Why did the American colonies rebel against England?
The Battle of Long Island, the largest battle of the American Revolution
American colonies
The first English settlement in the territory of the future United States was founded in Virginia in 1607 and named Jamestown. Within just a few days, Jamestown became a thriving settlement, its economy based on tobacco plantations.
A mass migration of European immigrants to America began. People dreamed of freedom, attracted by the natural resources of the distant continent, the availability of free land, and the absence of religious persecution. Masses of people were simply imported: white slaves (indentured servants) and blacks. Convicts were sent to the New World to clean out the prisons, vagrants, and beggars. People who had fallen foul of the law in the Old World fled here. In England, children were simply kidnapped and sold to the New World.
Clearly, there was no free land in the true sense of the word. However, the Indians were not considered fully human. For Protestants, they were treated like animals; they could be tricked, their land taken for beads and alcohol (the Indians were given "firewater" to drink), or simply taken by force. The British and Americans employed a "divide, divide, and conquer" strategy, pitting tribes against each other. Thus began a long conflict that culminated in the extermination of most of the Native American population. The remnants of once proud and powerful tribes were driven into reservations, condemned to a slow extinction.
New colonies were founded. In the southern colonies (Virginia, North and South Carolina, Maryland, and Georgia), sugarcane, tobacco, and cotton thrived in the warm climate. Landownership and plantation farming took hold here. Large agricultural enterprises specialized in growing export crops, focused on foreign trade, and utilized slave labor. Southern planters were closely connected to the English aristocracy; the urban bourgeoisie and peasantry were insignificant.
The northern colonies, which occupied a relatively narrow, rocky strip between mountains and lakes on one side and the Atlantic Ocean on the other, were ill-suited for productive agriculture. People there primarily engaged in fishing, hunting, and trading. The colonies were inhabited by sailors, traders (primarily fur traders), and various adventurers. Their sources of income were trade, including the slave trade, maritime smuggling, even outright piracy, and expansion into Native American lands.
Here in New England, a large commercial bourgeoisie emerged, relatively independent of the metropolis. There was no feudal nobility, which led to a relatively free local order. It was to New England that artisans, workers, and peasants migrated. Many voluntarily, but there were also exiles and refugees.
In the North, the development of industry designed for self-consumption began with small enterprises and shipyards. The first manufactories appeared at the end of the 18th century. Cities did not have a guild system. The authorities attempted to regulate production but never fully took shape.
In the central colonies (New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania), where the land was fertile, farming flourished. Large farms produced grain, butter, meat, hides, and other goods, which were bought and exported through the ports of Philadelphia and New York. Farmers suffered from the greed of middlemen, who bought their produce for next to nothing and sold it on to expensive British goods.
Large-scale land ownership in these colonies failed to materialize due to a labor shortage. Landowners preferred to lease their land.
Peasants, who had been literally exterminated in England, Scotland, and Ireland through "enclosure," migrated here in droves. Various Germans, Poles, Dutch, Danes, Swedes, and others also migrated. These immigrants imbibed hatred for the feudal landlords and the central government with their mothers' milk. From time to time, rebellions erupted, targeting the landowning aristocracy and the government's tax policies.
For a time, rebellions and unrest remained confined to specific territories. Conflicts between large landowners, government officials, and farmers were resolved by people simply moving west and squatting, displacing the Indians. When colonial owners, government officials, or land speculators arrived on these lands, driving the settlers off their lands and destroying their farms, the people again migrated west. They often resisted fiercely, responding to violence with violence. On the frontier (the land between developed and wild lands), constant strife and violence were commonplace.
Boston Tea Party - "Americans dumping tea cargo from ships into the river at Boston." W. D. Cooper,History North America." London, 1789.
Slave trade and extermination of Indians
Overall, the economy of the American colonies was built on the brutal exploitation of white and black slaves, the poorest sections of the population, the encroachment on Native American lands, and the total extermination of the Native American population. It was also built on the slave trade, smuggling, and piracy, which generated enormous profits.
In particular, slaves in West Africa were bought for rum. American traders and shipowners bought molasses (a thick, viscous, and very sweet syrup, a byproduct of sugar production) in the West Indies. They then distilled it into rum in the numerous distilleries of New England. Incidentally, another source of profit was getting ordinary colonists and Native Americans drunk. And in West Africa, rum was used to buy slaves: the price of a Black person was equal to 100 gallons of rum, or £10, and they were resold in the West Indies and the American colonies for £30-60 a head.
