had begun to move against slavery. Southern states didn’t.

There was no way to resolve conflicts between states.

America was no longer within the British imperial trading system. Exports fell. Planters in Virginia and South Carolina suffered. As did port cities. There was a general recession.

English troops continued to man former French forts in the interior, contrary to the treaty agreement.

France withdrew its soldiers and financial support. France still claimed much of the land beyond the Appalachians.

The army had been disbanded. Having been occupied by the English army, no one was in favor of a permanent standing army to defend the new country.

George Washington retired to his plantation.

There was renewed fighting with Native Americans along the frontier and in the new territories. 

A small group of the Revolution leaders found this state of affairs intolerable. They decided to do something about it. The result was the Constitution.

There was some doubt about whether the members of the Constitutional Convention had a legal mandate to write an entirely new federal constitution. But the 55 delegates at the Constitutional Convention including George Washington, James Madison, Benjamin Franklin, and Alexander Hamilton. John Adams was absent because he was America’s ambassador to Great Britain, but he had input through correspondence with delegates. 

The Constitution they created was an extraordinary document. No other democracy or republic in history, not Athens, Rome, or England, had a written constitution. After much debate and compromise, the Constitution set up the structure of the new government, the responsibilities of different branches of government, and how power and responsibilities were to be distributed. The power of the judiciary was vague but later John Marshall vigorously expanded the power of the Supreme Court.

Abolishing or limiting slavery was discussed at the Convention. The delegates from the Southern states pointed out that if the Constitution abolished slavery, the Southern states would reject the Constitution and ratification (approval) would fail.

After the Constitution was written and sent to the states for ratification, it was opposed by many people with good revolutionary credentials. Thomas Jefferson opposed it (he was in France as America’s ambassador) but was convinced to remain neutral after a very long correspondence with his friend James Madison (who wrote the first draft of the Constitution). Opponents included Patrick Henry. John Hancock opposed it for a long time but in the end reluctantly supported it, ensuring Massachusetts’ ratification.

The Constitution narrowly passed but only after Madison and other backers promised to support amendments that limited the powers of the new federal government. Madison kept his promise. As the first Speaker of the House of Representatives, he wrote the amendments and saw they were passed. These amendments became the Bill of Rights. Later, Madison joined Jefferson as a strong advocate of states’ rights. Some of their arguments were later used by southern states to defend slavery and defy federal laws. (Some of these arguments are still used today; America has never resolved this conflict between states rights and federal laws.)

After the government was established in 1789, political leaders like Jefferson and Hamilton debated America’s future and what role the federal government would play in it.

America in 1790:  The First Census

The census of 1790 counted approximately 3,900,000 people. Over 3 million were white Europeans and their descendants. About 700,000 were slaves, 18% of the total population. This was the highest percent recorded in any census. Over 100,000 Americans had already moved beyond the state borders into what was called the Western Territories, land on the other side of the Appalachian Mountains.

America continued to have one of the highest birth rates and population growth rates ever recorded. America had a young, rapidly growing population. There were as many whites under the age of 16 as 16 and over. A dynamic, young population began to move west, a mix of independent “freehold” farmers and slave-owning planters. 

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View the Ken Burns documentary The American Revolution. But be prepared – it’s 12 hours long. Until it is aired again on PBS, you can watch it on your phone with the PBS app. Or buy the series on Amazon Prime.

See the next post in this series, A New Nation:  America From 1789 to 1860

For a list of all essays with links, see 

List of Posts by Topic.

There are more posts on American History and American Economic History. Essays that provide context to these American history essays –  America position in England’s rise to becoming a world power. Essays on information, innovation, and how markets work. Essays on business, finance and economics. A series of essays on demographics, population projections, and speculations on how decreasing and aging populations will interact with the economics of individual countries and the global economy.