was the american revolution avoidable essay

• MAKING INQUIRY POSSIBLE

Inquiries Filed Under:

American Revolution

About the inquiry.

Throughout this inquiry students investigate the complex interconnected roles of individuals and groups as well as the economic, social, and geographical forces that contributed to the American Revolution. Students wrestle with issues concerning historical determinism as they move toward an evidence-based argument as to whether or not the war was avoidable. The compelling question “Was the American Revolution avoidable?” prompts students to reflect on factors that contributed to the outbreak of hostilities between American colonists and Great Britain. As students explore the featured sources for this inquiry, they come to see how some individuals on both sides inflamed the tensions while others worked for reconciliation.

Compelling Question

Was the American Revolution Avoidable?

Staging Question

Discuss how conflict can be avoided.

How did the French and Indian War change British relations with the colonists?

List reasons why the French and Indian War and Proclamation of 1763 changed British relations with colonists.

Source A: Image bank: 18th-century British debt<br /> Source B: Map of North America before and after the French and Indian War<br /> Source C: “An American Looks Back At British Victory in the French and Indian War, 1763”

How did British policies inflame tensions in the American colonies?

Make a claim about how conflict emerged between the British and colonists given British policies in the colonies.

Source A: Legislation bank: Excerpts from laws demonstrating British policies toward the American colonies, 1764–1774

How did colonial responses inflame tensions?

Revise the claim given the new evidence about colonial responses.

Source A: Declaration of Rights from the Stamp Act Congress<br /> Source B: Image bank: Protests in Boston, 1770– 1774<br /> Source C: Excerpt from ”Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death”

What efforts were made to avoid war?

Write a second claim supported by evidence for how efforts were made to avoid war.

Source A: Repeal of the Stamp Act<br /> Source B: Olive Branch Petition<br /> Source C: Excerpt from Plain Truth

Summative Performance Task

Argument: Was the American Revolution avoidable? Construct an argument (e.g., detailed outline, poster, essay) that addresses the compelling question using specific claims and relevant evidence from historical sources while acknowledging competing views.

Extension: Create a multimedia presentation that addresses whether or not the American Revolution was avoidable.

Taking Informed Action

No data found.

Your Voice Matters

Join c3 teachers.

C3Teachers.org facilitates open collaborative conversations among teachers as they tinker with their own instructional practice as it relates to the C3 Framework.

We'd Love to Talk

If you are interested in offering more professional development opportunities, rethinking or redesigning your social studies curriculum, we’d love to talk.

Copyright © 2024 C3 Teachers. All rights reserved.

Live, Online Professional Development Seminars for History and Literature Teachers

Was the american revolution avoidable.

Tuesday, Oct. 19, 2010 7:00 p.m.–8:30 p.m. (EST)

Jack P. Greene

Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities, Emeritus Johns Hopkins University National Humanities Center Fellow

About the Seminar

What was the relationship between the colonies and Britain that led to independence in 1783? What if the British had not tried to tax the colonies? The taxes were small. Why did the colonies resist them so strongly? What if the British had responded to the resistance in a more conciliatory and pragmatic way? Could the controversy have been resolved so the colonies would have remained connected to Britain? What form might that connection have taken? What might have been the result of reconciliation? Would slavery have been abolished earlier? Would the colonies have developed into one or more commonwealths with autonomous internal governance, like Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa? What would be the relationship today between the United States and Britain?

Enter Moodle Forum

Assigned readings.

• Texts from the forthcoming National Humanities Center toolbox Making the Revolution: America, 1763–1791 .
• From Colonies to Nation, 1763–1789: A Documentary History of the American Revolution , Jack Greene, ed.
• From Prologue to Revolution: Sources and Documents on the Stamp Act Crisis, 1764–1766 , Edmund Morgan, ed.

Presentation

Online evaluation, seminar recording.

Streaming Recording

National Humanities Center

7 Alexander Drive, P.O. Box 12256 | Research Triangle Park, North Carolina 27709

Phone: (919) 549-0661 | Fax: (919) 990-8535 | nationalhumanitiescenter.org

Web site comments and questions, contact: [email protected]

Copyright 2010 National Humanities Center. All rights reserved. Revised: October 2010

Everything you've ever wanted to know about the American Revolution

Leadup to Revolution

Learn about the leadup to the American Revolution, and how the conflict started.

Search results for:

Powder alarm of 1774 | summary, significance, facts.

Learn about the Powder Alarm incident of 1774. Discover what occurred, and learn about the event's significance in the leadup to war.

First Continental Congress | Summary, Outcomes, Facts

Learn about the First Continental Congress. Read a summary of the event, and discover some interesting facts about the congress.

Burning of the Gaspee | Summary of the 1772 Gaspee Affair

Learn about the burning of the Gaspee, a British customs enforcement ship. Read a summary of the Gaspee Affair.

