American Revolution was a rebellion during the colonial period. The events of the American Revolution happened in the years between 1765 and 1783. This revolt involved the Patriots of America who were centered in the thirteen colonies. These colonies of Great Britain won their independence, and the United States of America was formed after that. The thirteen colonies floored Great Britain which was being aided by France and other nations.
Causes and Major Events Leading Up to the American Revolution
In the wake of 1765, there was a society that was referred to as the American colonial society. The members of this society were of the view that if people were not adequately represented, then they were not supposed to be paying taxes. This viewpoint was held by these members especially beginning with the 1765 Stamp Act of Congress (Tindall, George, and David, 115).
The members of this society began to reject the mandate of the Parliament of British to take taxes from them because they did not have members in the governance organization. There were protests that started to occur steadily in the wake of the year 1770. This led to the Massacre of Boston and the arson of Gaspee in the year 1772 in the Island of Rhode. This further led to what is famously known as the Boston Tea Party. This is an event that occurred such that the Patriots wrecked a taxed tea consignment in the year 1773 (Tindall, George, and David, 109).
According to Gould and Eliga (125), Due to the Tea Party, Great Britain made quick responses. Firstly, they closed down the Harbor of Boston and then some acts of legislation followed. The acts of legislation overturned the colony of Massachusetts self-government rights, and this made everything worse for the British as all the colonies began to assemble right behind Massachusetts. Near the end of the year 1774, the Patriots of America and specifically in the Massachusetts colony as it was known, established its own alternate government whose mandate and authority were to help them organize and harmonize their opposition exertions against the British. The other twelve colonies made a preference to continue being aligned to the Crown, and they were called the Loyalists.
The tensions then came to be conflicts between the British regulars and the militia of the Patriots. This happened when the army of the king attempted to seize and wreck the military supplies to the colonial militia on the 19th of April in the year 1775 at the Lexington and Concord. This battle then escalated into a world war. The Patriots who were later joined by the Spanish, Dutch and the French allies had begun fighting Great Britain and the Loyalists. This occurrence is what famously became referred to as the American Revolutionary War. This war took place between the years 1775 and 1783 (Gould and Eliga, 127).
The major advantages and disadvantages each side possessed going into the war
Advantages
According to Lambert and Stansbury (54), For the Americans, in the wake of the year 1776, they were aided by the France nation in many ways. For instance, France had established an aid program for the Americans. Not only did France aid the Americans but Spain also in a secret manner added to the funds that France was given as aid to the Americans. The countries if France and Spain purchased ammunitions worth two million. These activities were operated under a secret or dummy organization which was run by a gentleman known as Pierre. The rebels of America would receive some of the ammunition via the Republic of Dutch. Some of the other ammunition was transited via the West Indies’ ports of Spain and France.
On the other hand, the British had the support of the American Indians. This was largely due to the relationships established by trade and the efforts of the British to disallow settlements of the Colonialists and preserve the west of the Appalachian Mountains to the American Indians. The majority of about the more than 200,000 Indians that were stationed to the East of the Mississippi were supporters of Great Britain. The British also had friends in the Midwest. These allies were providing the American Indians with funds and a lot of ammunition to attack the American outposts. It is also a matter of the fact that the British had a trained army, the largest navy and effective public finance (Lambert and Stansbury, 55).
Disadvantages
The Americans were disadvantaged in the manner that a section of the Black Americans fought for the British. The Black Americans battled on both flanks of the war. Great Britain had tried to overturn the slavery against the Colonists Americans. Therefore this turned out to be a disadvantage as the Americans needed as much help as they could get (Royster and Charles, 86).
Tindall, George, and David (115) argue that Great Britain was disadvantaged in the sense that the Americans had a lot of allies on their side as opposed to Great Britain. The Americans did not just have allies in Spain, France and the Dutch but these nations also funded the revolutionary war. As opposed to the British who funded their battle, most of the ammunition that the Patriots of America used was from the allies. These ammunitions were secretly brought into America through a dummy corporation that was headed by French called Pierre. Therefore, it is clear that the British were outnumbered by the allies that the Patriots of America had. Therefore the British were outclassed by the Americans in this sector.
Explanation of why the Americans won and the problems they faced after winning independence
The major reason the Americans won is that the French, Spanish and later on the Dutch became their allies after 1778 and this left the Great Britain Empire to battle a world war in isolation and without major allies. This followed by the British withdrawing their army from the American Continent and went to reinforce in the Caribbean colonies. These colonies were more beneficial to the Investors of the Great Britain Empire (Royster and Charles, 86).
However, after winning the independence, the national government of the United States of America had no funds for debt repayments of the nations of Europe and payments to the supplies by the American people that had promissory notes. The amount of national debt that the American Government owed to foreigners and the locals who had supplied goods and services during the war was mind-baffling. Therefore, the problem the national government faced after the victory against the British and the declaration of independence from British governance was how it was going to pay the amounts of debt that had been owed to the European nations and the local Americans (Tindall, George, and David, 117).
Work cited
Gould, Eliga H. The persistence of empire: British political culture in the age of the American Revolution. UNC Press Books, 2011. 120-140
Lambert, Robert Stansbury. “South Carolina Loyalists in the American Revolution.” (2011). 50-61
Royster, Charles. A Revolutionary People at War: The Continental Army and American Character, 1775-1783. The University of North Carolina Press, 2011. 81-88
Tindall, George Brown, and David E. Shi. America: A narrative history. WW Norton & Company, 2016. 110-120