PRIMARY CAUSES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION AND ITS INEVITABILITY
This research paper examines whether British mishandling of the American colonies during the period 1763-1776 was the primary cause of the American Revolution and whether American independence was inevitable. By the end of the Seven Years War (1756-1763), deep geopolitical, political, economic and other external and internal factors had developed which would have, sooner or later, led to a fundamental reshaping of the relationship between the colonies and the mother country and probably to full independence. A more enlightened policy by Great Britain toward the colonies would have slowed the patriotic movement. The actual policies pursued by Britain aroused nationalistic passions and produced an unprecedented degree of colonial unity. Political instability in Britain in the 1760s and inept monarchical and ministerial leadership there, which compared unfavorably with the high calibre of colonial leadership, accelerated the collision, which was further intensified by misunderstandings and inflamed sentiment on both sides of the Atlantic. The inevitability of revolution exploding in 1775-1776 is gainsaid by the thin margin of mass support for the War of Independence within the colonies. Given the temper and commonly held attitudes at the time, revolution and complete separation became the only possible outcomes.
Primary Causes of Serious Colonial Discontent
Great Britain's victories in North America, at sea and elsewhere left it as the dominant world power, but it was still engaged in world rivalry with France. According to Johnson, the removal of the French threat in North America reduced the colonies' dependence on Great Britain because "the fear of France was the great factor that bound the American colonies to Britain in the mid-18th century." Since the mid-17th century, when Britain first enacted the Acts of Navigation and Trade, its economic policies towa...