Thinking Through the Past, Ch. 4

The American Revolutionary war began in-part because of economic struggles England faced after securing safety for it’s colonies during the Seven Years War. England needed to increase their taxation on the colonists after the war to pay off its war debts. Prior to these taxes, the colonies were wholly content while under the wing of the British Empire. Not only because the protection the British provided, but also because of their deep reverence for the Motherland. Colonists were angered by with Parliament due to their lack of acknowledgement towards colonists rights and opinions. Colonists stood together in a defiant motion towards liberation from England’s tyrannous acts of lawless duplicity. Before British government was able to fully dominate the colonies by use of loyalists and tax collectors, citizens of the colonies struck back, and with violent force. Lower class white colonists, female colonists, African slaves, and Native Americans all played an influential part and were influenced heavily by the course of the American Revolutionary War.

Historian Gary Nash argues that mainstream views of the Revolutionary era only touch the surface of what had occurred during the period and to whom it involved. He goes beyond the American colonies’; political leaders and noblemen into a much more acute idealogical standpoint. Nash’s reasoning stands on the protests from various minority groups to suggest that colonists wished to democratize society and challenge the authority of the greatest empire of its time, Great Britain. Furthermore, colonists developed a deep desire to derail its shackles of servitude to England in due process. The New England colonies did not evaluate themselves, therefore, the removal of the minority colonists rights took colonists to a point at which their position manifested itself into acts of revolt; their initiative grew into what is known as the Revolutionary War and finally, the United States of America.

The Seven Years War holds