The American Revolutionary War was fought from 1775 to 1783. The war ended when thirteen North American colonies won political independence and proceeded to form the United States of America. The American Revolutionary war started after a decade of rising tension between the British crown and the influential segment of the North American colonies. The rising tension had been triggered by the British, who were claiming greater control over the affairs of the colonies. Up to the early 1778, the conflict had been a civil war in the British Empire, but it became a global war later after the unification of France in 1778, followed by Spain in 1779, and Netherlands in 1780 against Britain. Since the beginning of the war, sea power was influential …show more content…
Such strategies included cutting off trade in order to isolate the economy of American colonies from the outside world. Since the British army was more powerful compared to that of the American colonies, Britain had total control over the American ports. Also, the British had control of the port cities located along the colonial east coast. The move saw the number of ships leaving the American colonies reduce. Consequently, the goods exported from U.S. reduced because of that hindrance. The naval strength of England was significant because it prevented other countries from supplying to the colonies. The result was that the smuggled, as well as the inexpensive imports, became costly and …show more content…
For instance, Great Britain had spent an average of twelve million dollars each year. At the end of the war, Britain had a national debt of two-hundred and fifty million dollars, which generated an interest rate of more than 9.5 million dollars annually. On top of that, Britain had incurred another huge debt during the Seven Years ' War. The debts made the British population experience drastic tax increases over the years. Extra duty was charged on items like lead and glass. In fact, the average tax on the British people became four shillings for each pound. Trade between Great Britain and the thirteen American colonies also collapsed, causing many British business people to suffer financially. The overseas market also dried up. Income from the sale of metal and woolen products also dropped sharply because overseas trade decreased sharply during the war period. The war also affected British merchant sailors, as 3,386 British merchant ships were seized by the colonist armies. These were some of the contributors to the
Firstly, the effect of the Naval Stores Act was showing up in the condition of the American naval stores trade. Owing to the bounty system in this act, merchants could receive sufficient bounty through the American naval stores trade. Therefore, they regard this trade as profitable and began to deal with American naval stores. Secondly, the end of the War of the Spanish Succession activated the transatlantic commerce drastically. The end of the war caused the decline in the risk of the navigation in the Atlantic, which led the decrease in the
In 1689, the British and the French entered a long period of frequent warfare known as the Second One Hundred Years’ War. The British government had to start directing its focus towards the French rather than its colonies in the New World. Due to the constant warfare, the British did not enforce the Navigation Acts that regulated and controlled trade going to and from the colonies. This sort of political and economic strategy was called salutary neglect. The Americans enjoyed minimal interference in their trading and the American economy grew and developed under this salutary neglect.
The war of independence was fought from 1775-1782. In the beginning, it was largely believed that Britain would be successful. However, the Americans proved to be victorious in the end, overcoming many challenges that were thrown their way. The biggest threat to their independence was simply the strength of the British.
The British men gathered full control of the trading center present in the Americas, and created the Navigation Acts to help aid them in their tactics to take control over all trade within the Americas. The Navigation Acts were passed under a mercantilist system, and was used to regulate trade in a way that only benefitted the British economy. These acts restricted trade between England and its colonies to English or colonial ships, required certain colonial goods to pass through England before export, provided subsidies for the production of certain raw goods in the colonies, and banned colonial competition in large-scale manufacturing. This lowered the competition in the trading world for the British and caused the British to have a major surge in power, that greatly attributed to the growth of their rising empire. The British’s ambitious motives in the trading world help portray a way that the British took control of an important piece in the economy of all of the other nations present in the colonies in the time period, and shows another leading factor in the growth of the British empire.
As a result, the limited amount of seamen disrupted American imports, exports, and increased the need for seamen. Americans no longer considered themselves as Englishmen and wanted no part of the British nation. Americans
(Doc.1) Along with all the diverse raw materials, Britain would have a large market to sell finished goods, fueling Imperialism. (Doc. 1) The island had obstruct waterways so it was well protected. (Doc.4) Great Britain had good ports and access to the Atlantic Ocean.
Much of the population became farmers which provided imports to England. This helped to build a strong bond between Britain and America. The British relied strongly on colonial imports. Macmillan Learning states, “Despite the many differences among the colonists, the consumption of British exports built a certain material uniformity across region, religion,
The French and Indian War left England with a debt of £130,000,000. To help pay off the debt Britain set up taxes, to collect money, on frequently used products by the colonists. The Molasses Act put a six pence tax on every gallon of molasses. The colonists thought this was a lot of money to pay so they did everything to avoid it. This act was not really enforced and the colonists did not really obey this act.
The merchants relied on the trade with America. Pressure from American colonists and British merchants caused the British Government to repeal the act. If Britain's economy had been stronger, boycotting British goods would not have hurt Britain and would not have been an effective form of
From the seventeenth to the eighteenth century, the British Empire was the biggest power in the world. Some said that the sun never set on the British Empire because of its greatness, and Britain wanted to continue growing. To do this they tried to regulate trade to favor them. This principle of creating a favorable export and import balance is mercantilism. Mercantilism shaped the life of eighteenth century Colonial America by regulating their trade, by economically weakening them and putting them in debt, and by socially creating the tensions that led to the Revolutionary War.
Since there was debt because of the war, the economy was already very bad in Britain – therefore they taxed the colonies. When the colonies started boycotting British products and threatened to stop trading with them all together, it was successful because Britain’s economy wasn’t strong enough to handle those things. The merchants in Britain couldn’t afford to have trade with America end. If the British merchants were hurt, this would thus hurt The economy as a whole in Britain. In later decades, in the War of 1812, America would try to stop trade with Britain again using a method called embargo, which would not be effective because they did not have the debt that the War had caused.
Since trade was boosted, Americans came to accumulate a large amount of debt to the British creditors. (Henretta & Brody, 2010) In order to extract money from the colonist to repay their debt, the British then began to place tariffs on many common items that had no reason to be taxed. The colonies felt the same way and even though they had an underlying debt, they felt that this was the improper way to go about
At the commence of the War England had a National Debt of 72,000,000 Pounds in 1754. By 1763, England had a National Debt of 135,000,000 Pounds, which equivalent to $10,000,000 today. With this economic collapse, England had to find newer ways of paying this money and a way of paying this off was by making tax and putting them on the Colonies. Mercantilism was employed to give/buy from England the manufactured goods and other items that will keep its economy stable. The British Council in 1763 Complained saying, “ We find that the revenue arising therefrom is very small and inconsiderable, ….
Although the British proved to be triumphant in the war, they lost a lot of money and a lot of soldiers. During the course of the years, Britain wanted economic relief and turned to the colonies. After the War, amplified British taxation on the colonies ruined the relationship that they had with the colonies. The British said the taxation
During the colonial era of America, Great Britain was able to reek the benefits of this royal colony’s success. This was in large part due to the fact that Britain was able to integrate this society into its imperial system. English leaders understood that the American colonies represented a marketplace for goods, a safety valve, and a place in which competition flourished with other leading empires. One of the most important reasons why Great Britain established colonies in America was to create another form of revenue.