Boston Tea Party Explained | Summary, Effects, Facts

Learn about the Boston Tea Party. Discover what happened in Boston in 1773, and find out about the aftermath and effects of the incident.

Boston Massacre of 1770 | Summary, Causes, Effects, Facts

Learn about the Boston Massacre of 1773. Discover what caused the massacre and the effects it had in the leadup to the Revolutionary War.

Quebec Act of 1774 | Summary, Effects, Facts

Learn about the Quebec Act of 1774. Discover what the act did, the effects it had, and how colonists reacted.

Proclamation Line of 1763 | Summary, Effects, Facts

Learn about the Proclamation Line of 1763. Discover how the Royal Proclamation worked, and the effects it had on the colonists.

Navigation Acts | Summary, Effects, Facts

Learn about the Navigation Acts and how they affected the American Revolution. Read a summary of the acts and learn about their effects.

Intolerable Acts (Coercive Acts) | Summary, Effects, Facts

Learn about the Intolerable Acts, also known as the Coercive Acts passed by British parliament in 1774 on the Thirteen Colonies.

Tea Act of 1773 Explained For Kids

Read a simple, easy to understand explanation of the Tea Act of 1773, written for kids. Includes a summary and effects of the Act.

Tea Act of 1773 | Context, Purpose, Effects, Facts

Learn about the Tea Act of 1773. Discover the purpose of this law, and the effects it had. Plus, learn how colonists responded to the Tea Act.

Townshend Acts of 1767-68 | Summary, Facts, Reaction

Learn about the Townshend Acts of 1767-68. Read a summary of what the acts did as well as fun facts, and discover how the colonists reacted.

Quartering Acts of 1765 and 1774 | Summary, Facts, Reaction

Learn about the Quartering Acts of 1765 and 1774. Read a summary of the acts and key facts, and learn how the colonists reacted to the Quartering Acts.

Sugar Act of 1764 | Summary, Effects, Facts, Reaction

Learn about the Sugar Act of 1764. Discover how this law affected the Thirteen Colonies, and how people reacted to it.

Stamp Act of 1765 | Meaning, Reaction, Facts

Learn about the Stamp Act of 1765. Discover how this new tax worked, and how the colonists reacted to it.

Declaratory Act of 1766 | Definition, Purpose, & Reaction

Learn about the Declaratory Act of 1766. Discover why the British implemented this act, and how people reacted to it in the Thirteen Colonies.

No Taxation Without Representation – Meaning, Origins & More

Learn about the Patriot slogan "No taxation without representation", including what this slogan means, who said it, and where it comes from.

Was the American Revolution Avoidable?

Discover whether or not the American Revolution was inevitable. We discuss whether or not the Revolutionary War could have been avoided.

William Pitt’s Stamp Act Speech

Read William Pitt's speech to the British House of Parliament calling for the repeal of the Stamp Act.

Paul Revere’s Account of the Start of the American Revolution

Learn how the American Revolution started, in the words of Paul Revere - Sons of Liberty member, silversmith, and engraver.

Top of page

Presentation U.S. History Primary Source Timeline

The american revolution, 1763 - 1783.

• History Classics
• Your Profile
• Find History on Facebook (Opens in a new window)
• Find History on Twitter (Opens in a new window)
• Find History on YouTube (Opens in a new window)
• Find History on Instagram (Opens in a new window)
• Find History on TikTok (Opens in a new window)
• This Day In History
• History Podcasts
• History Vault

7 Events That Enraged Colonists and Led to the American Revolution

By: Patrick J. Kiger

Updated: August 6, 2024 | Original: August 20, 2019

The American colonists’ breakup with the British Empire in 1776 wasn’t a sudden, impetuous act. Instead, the banding together of the 13 colonies to fight and win a war of independence against the Crown was the culmination of a series of events, which had begun more than a decade earlier. Escalations began shortly after the end of the French and Indian War —known elsewhere as the Seven Years War in 1763. Here are a few of the pivotal moments that caused the American Revolution.

1. The Stamp Act (March 1765)

To recoup some of the massive debt left over from the war with France, Parliament passed laws such as the Stamp Act , which for the first time taxed a wide range of transactions in the colonies.

“Up until then, each colony had its own government which decided which taxes they would have, and collected them,” explains Willard Sterne Randall , a professor emeritus of history at Champlain College and author of numerous works on early American history, including Unshackling America: How the War of 1812 Truly Ended the American Revolution. “They felt that they’d spent a lot of blood and treasure to protect the colonists from the Indians, and so they should pay their share.”

The colonists didn’t see it that way. They resented not only having to buy goods from the British but pay tax on them as well. “The tax never got collected, because there were riots all over the place,” Randall says. Ultimately, Benjamin Franklin convinced the British to rescind it, but that only made things worse. “That made the Americans think they could push back against anything the British wanted,” Randall says.

