The emergence of the American Independence movement was an outcome of number of political and economic developments, which took place immediately after the British triumph over France, in the year 1763. During this year, nobody could have predicted that the British Empire and its cherished American colony would be at loggerheads with each other, by the year 1776. England had just won the French and Indian war, and had emphatically put an end to the French threat in the American region. But after the victory over France, the British treatment of its colony started showing a shift towards authoritarianism. During this period, the British imperial rule was at its peak with almost no European power equipped to pose a serious threat to it. Its activities now shifted from keeping the European powers away from its American colony, to tightening its control over its colonies.
On the surface, during the 1760s everything seemed to be normal in the colony’s relationship to the crown, and there were no outward signs of a possible revolution. The country was economically flourishing. In contrast to colonies like Ireland, there was no serious propaganda for freedom and King George III was generally presumed to be a better ruler than his predecessors. Furthermore, there was no unity among the colonies or a common agenda. So what happened in a decade that made all the thirteen states to unanimously oppose the British rule? Well! a lot of things happened in the period between 1763 and 1776 that had serious influence on the American freedom movement.
The Royal Proclamation of 1763, which restricted the entry of colonists to Indian dominated regions, further enraged the American people. Despite Britain triumphing in the war and acquiring the territories from the Indians who sided with the French, it did not favor the idea of American colonists settling in the areas of Ohio Valley. The British thought this might spur up the Indians to keep resisting and fighting against the British forces. But the colonists, who fought fiercely and shed blood in the war, were enraged when they were denied access to a territory won by their efforts.
Also the enlightenment movement pioneered by writers such as Thomas Hobbes, Baron de Montesquieu and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, had a huge influence in shaping the American people’s ideas about an independent nation. The ideas spread by their writings such as – liberalism, free of tyranny and corruption, created a vision among the colonists about a free country that would champion the cause of individual liberty and equality.
The currency act of 1764 was another major reason behind the emergence of the freedom movement. This act abolished the system of Bill of credit and gave the complete control of currency system to the parliament. This put the American colonists in a huge economical disadvantage in their trade dealings with the British merchants. All the above discussed factors culminated and influenced the colonists to fight for independence from the British Empire.
