What are the political and economic conditions at the time that led colonists to desire independence?

Question

And then causing the American Revolution.

Answer 1

It was a bundle of political and economic factors -- from the restrictions caused by the British mercantilist system (and esp the British competition with France) to the fact that American colonists who had long been allowed to handle local affairs themselves, including legislating for themselves (something Edmund Burke dubbed "salutary neglect") were suddenly being told, after the French & Indian War, that Parliament was now in charge.

But one overarching issue or set of issues that must not be forgotten is the colonial BELIEFS about their RIGHTS and how they were being usurped -- and what Bernard Bailyn called "The ideological origins of the American Revolution" [see his classic book with that title]

Here's one way of looking at the political (and economic) liberties -- summarized as a list of the "Top 10 Civil Liberties Violations That Helped Cause the American Revolution"

1) Taxation Without Representation
2) No Free Trade
3) Unlimited Search and Seizure
4) Destruction of Colonial Government
5) Oppression of Political Protesters
6) Immunity for Corrupt and Abusive British Officers
7) Direct Control of the Criminal Justice System
8) Guilty by Parliament - no guarantee of trial by jury
9) Forced Quartering of Soldiers
10) Closure of the Boston Port
http://civilliberty.about.com/od/historyprofiles/tp/independence.htm
(the page includes an explanation of each point)


For more information on these issues, and how the colonists FELT about them --

There are many cases of the colonists' specifying the specific liberties they believed had been violated -- in complaints written by individual colonies and by the Second Continental Congress at the beginning of the Revolution. The best known of these is, of course, the list found in the Declaration of Independence (as THE reasons for which they were declaring independence).
http://www.law.indiana.edu/uslawdocs/declaration.html

For some perspective on these complaints, and the history behind the ideas of the people's rights, note the observations about the "Declaration of Rights on 1689" and the declarations of the states (colonies) here:
http://www.saumag.edu/edavis/AmLit/2004/DeclarationofIndependenceMaierNotes.html

There are clearly economic issues involved -- taxation, for instance, can have major economic impact, and the effects of limitations on free trade (esp.since this was a change in practice/enforcement after the French & Indian War) certainly hit the colonists' pocketbooks. But these things were not enough in themselves -- it was the conviction that their prior rights as Englishmen were being trampled on that finally sparked Revolution.

Answer 2

There are several acts of the British government that caused this:
Tea Act - allowed the British East India Company to undersell its competitors in the colonies
Quartering Act- this made the individual towns and villages that held British troops to provide lodging, food, and and drink
Townshend Act - actually a series of four acts that levied direct taxes on the colonies, allowed more inspection on imports, and let tea come to the US levy free
Sugar Act - granted the British West Indies company a monopoly on the America sugar market
Stamp Act- fee for all commercial and legal papers
Finally the Intolerable Act which closed Boston's seaport.

Britain's last chance to avert war was through the Olive Branch Petition which stated the US would remain loyal as long as the Intolerable Act was repealed. It wasn't. So the colonists rebelled.

Answer 3

The forced billeting of soldiers in private homes
Taxation without representation
Fickle imposition of martial law
Second-class citizenship
Lack of self-determination
Profiteering by merchants, especially on staple items that COULD have been created in the colonies, but colonists were legally required to purchase them from British merchants (and at a premium).