2. The Townshend Acts (June-July 1767)

Parliament again tried to assert its authority by passing legislation to tax goods that the Americans imported from Great Britain. The Crown established a board of customs commissioners to stop smuggling and corruption among local officials in the colonies, who were often in on the illicit trade.

Americans struck back by organizing a boycott of the British goods that were subject to taxation and began harassing the British customs commissioners. In an effort to quell the resistance, the British sent troops to occupy Boston, which only deepened the ill feeling.

The Stamp Act Riots

The measure that imposed a tax on all printed materials inspired widespread outrage and even violence among the colonists.

Townshend Acts

Townshend Duties The Townshend Acts, named after Charles Townshend, British chancellor of the Exchequer, imposed duties on British china, glass, lead, paint, paper and tea imported to the colonies. Benjamin Franklin had informed the British Parliament that the colonies intended to start manufacturing their own goods rather than paying duties on imports. These particular items […]

7 Surprising Facts About the Boston Tea Party

For starters, the colonists weren't protesting higher taxes on tea.

3. The Boston Massacre (March 1770)

Simmering tensions between the British occupiers and Boston residents boiled over one late afternoon when a disagreement between an apprentice wigmaker and a British soldier led to a crowd of 200 colonists surrounding seven British troops. When the Americans began taunting the British and throwing things at them, the soldiers apparently lost their cool and began firing into the crowd .

As the smoke cleared, three men—including an African American sailor named Crispus Attucks —were dead, and two others were mortally wounded. The massacre became a useful propaganda tool for the colonists, especially after Paul Revere distributed an engraving that misleadingly depicted the British as the aggressors.

4. The Boston Tea Party (December 1773)

The British eventually withdrew their forces from Boston and repealed much of the onerous Townshend legislation. But they left in place the tax on tea, and in 1773 enacted a new law, the Tea Act , to prop up the financially struggling British East India Company. The act gave the company extended favorable treatment under tax regulations to sell tea at a price that undercut the American merchants who imported from Dutch traders.

That didn’t sit well with Americans. “They didn’t want the British telling them that they had to buy their tea, but it wasn’t just about that,” Randall explains. “The Americans wanted to be able to trade with any country they wanted.”

The Sons of Liberty , a radical group, decided to confront the British head-on. Thinly disguised as Mohawks, they boarded three ships in Boston harbor and destroyed more than 92,000 pounds of British tea by dumping it into the harbor . To make the point that they were rebels rather than vandals, they avoided harming any of the crew or damaging the ships themselves, and the next day even replaced a padlock that had been broken.

Nevertheless, the act of defiance “really ticked off the British government,” Randall explains. “Many of the East India Company’s shareholders were members of Parliament. They each had paid 1,000 pounds sterling—that would probably be about a million dollars now—for a share of the company, to get a piece of the action from all this tea that they were going to force down the colonists’ throats. So when these bottom-of-the-rung people in Boston destroyed their tea, that was a serious thing to them.”

5. The Coercive Acts (March-June 1774)

In response to the Boston Tea Party, the British government decided that it had to tame the rebellious colonists in Massachusetts . In the spring of 1774, Parliament passed a series of laws, the Coercive Acts , which closed Boston Harbor until restitution was paid for the destroyed tea, replaced the colony’s elected council with one appointed by the British, gave sweeping powers to the British military governor General Thomas Gage, and forbade town meetings without approval.

Yet another provision protected British colonial officials who were charged with capital offenses from being tried in Massachusetts, instead requiring that they be sent to another colony or back to Great Britain for trial.

But perhaps the most provocative provision was the Quartering Act , which allowed British military officials to demand accommodations for their troops in unoccupied houses and buildings in towns, rather than having to stay out in the countryside. While it didn’t force the colonists to board troops in their own homes , they had to pay for the expense of housing and feeding the soldiers. The quartering of troops eventually became one of the grievances cited in the Declaration of Independence .

6. Lexington and Concord (April 1775)

British General Thomas Gage led a force of British soldiers from Boston to Lexington, where he planned to capture colonial radical leaders Sam Adams and John Hancock , and then head to Concord and seize their gunpowder. But American spies got wind of the plan, and with the help of riders such as Paul Revere , word spread to be ready for the British.

On the Lexington Common, the British force was confronted by 77 American militiamen , and they began shooting at each other. Seven Americans died, but other militiamen managed to stop the British at Concord and continued to harass them on their retreat back to Boston.

The British lost 73 dead, with another 174 wounded and 26 missing in action. The bloody encounter proved to the British that the colonists were fearsome foes who had to be taken seriously. It was the start of America’s war of independence.