In other words, the slave traders' profits were enormous. Therefore, the British Empire encouraged the slave trade. British merchants, and through them, the lords and high clergy who had a share, reaped their profits. Naturally, attempts by some colonies to ban the slave trade met with resistance from the British Empire itself.
Franklin's Return to Philadelphia, 1785. Artist: Jean Leon Gerome Ferris
All the English colonies, with a population of 2,5 million (in 1775), were constantly at war with their Native American neighbors. The colonists sought to expand further inland, chasing furs and other riches, pushing back the Native Americans. Skirmishes were constant, often escalating into full-blown wars. The first major Native American war, for example, lasted 12 years—from 1622 to 1634. Clark's punitive expedition lasted 11 years—from 1778 to 1789.
Native American tribes were often exploited by warring powers—England, France, and Spain. They armed the Indians, pitted tribes against each other, and paid for scalps (hairy skin removed from the head), including those of women and children. We recall the wonderful historical novel "The Last of the Mohicans" by American writer James Fenimore Cooper, and its excellent 1992 film adaptation directed by Michael Mann.
Chingachgook (from the director's cut): "The frontier moves with the sun, sweeping away the red men, driving them from these deep woods, until there's no room left for them. And then our people will disappear. Or we'll cease to be ourselves."
The initial accumulation of capital occurred through the robbery and extermination of Indians. Furs and other goods were bought from the Indians for next to nothing. Speculation in Indian lands was rampant. Attempts were made to enslave the Indians, but this practice failed, as they died en masse from boredom, stress, and diseases to which they had no immunity. They also had the opportunity to escape into the wilderness.
As a result of continuous wars of extermination, the colonies developed their own militia (volunteer) armed forces. Every farmer and hunter was also a warrior. Experienced commanders were formed in battles with the Indians, who were natural-born warriors. The army arose not for protection from external enemies, but as a mechanism for the extermination of the indigenous Indian population.
Stills from the film "The Last of the Mohicans" (1992)
Preconditions of the revolution
The administrative and political structures of the colonies varied. Some were governed by governors appointed from London. Private colonies were run by owners, but under royal oversight. Some colonies enjoyed "popular self-government." Almost all colonies had legislative assemblies with limited powers. Elections were based on high property qualifications. Generally, the dominant role belonged to a small group of merchant and landowning families—large merchants, shipowners, and planters.
As the colonies grew and developed, tensions with the British mother country grew ever more acute. The British authorities suppressed the colonies' economic independence so that they would remain sources of raw materials and profit for the mother country.
Also The big controversy between Britain and New England was the land question. The issue of the vast lands in the West. The territory from the Allegheny Mountains to the Mississippi River, acquired by England during the Seven Years' War, was declared crown property by a 1763 decree. Private citizens were prohibited from settling or cultivating land beyond the Allegheny Mountains. Naturally, this irritated both ordinary farmers and hunters, as well as traders buying furs and agricultural products. Future Americans flocked to the West in search of greater freedom and wealth.
Another serious conflict between the mother country and the colonies was industry. The British authorities prohibited the development of industry in the colonies. The construction of industrial enterprises, except for shipyards, was prohibited. Ships were profitable to build in the New World; their construction in the colonies, rich in ship timber, was almost a third cheaper than in England. Therefore, by 1775, a third of Britain's fleet was built in America.
The colonies had to obtain all industrial goods from the mother country at monopoly prices. The raw materials required by England could only be sold to the mother country. Naturally, this irritated the local bourgeoisie and all Americans, who overpaid for English goods, which were 25-40% more expensive than European ones.
As a result, England's trade, customs, and tax policies became a constant source of conflict. Tobacco, sugar, cotton, and other goods were to be shipped only to England. Moreover, British merchants acted as middlemen and took the bulk of the profits. Colonial trade was limited to those goods transported by English ships. This led to a flourishing smuggling industry.
After the Seven Years' War, the British Empire increased financial pressure on the colonies, attempting to shift the burden of its national debt (140 million pounds sterling) onto them. This led to the introduction of new taxes and duties. For example, in 1765, the Stamp Act was passed (the sale of printed materials, as well as the execution of any civil documents, was subject to a tax paid to the Crown), which sparked a surge of discontent among the colonists. The settlers responded by boycotting English goods. Imports of English goods sharply declined, and the authorities were forced to relent and abolish the stamp duty.
