What were the real reasons for the 13 colonies revolting against England?

Answer 1

Wow... On one hand it's good to see some of you went to history class in school but unfortunately you're wrong.

#1. The Taxation of the Colonies...

As a colony and territory of the British, England had every right to tax the colonies... The 13 colonies in North America paid the lowest tax rate of all the civilized world. 1/6 of what was actually paid in England.

#2. Paliment would not have a colonies delagate?

I'm assuming you mean that the colonies had no representation in Parliment... England in the 1700's (and to this day) has a "virtual representation" system. Meaning that an elected official need not nessisarily live in the district they are representing. Every elected official (then & now) in Parliment is expected to represent the interests of the entire British Empire. The colonies were represented... In the House of Commons. Edmund Burke actually fought hard to represent the colonies in the House of Commons. What we have is called a "direct representation" and until 1789 when it was implemented in the newly formed United States there was not one case in all of recorded history of it existing. It is very unlikely that the majority of the colonists who were very largely illiterate and unschooled would have felt a system that the entire empire lived under was unfair or understood a system that didn't exist until 6 years after the United States won their independence (and after the U.S. had scraped it's first government and constitution when they failed to work).

#3. Troops placed in Boston

British troops on British land!? Gawd no! That's like having American troops in Guam and Puerto Rico!! Oh wait...Those troops were there to protect the colonists from indian attacks (that were largely brought on due to colonial actions) and to keep the peace amoung the settlers.

#4. Boston Massacre

A massively overblown isolated incident in history.

#5. The Intolerable Acts

Acts like the stamp act and such that attempted to tax the rich elite land owners (who were the only ones really paying taxes at the time)?

#6. King Sending more troops after Lexington, Concord, and Bunker Hill. (Straw that broke the Camel's Back)

So the King shouldn't have tried to bring the situation back under control? I suppose during the L.A. riots we shouldn't have interferred with the looters either... And the Battle of Breed Hill (the correct name for Bunker Hill) was instigated by the colonialists and fought because they built an illegal fort. What did you expect the British to do?

The truth gets really messy but you won't find it in your history books... If you actually look for why it started you'll never find it. So what I will do is give you some historical facts and then my theory based on what I've read. In the end what you should do is go to the bookstore or library and read as much as you can and make up your own mind... And remember, the text books they give you in school have a very clean & simple version of history. I recommend starting with The People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn. And when asking yourself why America revolted you need to ask yourself why, if the British were so over-bearing and cruel did only 13 out of 32 colonies revolt?

Ok take into account that this is the conclusion I've come to based on what I've read... The only thing I know for sure is that no one really seems to know why we revolted.

By 1775 Britain has 32 colonies in the America's (with Jamaica being the richest) and in the end only 13 revolted.

The population in the 13 colonies is approximately 2.5million and the average age is only 16. 90% of this 2.5 million live in rural areas east of the Appalaichian mountains. Most of these colonialists are English with about 6% or 150,000 being German and another 7% or 75,000 being Scots-Irish. There are also some Irish and other nationalities sprinkled in...

Let's look at the Scots-Irish for a moment... The Scots-Irish are a half-breed bastardized race coming from a mixture of Scottish & Irish blood. In 1606 and 1610 England attempted an experiment in settlement by granting land to the Scottish in Ireland where despite having official control the English were contsantly fighting with the locals who spoke their own language, didn't like the English, and had a tendency to drink and fight. (It didn't help that the English thought the Irish lower than slaves.) The idea being that the Scottish, who themselves were a fairly aggresive people would bring Ireland under control without England having to spend their own blood & money to do so. Despite having differences in religion which led to violence between initially it seems that the Irish and Scottish got along well. After all they both liked to drink and fight and had a history of distrust and dislike of the English. There appears to have been alot of inter-marriage between the two peoples. However over time their differences became a focal point and violence between the two groups exploded and continues (albeit on a lesser scale) to this day. During this violence many Scots-Irish immigrated to the Americas, moving initially into Pennsyvania where the Amish had settled and squated on their lands.

Now at this time Pennsylvania territory was a model of tranquility. The Amish were a peaceful people and seemed to have gotten along very well with the native peoples in the area. However the Scots-Irish being more aggresive had a habit of forcing their way. Eventually the Amish go to the Scots-Irish and say, hey this is our land... Why don't you go over to those (Appalacian) mountains? Nobody lives there... So the Scots-Irish move into the Appalacian mountains and fight with the indians (beginning a growing animosity between the British colonies and the native peoples) there and become the hill-billies we know and love today....