7. British attacks on coastal towns (October 1775-January 1776)

Though the Revolutionary War’s hostilities started with Lexington and Concord, Randall says that at the start, it was unclear whether the southern colonies, whose interests didn’t necessarily align with the northern colonies, would be all in for a war of independence.

“The southerners were totally dependent upon the English to buy their crops, and they didn’t trust the Yankees,” he explains. “And in New England, the Puritans thought the southerners were lazy.”

But that was before the brutal British naval bombardments and burning of the coastal towns of Falmouth, Massachusetts and Norfolk, Virginia helped to unify the colonies. In Falmouth, where townspeople had to grab their possessions and flee for their lives, northerners had to face up to “the fear that the British would do whatever they wanted to them,” Randall says.

As historian Holger Hoock has written , the burning of Falmouth shocked General George Washington , who denounced it as “exceeding in barbarity & cruelty every hostile act practiced among civilized nations.”

Similarly, in Norfolk, the horror of the town’s wooden buildings going up in flames after a seven-hour naval bombardment shocked the southerners, who also knew that the British were offering African Americans their freedom if they took up arms on the loyalist side. “Norfolk stirred up fears of a slave insurrection in the South,” Randall says.

Leaders of the rebellion seized the burnings of the two ports to make the argument that the colonists needed to band together for survival against a ruthless enemy and embrace the need for independence. This spirit ultimately would lead to their victory.

HISTORY Vault: The American Revolution

Stream American Revolution documentaries and your favorite HISTORY series, commercial-free.

Sign up for Inside History

Get HISTORY’s most fascinating stories delivered to your inbox three times a week.

By submitting your information, you agree to receive emails from HISTORY and A+E Networks. You can opt out at any time. You must be 16 years or older and a resident of the United States.

More details : Privacy Notice | Terms of Use | Contact Us

• Was the American Revolution Inevitable?

“Was the American Revolution inevitable?” is a complex question posed by Robert Allison in the 2017 George Rogers Clark Lecture. The achievement of independence hinged upon the cooperation of colonists from diverse backgrounds to unite in a common cause. The people in British North America had profound differences—religious, social, political and economic—that surfaced in local communities, as well as in Congress and the Continental Army. Colonists’ resistance to Great Britain magnified these differences, especially as more Americans began to question the institution of slavery in light of new ideals of liberty. Yet, these colonists were able not only to join in a common effort but to create a political system which has united Americans, despite their differences, for more than two centuries.

About the Speaker

Robert Allison is a professor of history at Suffolk University and the author of The Crescent Obscured: The United States and the Muslim World 1776-1820 (2000), A Short History of Boston (2004) and Stephen Decatur: American Naval Hero 1779-1820 (2005).

Continue the George Rogers Clark Lecture series with the 2018 lecture,  The American Revolution on the Spanish Borderlands .

• Login / Sign Up

No, the American Revolution was not a mistake

by Jeff Stein

The American Revolution “was a mistake,” Dylan Matthews argued last week. He lists three reasons that, in his telling, millions of American Indians and black Americans would’ve been better off had the Founding Fathers never declared independence:

Slavery would’ve been abolished earlier, American Indians would’ve faced rampant persecution but not the outright ethnic cleansing Andrew Jackson and other American leaders perpetrated, and America would have a parliamentary system of government that makes policymaking easier and lessens the risk of democratic collapse.

It’s a thought-provoking argument — and an understandable reaction to centuries of brutal racial oppression and, more recently, generations of historians who’ve sought to excuse slaveholding Founding Fathers.

But Matthews’s alternate history is not really correct. Had the American Colonies remained part of the British Empire, slavery would have almost certainly persisted just as long as it did. Slavery might’ve actually gone on a bit longer, particularly for Northern slaves who were emancipated long before the Civil War.

As for the treatment of American Indians, it’s a bit tougher to say. But if you look north to Canada, which followed the example Matthews says the US should have and remained loyal to the crown, there’s little reason to think that native communities would have fared substantially better had the revolution never occurred. (On his final point, I’ll leave it to legislative procedure enthusiasts to debate whether the US would be better off with a British-style parliament.)

But it’s not just that Matthews’s counterfactual is wrong. It’s that he misses one of the most important facts about the American Revolution: that it was the greatest force for emancipation in the US until the Civil War.

1) American Indians would probably not have been better off if the revolution hadn’t happened

One of the arguments against the revolution is that American Indians would’ve been better off had it never happened. And maybe so — it’s certainly difficult to imagine they could have been any worse off than they were under the United States. Could the genocide of American Indians have been mitigated had the Colonies remained under British control?

This is perhaps where Matthews’s counterfactual is on its safest ground. He points to British Canada, which he correctly notes did not pursue a policy against native communities “as violent and deadly” as that pursued by the independent United States.

And the colonists, he writes, were frustrated by the British Empire’s strict limits on westward expansion. Breaking free of the empire meant breaking free of those limits, and thus taking more land that belonged to American Indians.

