Viva la revolution

OK, I am watching the History Channel's 13-hour revolution epic and was struck by what they say caused the inception --- the players, the causes, the actions. I thought I would start my extra credit learning off by summarizing and asked the HL experts to clear up the story. I really don't know that much about it.

The HC's seemingly, to me at least, simplistic view was it was Britain's extreme expense in defending the colonies in the 7-year French and Indians Wars that caused British Parliament to enact of series of taxes, the stamp tax and tea tax highlighting, and all 13 colonies got outraged and took to arms. To the colonies, it was not the money but the lack of representation alone that started the whole brouhaha. The players were a cabal of motivated type-A's architecting the breakaway with their initial goal to gain representation, not revolution, our forefathers. They initially did not want revolt but only participation. There was a number of colonial terrorist groups, the mob if you will, deploying terrorist activities like burning, pillaging, and tar/feather parties against British loyalists designated as conservatives by the HC (I liked that part!). The terrorists were the spark that ignited the conflagration.

And then the British got tired of the terrorism against its loyal subjects, decided to use the heavy hammer and they sent in troops, revoked the Mass. Charter, instilled marital law and the rest is history so to speak, a moral-minded rebellion (thank you Washington) by the common man against the best trained mercenary army in the world. After the Brits sent in troops and installed martial law, the resulting war was a foregone conclusion.

Does that inception seem a little simplistic or do other HL historians see a more complex, deeper, set of variables that combined together to start the revolution? Was it really merely taxations without representation that caused the entire revolution or were there other seeds, political, social or personal, that helped spawn the revolution. Thirteen states agreeing that taxation without representation, with frankly small amounts of money involved, is reason to go to war seems thin to me.

mistergoogle ✉
Jul '13

Thanks, will find it.

mistergoogle ✉
Jul '13