At the same time, the British Crown began to increase its military presence in the colonies. In 1768, new duties were imposed on paper, tea, paint, and other goods. The Americans responded with a new boycott of British goods, which lasted two years and caused significant losses for British merchants. The duties were eventually abolished, with the exception of the tax on tea. This was a fundamental assertion of the British government's right to tax the colonies.
It's worth noting that there was no "strangulation" of the American colonies' economies. Taxes in the mother country were much higher: the average colonist paid 6 pence a year into the treasury, while residents of England contributed an average of 25 shillings annually (there were 12 pence in one shilling). So The War of Independence was driven by the desire of the American elite to receive even greater gesheft profits and not pay or obey London in any way.
The new American predator no longer wished to submit to the old British predator. The American elite wanted to grow fat, get rich, and exploit the continent without the tutelage of the English crown.
The Writing of the Declaration of Independence. Thomas Jefferson (right), Benjamin Franklin (left), and John Adams (center) meet at the house where Jefferson was staying (at the corner of Seventh and High Streets—now Market Street—in Philadelphia) to discuss the draft of the Declaration of Independence. Painting by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris
Colonial rebellion
In December 1773, when English merchants brought a large shipment of tea to Boston, the townspeople organized an attack on the ships and dumped the entire cargo into the sea. They dressed up as Indians to shift the blame. This episode became known as the "Boston Tea Party."
Such uprisings were numerous and increasingly frequent. Closer interaction between the colonies began. In 1774, the first so-called Continental Congress convened in Philadelphia, where all the colonies except Georgia were represented. At this meeting, the question of independence was not yet raised. The delegates merely asked the British authorities to lift restrictions on trade and industry and not impose taxes. The British Crown responded by demanding the complete subjugation of the colonies, declared a rebellion, and initiated a blockade.
Military clashes began in 1775. The Americans attacked Boston, where a British garrison was stationed. In Lexington and Concord, American militia resisted the British.
In early 1776, Thomas Paine wrote in his pamphlet Common Sense, which quickly sold hundreds of thousands of copies: “The period of debate is over. Weapon – as the last resource – should resolve the dispute.”
The Continental Congress assumed the role of central government for the colonies, meeting first in Philadelphia and then in Baltimore until 1781. The American army was led by George Washington, from a family of wealthy landowners who had distinguished himself in the Indian and French wars.
Interestingly, almost all the leaders of the American Revolution were slave-owning plantation owners. Thomas Jefferson, for example, repeatedly declared slavery immoral, yet he never freed his slaves and kept a harem of female slaves.
On July 4, 1776, the Continental Congress issued the Declaration of Independence, in which the colonies declared their independence from England. The "Unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen United States of America," drafted by Thomas Jefferson, stated: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. Government derives its powers from the governed. It is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it."
A handwritten copy of the final version of the Declaration. On June 7, Virginian Richard Henry Lee presented a resolution to the Continental Congress calling for the independence of the colonies. On June 11, a committee of five members was formed to draft the document now known as the U.S. Declaration of Independence. The committee included John Adams (Massachusetts), Roger Sherman (Connecticut), Robert Livingston (New York), Benjamin Franklin (Pennsylvania), and Thomas Jefferson (Virginia). The Continental Congress voted to adopt the Declaration on July 2, but debate continued until July 3. The official date of the Declaration of Independence is considered to be July 4—the day it was published in its final form. This document marked the beginning of the new nation. Later, in 1789, the Constitution of the United States of America was adopted.
When Polish and Russian immigrants who aided the American revolutionary rebels proposed including a clause condemning slavery in the Declaration, it was simply deleted.
The need for a break between the colonies and the metropolis was justified by the fact that colonial dependence is in conflict with the “inalienable rights of people” to life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness and the right of the people to establish government according to their own will.
True, The "inalienable rights" of people did not extend to slaves and the indigenous Indian population, who were brutally robbed, exterminated, and driven from their lands by every means possible. And all real power was vested in the representatives of the big bourgeoisie. Landowners, owners of manufactories and ships. Oligarchy and plutocracy.
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