But I suspect Matthews may be conflating the American Revolution with deeper currents in American history. It’s not so clear that it was independence specifically that enabled and led to the genocide against American Indians. Rather, other factors — distinct ideologies, demographics, and climates — likely played just as large of a role, if not larger. It’s just not clear that the absence of independence would have saved the American Indians.

Look at Australia: Controlled by the British until the 20th century, that country saw its aboriginal populations suffer a similarly horrific annihilation as the American Indians. And it’s not as if, as Matthews himself notes, the natives of Canada were treated with kindness.

2) Without the revolution, the North might not have freed its slaves

When the Revolution began in 1776, slavery was legal in every colony. Only Pennsylvania even had an abolition society. Slavery had existed on American soil for two centuries without being substantially challenged by whites.

The American Revolution changed that. Pennsylvania’s emancipation act of 1780, the first of its kind, was written by revolutionary leaders and explicitly cites the fight against British rule as its inspiration. Similar Northern emancipation acts followed: in Massachusetts and New Hampshire in 1783, and then in Connecticut and Rhode Island the next year.

“Politicians, preachers, and propagandists unfurled the rhetoric of natural rights,” Paul J. Polgar, a historian at the College of William & Mary, wrote in a 2011 essay for the Journal of the Early Republic , “and the immediate post-Revolutionary period witnessed the emergence of abolition societies as far south as Virginia.”

Mary Beth Norton, a professor in Cornell’s history department, told me in an email that this is what Matthews’s alternate history misses: Without the revolution, these movements might not have come to the North as quickly as they did.

“By focusing only on slavery in the South, Matthews completely ignores the fact that slavery was legal in every colony, and that the Revolution led directly to the abolition of slavery in the northern United States,” she wrote.

It is true that even the Northern patriots placed the interests of white America ahead of African-Americans. But the ideals they articulated gave abolition a moral urgency that survived long after General Charles Cornwallis surrendered at the Battle of Yorktown. Without the American Revolution, that might not have happened, and slavery in the North would have likely persisted longer.

3) Many black soldiers fought for independence because they saw it as their best path to freedom

Matthews makes much of the Earl of Dunmore’s proclamation that promised freedom to slaves who fought for the British, which led many slaves to see loyalty to the crown as offering “far greater prospects for freedom.”

But this is really only half of the story — a number of slaves and former slaves also sided with the revolution.

“The best way to look at blacks’ aims in the revolution is to focus on their search for freedom from bondage. Sometimes that led them to fight for the British, and sometimes for the Americans,” writes Norton, the Cornell professor.

Norton notes that the story of blacks in the revolution is not complete without the accounts of former slaves like Bristol Mabee, who identified in the idealism of the founders — rather than the far-off British Empire — the best hope for black emancipation.

More than 5,000 African Americans fought in the Continental Army and Navy; the original heroes of the Boston Massacre, Valley Forge , and Bunker Hill included black Americans and former slaves.

The fact that so many saw the revolution as their best path to freedom doesn’t necessarily mean that they were right to do so, but it cuts against the idea that the revolution was inherently bad for black Americans and slaves; if that were true, they wouldn’t have sided with it.

4) The South probably would have still fought for slavery — and may not have had to

A big part of Matthews’s counterfactual is his argument that had the Colonies remained part of the British Empire, then the British emancipation of 1834 would’ve freed the American slaves. That would mean ending slavery a generation earlier, and without a bloody civil war.

And the South, he says, wouldn’t be able to stop it: The “South’s political influence within the British Empire would have been vastly smaller than its influence in the early American Republic,” in large part since it was “simply smaller as a chunk of the British Empire’s economy at the time than it was as a portion of America’s.”

This sounds great, but it’s probably too optimistic. The Southern states’ lack of political influence is exactly what led them to secede in 1860 and 1861. If the order to emancipate the slaves had been decreed by a British imperial government an ocean away, it’s very hard to imagine the South accepting that.

Would the 19th century British Empire really have forced emancipation on the South, even at the risk of war? Keep in mind that the empire did not exactly have a glowing track record of going to war in the name of morals:

• The British abandoned the American slaves who fought on their side in the Revolution.
• The British Empire benefited directly from the cotton produced by the American slaves for decades after the revolution, and did so without protest.
• When the Civil War did come, the British were at best neutral, choosing convenience over any professed ideals.

Looking at these facts, it’s difficult to imagine that the South would have obeyed a British order of emancipation, or possibly even that the British would have necessarily been willing to fight a major war to enforce it.

5) The American Revolution inspired other independence and emancipation movements

Cornell history professor Isaac Kramnick pointed out, in an email to me, “another possible consequence had the Americans not rebelled from Britain: there might still be the brutally exploitative English colonial system.”