During this time a class system begins to develop in the 13 colonies with the top 5% being the rich land owners, the lawyers, and the clergy. The craftsman, people with trades, made up another 10%. The other 85% were homeless and starving.

Taverns became the center of the colonial town. As a place where people drank, gambled, and could get a room for the night all news passed from town to town thru these centers. Mail carriers on their routes would get a room at these taverns and most likely on these long lonely nights were reading other peoples mail and spreading what they read as "news" no matter the accuracy.

During this time The British navy since it didn't pay its sailors were "impressing" people into service. (a legitimate grievance but also considered a legitimate practice at the time.) Most times this also took place in these taverns as most "impressed" sailors were drunk at the time.

At this time the "Triangular Trade" was fully in effect. Slaves from Africa were sent mostly to the Carribean colonies (but also some to North America), sugar from the Carribean to North America, and rum from North America to Africa. In the beginning Britain isn't getting any money from this "Triangular Trade", so in 1733 the "Molasses Act" is passed forc ing all ships to Britain to be taxed before going on to Africa. Few ships actually conform to this act and as a result smuggling increases.

Was Britain wrong in passing this act? The colonies were after all British and the Crown was recieving no compensation for the monies flowing through out the Empire because of this trade...

By 1763 the United Kingdom had a debt of 122million pounds and was increasing by 6million pounds every 6 months. The majority of this debt was a result of the French & Indian War (part of the larger 7 Year War) between the years of 1756-63. The British began levying taxes on the colonies to pay off this debt.

Since the taxes were meant to pay off the debt incurred over the French & Indian War which was fought on colonial land with largely British troops to protect (British territory yes...) colonial land and lives was it beyond reason for the British to ask that the colonialists help pay for it? Consider that at this time the 13 colonies paid the lowest tax rate in all the civilized world... Paying 1/6 the taxes paid in England and the only ones paying the taxes were landowners, and 5% of these taxpayers owned 50% of everything. And who were these 5%? Look at the names on the Declaration of Independence and you'll see 56 of them....

During this time the Scots-Irish in the Appalacians were constantly starting skirmishes with the indians forcing British troops in the colonies to repeatedly deal with the threat. Because of this the "Proclimation of 1763" was passed, creating a line from Georgia north thru the Appalacian Mountains that colonialists were not permitted to cross in hopes that it would put an end to (or at least limit) the clashes between the settlers and the indians in the area.

Now let's back up for a moment...

By 1760 there had been no less than 18 separate rebellions started by tenet farmers and displaced tenet farmers... All against the land owning elite. The smallest of these rebellions was abound 7,000 people, the largest about 50,000.

Where did these tenet farmers come from? Well most of them were former indentured servants who after working off their debt to their benefactors had no skills and so stayed on to work the land. Others who chose not to stay and work the land simply became homeless and largely moved into the cities. As an example, this balloned New York city's population by 10,000 in a matter of 3 years. Those that stayed on as tenet farmers lived under what was basically a feudal system. They were given a stipened of what they grew with the rest going to the land owner.

Now as these taxes were levied the land owners simply demanded more from their tenets. Think about it... As a modern equivalent if you rent an apartment and the landlords taxes are increased does he simply eat it and leave your rent as it is? Of course not he raises your rent, and that is what these land owners did. During some of these years there were droughts and poor crop yields. Did that stop the land owners from demanding more of their tenets? Of course not... And so some of these tenets revolted and attacked the land owners and their families. Because of this the British troops were called in to quell these revolts. Those that were not killed were evicted (along with their families) off the lands they worked (would your landlord allow you to continue to live on his property after you've attacked him!?) and so increasing the homeless who moved to the cities and the land owners simply brought over more indentured servants to replace the tenets.

In time this created a very dangerous place for these land owners. Their plantations were dangerous for them because the tenets living there were pissed that they and their families were barely getting enough to eat while the land owners were living in luxery. And in the cities where these elite land owners also had houses were dangerous cuz that is where the evicted tenets and other homeless were collecting. The elite became virtual prisoners in their own homes.

