When we think about the American Revolution we often think of Paul Revere warning the colonists, or George Washington crossing the Delaware River on Christmas Eve, doubtless these were significant events, but it is also important to remember the why behind all of this. The colonists were not trying to pick a fight to create a glorious history for themselves, it turns out there is much more to the story than that, and in the following I will give reasons for why the American Revolution was the last thing that the colonists wanted to get involved in. Therefore, it is better to avoid conflict to the best of our abilities than to assume it inevitable.
The problems began when the British government began to take liberties over the colonies that were thought by the colonials to be unconstitutional, namely the taxation without representation. The colonies were fine with being taxed, as long as it was by their own authorities, if done by an outsider, the colonials felt it was a violation of their rights. To understand this we must first understand the hierarchy that existed between the colonies and the crown, from the colony point of view the British government controlled all trade decisions and embargoes, however, the colonies believed that only their representatives could levy taxes on goods. The Crown could also put in place protective tariffs to regulate trade, but they were not, from the colonies point of view, allowed to put tariffs in action for financial gain, therefore, when such tariffs were placed on sugar, molasses, paper, tea, and many other commodities, the colonies engaged in a large scale dispute. In the end, the British backed down and canceled all of the tariffs except for the one on tea, which they used as a symbol that just because they backed down, they still had the power to bring these laws back whenever they pleased. Several violent interactions began to occur, such as the burning of a British ship, threats against the stamp distributers, and the more commonly known “Boston Tea Party.” One could argue that these were violent interactions, but in all of this, no one was hurt, only British property was damaged. The colonies, apart from their underground activities, did have one point of power on which they could control the situation, and this was that all of the British authorities placed over the colonies had their salaries controlled by the colonists, so if they stepped out of line, the colonists could revoke their pay. This helped them keep some control; however, the crown made it so that they would pay these men for their work, thus, they could get away with anything they wanted and still get paid well by the British government. In addition to this, if one of them committed a crime, they were put on trial in Great Brittan, not in the place where they committed the crime, and this also applied to colonials, if accused they would be hauled off to England and put on trial. These events were hardy a complete analysis of the events prior to the American Revolution, as I have not even mentioned the “Boston Massacre,” but the point is that the colonies endured for years and tried very hard to avoid a violent conflict, but as we all know their peaceful efforts were in vain, as the American Revolution was just around the corner.
The history behind the American Revolution right away shows us that unlike other nations, the crown colonies in the Americas were not in the least looking to get into a war, they used every measure they could to avoid violence. It was only when all else failed and the British had severely crossed the line that they resorted to war, this is a good example to us to try to the last to maintain peace, and only resort to fighting when all else fails.
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