The ideas articulated by the American founders resurface in wave after wave of popular movements, black and white: in France, Haiti, Spain, and Latin America.

“Many of the leaders of independence movements against the British Empire after World War ll cited Jefferson and the American Revolution as their inspirational model,” Kramnick wrote.

With the benefit of hindsight, the rhetoric of 1776 looks hypocritical. The founders supported racial genocide and chattel slavery, which then flourished in their new republic. And it’s good that historians and journalists want to reframe our historical narratives to focus on their impact on black Americans.

Matthews argues that the success of the American Revolution allowed slavery to survive for decades. In reality, it was the failure of the revolution — the gulf between its promises and reality, rather than the promises themselves — that let slavery persist as long as it did.

Jeff Stein is the founder of the Ithaca Voice and a contributor to Salon.

Most Popular

• Weather radar showed a strange blue mass in the eye of Hurricane Helene. What was it?
• The Republican Party is less white than ever. Thank Donald Trump.
• MTV’s nostalgia problem, explained by The Challenge
• 7 questions — and zero conspiracy theories — about the allegations against Sean “Diddy” Combs
• Don’t use Venmo as your checking account

Today, Explained

Understand the world with a daily explainer plus the most compelling stories of the day.

This is the title for the native ad

More in archives

Given the Court’s Republican supermajority, this case is unlikely to end well for trans people.

Learn about saving, spending, investing, and more in a monthly personal finance advice column written by Nicole Dieker.

The latest news, analysis, and explainers coming out of the GOP Iowa caucuses.

The economy’s stacked against us.

A Texas judge issued a national ruling against medication abortion. Here’s what you need to know.

Was the American Revolution Avoidable? Unveiling the Complex Landscape of Conflict

How it works

The critical debate surrounding the American Revolution is whether war between the colonies and the motherland was inevitable or if an alternative course could have been taken. Some history enthusiasts assert, “No way, it was a train wreck waiting to happen!” They contend that due to the ingrained nature of the conflict, finding a peaceful solution was about as probable as finding a unicorn in Times Square. Let’s investigate this conundrum to discover if the American Revolution might have been avoided.

• 1.1 Colonial Demand vs. British Denial
• 1.2 The Self-Government Symphony
• 2 The Final Blow
• 3 Conclusion: Destiny’s Dance

Unbridgeable Gaps

Imagine this: The colonists are flying the self-government flag on one side, and the British are clutching their “We’re in charge” emblem on the other. It resembles a gazing match in which nobody blinks. The British administration played hardball with their “We make the rules” mentality while the colonists were all heated up about “no taxation without representation.” The distance between them was so great the Grand Canyon could have fit inside of it.

Colonial Demand vs. British Denial

The colonists said, “We want our say in how things roll around here!” And the British were like, “Um, no thanks.” It’s like you wanted the last slice of pizza, but your buddy snatched it up before you could blink. The colonists were getting hot and bothered about having a say in their fate, while the British Crown held on to its control with a kung-fu grip. It was a classic case of “talk to the hand.”

The Self-Government Symphony

Imagine you’re in a band, jamming to your tune, but the audience is chatting away, completely ignoring you. That’s how the colonists felt when belting their self-government anthem. They were getting louder and more persistent, but the British government had its fingers in its ears, humming a different melody. The colonists wanted a piece of the governing pie, but the Brits weren’t having any of it, and the clash of wills was turning up the heat.

The Final Blow

Let’s skip ahead to the big event, which includes the Boston Tea Party, the Intolerable Acts, and everything else. The British were advancing with their rulebook while the colonists were forced into a tight spot. The conflict resembled a shootout in the Wild West, with the tensions getting out of hand. The colonists believed they had no other option because the British were unwilling to yield. The collision and the explosion were going to happen soon.

Conclusion: Destiny’s Dance

Ultimately, it’s like watching two freight trains speeding towards each other on a one-track railway – a colossal crash was bound to happen. The American Revolution wasn’t some surprise party that popped out of nowhere; it was more like a hurricane brewing for years. The colonists and the British were on different wavelengths, with no common ground to stand on. It’s tempting to ponder “what ifs,” but given the sheer magnitude of the differences and the stubbornness on both sides, the American Revolution was less of a “could it have been avoided?” and more of a “when was it going to explode?” kind of deal.