During this time the colonies had their own separate meeting bodies made up of these elite land owners that met in what esentially were the equivilent of town hall meetings. Now almost always these meetings were of the elite only but in time with the amount of angry homeless colonialists growing that was changing... Now these starving pissed off displaced tenets and homless begin storming these town hall meetings and almost certainly scare the **** outta these elite land owners. Now as well as growing cotton, help, hops and other such crops some of these land owners owned other businesses such as breweries...

(now this next paragraph is mearly conjecture on my part...)

So during this storming of the hall perhaps one of these land owners turns to someone who owns a brewery... Maybe Sam Adams and says, "Sam take a few guys and run down to your brewery and bring back a few kegs of beer." So Sam brings back the beer and they all pass it out to the mob who proceeds to get drunk and the elite tells them, "Hey we're in the same boat as you guys. The British are taxing the **** outta us (nevermind that it was only 1/6 of what anyone else was paying) and we're suffering too." The mob drunk is thinking. maybe these guys aren't so bad? They're giving us free beer and the British are making life hard on them as well...

What is known for certain is that during the first town hall meeting that was stormed in Boston the Govenors mansion was burned to the ground. The next time it happened, the British troops were called out to put down the mob.

So perhaps in a moment of fear the elite (who thought of themselves as British) found a way to deflect the blame and hatred of them onto the Crown and faned the flames to save their own asses eventually leading to war.

Is this how it really played out... With the elite deflecting blame to save their own asses? I don't know for sure. But from everything I've read it seems to make more sense than anything else considering that "no taxation w/out representation" and the other reasons traditionally given are very flimsy when you look at historical fact.

Bottom line is I don't know for sure... But it seem nobody else does either.

Answer 2

Great answer by Jay G, and I concur.
Good answer by Amadeus. I concur, but with two caveats:

1. I don't think he has a good handle on the Scots-Irish. For the real deal, I recommend the book, "Born Fighting: How the Scots-Irish Shaped America" by James Webb (i.e., THE James Webb). It's a short read.

2. Amadeus focuses too much on reason and not on passion. The American Revolution was preceded by two events that had a profound psychological impact on the American colonists.

2.a. The Great Awakening(s).
When people fear God more than men, they can do astonishing things--such as, defeating the British Empire.

2.b. Benign Neglect.
The Brits left the Americans alone for about 50 years. The colonists grew accustomed to running their own affairs and rather liked it that way. Even though the the Brits were probably correct on most counts (per Amadeus), what matters most is human nature. It is galling to have an outsider mettle in your affairs, so Brit action (right AND wrong) was a provocation.

Answer 3

The Best reasons was
#1. The Taxations of the Colonies
#2. Paliment would not have a colonies delaget
#3. Troops placed in Boston
#4. Boston Masacer
#5. The Intalarable Acts
#6. King Sending more troops after Lexington, Concord, and Bunker Hill. ( Straw that broke the Camel's Back)

Answer 4

Heavy taxation due to the Great Britain's constant and large debt from conflicts with France, Spain, and legal problems with The Pope (1492 the Pope gave Spain the "Spanish Main"--North, South, and Central America ) . Not allowing the colonist to seek the highest price for their raw materials. The colonist were forced to sell their raw materials (exports) to or threw brokers for Great Britain. This caused a controlled market by Great Britain. Fair or unfair--both, depends on what side of the pond that you were on at the time. After all we were a Colony being protected by Great Britain so someone had to pay for the Army, Navy, judges, ect......... At the same time the controls made them feel just like sharecroppers and were getting little reward for their financial risk and hard work.

Answer 5

High and unfair taxes from the british. the whole boston tea party was a revolt against the rediculous taxes on tea.

Answer 6

Read the Declaration of Independence. It will give you first hand information on about two dozen "complaints" that the colonists had against the British.

Answer 7

Economics. If you had no tooth paste, no floss, no showers or baths, no deodorants, only outhouses with only a sponge on a stick for TP (burrrrrr in the winter), ...wouldn't you be "revolting" (pew!),

Answer 8

It just took so so long to wait to receive mail from europe.They realized that America is so vast and verdant and that the Atlantic ocean is just too wide.

Answer 9

One reason is they didn't feel like they were being properly represented in Parliment. They didn't like that Parliment didn't have literal regional representation (like US goverment where each state has Congressman) so they felt those representing them did not understand their needs.

Answer 10

Taxation.

Answer 11

They didn't like rules England made and the taxes they made.