The American Revolution was not just the idealistic struggle for freedom and independence as it is usually portrayed; it was also an expansive conflict that led to many casualties on both sides. However, this conflict was in many cases preventable. The Revolution was the result of decades of poor decisions by the British government in attempting to govern the colonies. The American Revolution occurred because of cultural differences, the ineffectiveness of English colonial policy, and the effects of the French and Indian War. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay One of the main causes of the American Revolution was the cultural differences that had developed between the British and American colonies. One clear difference between the two cultures was the popularity of liberal and republican ideas in the colonies at the time. Before the Revolution, Enlightenment writers such as John Locke were becoming enormously popular among colonists who sympathized with these ideas of opposition to tyranny. Furthermore, Locke's idea of ​​governing by consent of the governed greatly influenced our founding fathers. Adopting these ideals in the colonies would be an early starting point as the colonies traveled on the road to freedom. Another major cause of the American Revolution was the ineffectiveness of English colonial policy. One mistake made by British politicians was the Proclamation of 1763. This proclamation prohibited settlers from settling west of the Appalachian Mountains in an attempt to stabilize relations with the Native Americans whose land was being invaded by settlers. The settler of the time viewed this proclamation with utter indignation. They viewed this act as a limitation of their right to land which was a fundamental settler ideal at the time. This proclamation was in the minds of many colonists a clear restriction of their liberties and the first blow to English politicians. The next mistake of English colonial policy was the taxes they began to impose on the colonists after the French and Indian War. They started with the Sugar Act of 1764 which actually lowered the tax on molasses, but severely punished any colonial smugglers caught carrying molasses. Although this tax did not cause the widespread outrage of subsequent acts, it was the first step on the road to taxation of the colonies. The first widely hated tax passed by the British parliament was the Stamp Act of 1765. This act imposed a tax on all official documents including; wills, birth certificates, playing cards, etc. This act was the first tax to be met with widespread public outrage. The reason this act was so widely hated was that it affected almost every single person living in the colonies. Everyone needed these documents to be taxed, and the act was met with immediate outrage. Another series of widely contested acts were the Townshend Acts. This act taxed a plethora of goods to the colonies in an attempt to raise enough money to pay local colonial governors and judges. This was done in the hope that it would free these officials from colonial control, making them more likely to enforce the crown's policies. This series of acts were considered particularly heinous because they paid the royal authorities in the colonies what many colonists considered almost useless. One important thing about these new taxes is that we must remember that before this, colonists were rarely taxed, and if they were, there was no tax enforcement. So when these taxis started to be levied and enforced against them, they weregenerally met with much public outcry. These taxes in particular are said to be some of the main factors that led to the revolution and the coining of the phrase “no taxation without representation”. Despite the hated Stamp Act, the colonists were not ready to break ties with England yet. The breaking point for many colonists was the passing of the Intolerable Acts. Passed as a response to the Boston Tea Party, this act severely limited the rights of colonists, particularly those of Boston. The Intolerable Acts were a series of four acts that seriously hindered the ability of the colonists of Massachusetts, and to some extent the other colonies, to live their lives in the way they were accustomed to. In Massachusetts alone these acts not only closed Boston Harbor, which was very detrimental to the city's entire economy, but also placed the entire colonial government of Massachusetts under royal control causing all official appointments to be made by the royal governor king. Additionally, the Administration of Justice Act allowed royal authorities to move trials to other colonies and even Great Britain if they did not believe a fair trial would be held in Massachusetts. However, some other intolerable acts affected entire colonies. The main one was the Quartering Act which allowed British troops to be housed in colonial buildings. While this would lead to the passage of our Third Amendment, it was the least protested of the Intolerable Acts at the time. Together, this series of acts would inflame settlers from Massachusetts to Georgia. However, the mistakes made by British officials in their colonial policies were not limited to taxes. They also made a serious mistake in their handling of the Gaspee case. This incident occurred when a British customs vessel ran aground while trying to chase colonial smugglers off the coast of Rhode Island. To obtain supplies, the soldiers of this ship essentially sacked a nearby colonial town. In response, local members of the Sons of Liberty subsequently boarded the ship and burned it to the ground. After being arrested, these men were informed that they would not be tried by Rhode Island officials but instead the English would be sent to an English court. This outraged many colonists who thought it was a sign that their justice systems were not good enough. This was just another example of how ineffective British colonial policies angered the colonists to the point of rebellion. The final cause of the American Revolution was due to the effects of the French and Indian War. The main consequence of the French and Indian War was that it left Britain almost bankrupt. The war had taken so much wealth out of Britain that they were seriously in debt. To solve this problem they began to heavily tax the colonists. These taxes, as mentioned above, would be a major cause of the anti-British feelings felt in the colonies before the Revolution. However, there is another important question regarding the relationship between the French and Indian War and the American Revolution. The problem is that many colonists felt betrayed and abandoned by the English after the war. They felt that in many cases they had to face the French and their native allies with little or no help from the English. These feelings intensified following the Treaty of Aix-La-Chapelle. In this treaty, the English returned Fort Louiseberg to the French. This is important because the colonial forces had spent many months attempting to capture this fort. So when the English returned it to the French for next to nothing, it left a great.