Cite this page

Was the American Revolution Avoidable? Unveiling the Complex Landscape of Conflict. (2023, Sep 12). Retrieved from https://papersowl.com/examples/was-the-american-revolution-avoidable-unveiling-the-complex-landscape-of-conflict/

"Was the American Revolution Avoidable? Unveiling the Complex Landscape of Conflict." PapersOwl.com , 12 Sep 2023, https://papersowl.com/examples/was-the-american-revolution-avoidable-unveiling-the-complex-landscape-of-conflict/

PapersOwl.com. (2023). Was the American Revolution Avoidable? Unveiling the Complex Landscape of Conflict . [Online]. Available at: https://papersowl.com/examples/was-the-american-revolution-avoidable-unveiling-the-complex-landscape-of-conflict/ [Accessed: 30 Sep. 2024]

"Was the American Revolution Avoidable? Unveiling the Complex Landscape of Conflict." PapersOwl.com, Sep 12, 2023. Accessed September 30, 2024. https://papersowl.com/examples/was-the-american-revolution-avoidable-unveiling-the-complex-landscape-of-conflict/

"Was the American Revolution Avoidable? Unveiling the Complex Landscape of Conflict," PapersOwl.com , 12-Sep-2023. [Online]. Available: https://papersowl.com/examples/was-the-american-revolution-avoidable-unveiling-the-complex-landscape-of-conflict/. [Accessed: 30-Sep-2024]

PapersOwl.com. (2023). Was the American Revolution Avoidable? Unveiling the Complex Landscape of Conflict . [Online]. Available at: https://papersowl.com/examples/was-the-american-revolution-avoidable-unveiling-the-complex-landscape-of-conflict/ [Accessed: 30-Sep-2024]

Don't let plagiarism ruin your grade

Hire a writer to get a unique paper crafted to your needs.

Our writers will help you fix any mistakes and get an A+!

Please check your inbox.

You can order an original essay written according to your instructions.

Trusted by over 1 million students worldwide

1. Tell Us Your Requirements

2. Pick your perfect writer

3. Get Your Paper and Pay

Hi! I'm Amy, your personal assistant!

Don't know where to start? Give me your paper requirements and I connect you to an academic expert.

short deadlines

100% Plagiarism-Free

Certified writers

• History & Society
• Science & Tech
• Biographies
• Animals & Nature
• Geography & Travel
• Arts & Culture
• Games & Quizzes
• On This Day
• One Good Fact
• New Articles
• Lifestyles & Social Issues
• Philosophy & Religion
• Politics, Law & Government
• World History
• Health & Medicine
• Browse Biographies
• Birds, Reptiles & Other Vertebrates
• Bugs, Mollusks & Other Invertebrates
• Environment
• Fossils & Geologic Time
• Entertainment & Pop Culture
• Sports & Recreation
• Visual Arts
• Demystified
• Image Galleries
• Infographics
• Top Questions
• Britannica Kids
• Saving Earth
• Space Next 50
• Student Center
• Introduction & Top Questions

Setting the stage: The two armies

• Conflict begins in Massachusetts
• Paul Revere’s ride and the Battles of Lexington and Concord
• The Siege of Boston and the Battle of Bunker Hill
• Washington takes command
• The battle for New York
• A British general surrenders, and the French prepare for war
• After a hungry winter at Valley Forge
• Setbacks in the North
• Final campaigns in the South and the surrender of Cornwallis
• Early engagements and privateers
• French intervention and the decisive action at Virginia Capes
• The end of the war and the terms of the Peace of Paris (1783)
• How did the American colonies win the war?

What was the American Revolution?

How did the american revolution begin, what were the major causes of the american revolution, which countries fought on the side of the colonies during the american revolution, how was the american revolution a civil war.

American Revolution

Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.

• Econlib - Benefits of the American Revolution: An Exploration of Positive Externalities
• Boston Tea Party Ships and Museum - American Revolution
• American Battlefield Trust - American Revolution Timeline
• Humanities LibreTexts - American Revolution
• University of Oxford - Faculty of History - American Revolutions
• American Revolution - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11)
• American Revolution - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up)
• Table Of Contents

The American Revolution —also called the U.S. War of Independence—was the insurrection fought between 1775 and 1783 through which 13 of Great Britain ’s North American colonies threw off British rule to establish the sovereign United States of America, founded with the Declaration of Independence in 1776. British attempts to assert greater control over colonial affairs after a long period of salutary neglect , including the imposition of unpopular taxes, had contributed to growing estrangement between the crown and a large and influential segment of colonists who ultimately saw armed rebellion as their only recourse.

On the ground, fighting in the American Revolution began with the skirmishes between British regulars and American provincials on April 19, 1775 , first at Lexington , where a British force of 700 faced 77 local minutemen , and then at Concord , where an American counterforce of 320 to 400 sent the British scurrying. The British had come to Concord to seize the military stores of the colonists, who had been forewarned of the raid through efficient lines of communication—including the ride of Paul Revere , which is celebrated with poetic license in Longfellow ’s “Paul Revere’s Ride” (1861).  

The American Revolution was principally caused by colonial opposition to British attempts to impose greater control over the colonies and to make them repay the crown for its defense of them during the French and Indian War (1754–63). Britain did this primarily by imposing a series of deeply unpopular laws and taxes, including the Sugar Act (1764), the Stamp Act (1765), and the so-called Intolerable Acts (1774).

Until early in 1778, the American Revolution was a civil war within the British Empire , but it became an international war as France (in 1778) and Spain (in 1779) joined the colonies against Britain. The Netherlands , which was engaged in its own war with Britain, provided financial support for the Americans as well as official recognition of their independence. The French navy in particular played a key role in bringing about the British surrender at Yorktown , which effectively ended the war.

In the early stages of the rebellion by the American colonists, most of them still saw themselves as English subjects who were being denied their rights as such. “Taxation without representation is tyranny,” James Otis reportedly said in protest of the lack of colonial representation in Parliament . What made the American Revolution look most like a civil war , though, was the reality that about one-third of the colonists, known as loyalists (or Tories), continued to support and fought on the side of the crown.

The American Revolution was an insurrection carried out by 13 of Great Britain ’s North American colonies that began in 1775 and ended with a peace treaty in 1783. The colonies won political independence and went on to form the United States of America . The war followed more than a decade of growing estrangement between the British crown and a large and influential segment of its North American colonies that was caused by British attempts to assert greater control over colonial affairs after having long adhered to a policy of salutary neglect .

Until early in 1778 the conflict was a civil war within the British Empire , but afterward it became an international war as France (in 1778) and Spain (in 1779) joined the colonies against Britain . Meanwhile, the Netherlands , which provided both official recognition of the United States and financial support for it, was engaged in its own war against Britain ( see Anglo-Dutch Wars ). From the beginning, sea power was vital in determining the course of the war, lending to British strategy a flexibility that helped compensate for the comparatively small numbers of troops sent to America and ultimately enabling the French to help bring about the final British surrender at Yorktown in 1781.

The American colonies fought the war on land with essentially two types of organization: the Continental (national) Army and the state militias . The total number of the former provided by quotas from the states throughout the conflict was 231,771 soldiers, and the militias totaled 164,087. At any given time, however, the American forces seldom numbered over 20,000; in 1781 there were only about 29,000 insurgents under arms throughout the country. The war was therefore one fought by small field armies. Militias, poorly disciplined and with elected officers, were summoned for periods usually not exceeding three months. The terms of Continental Army service were only gradually increased from one to three years, and not even bounties and the offer of land kept the army up to strength. Reasons for the difficulty in maintaining an adequate Continental force included the colonists’ traditional antipathy toward regular armies, the objections of farmers to being away from their fields, the competition of the states with the Continental Congress to keep men in the militia , and the wretched and uncertain pay in a period of inflation .

By contrast, the British army was a reliable steady force of professionals. Since it numbered only about 42,000, heavy recruiting programs were introduced. Many of the enlisted men were farm boys, as were most of the Americans, while others came from cities where they had been unable to find work. Still others joined the army to escape fines or imprisonment. The great majority became efficient soldiers as a result of sound training and ferocious discipline . The officers were drawn largely from the gentry and the aristocracy and obtained their commissions and promotions by purchase. Though they received no formal training, they were not so dependent on a book knowledge of military tactics as were many of the Americans. British generals, however, tended toward a lack of imagination and initiative , while those who demonstrated such qualities often were rash.

Because troops were few and conscription unknown, the British government, following a traditional policy, purchased about 30,000 troops from various German princes. The Lensgreve (landgrave) of Hesse furnished approximately three-fifths of that total. Few acts by the crown roused so much antagonism in America as that use of foreign mercenaries .

• Library of Congress
• Research Guides
• Main Reading Room

American Revolution: A Resource Guide

Introduction.

• Digital Collections
• Today in History
• Related Online Resources
• Subscription Databases
• External Websites
• Print Resources

History, Humanities & Social Sciences : Ask a Librarian

Have a question? Need assistance? Use our online form to ask a librarian for help.

Chat with a librarian , Monday through Friday, 12-4pm Eastern Time (except Federal Holidays).

Author: Ken Drexler, Reference Specialist, Researcher and Reference Services Division​

Created: May 10, 2020

Last Updated: July 30, 2024

The collections of the Library of Congress contain a wide variety of material associated with the American Revolution era (1763-1783), including manuscripts, broadsides, government documents, books, images, and maps. This guide compiles links to digital materials related to the American Revolution that are available throughout the Library of Congress website. In addition, it provides links to external websites focusing on the American Revolution and a bibliography containing selections for both general and younger readers.

The horse America, throwing his master . 1779. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

Paul Revere, engraver. The bloody massacre perpetrated in King Street Boston on March 5th 1770 by a party of the 29th Regt. 1770. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

N. Currier. Declaration of Independence: July 4th 1776 . [between 1835 and 1856]. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

• Next: Digital Collections >>
• Last Updated: Jul 31, 2024 8:52 AM
• URL: https://guides.loc.gov/american-revolution