American Colonies Political Science Research Paper

American Colonies Political Science - Research Paper Example The American Revolution started in the latter half of the 18th century and spanned a total of ten years from 1775-1785. It was a political revolution which resulted in the merging of the thirteen North American British colonies to form the United States of America. The upheaval and political unrest sparked by the series of high taxes imposed by the British, lack of colonial representation in the British government and the enforcement of illegitimate Laws, were some of the reasons why England never would have held onto the United States1. Overview of British Empire: The British Empire at its peak was the most influential and massive empire in world history, at one time it was designated as a global power. The extensiveness of the empire can be estimated from the fact that it was referred to as ‘the empire On which the sun never sets’. This was because the Empire spanned an extensive area around the globe which ensured that at any given time at least one of the colonies ha d the sun shining on it. The European age of discovery, characterized by global expeditions of Spain and Portugal, resulted in the formation of British Empire. Many historians believe that by 1921, the British were ruling a population of over 550 million people, which accounts for about quarter of the world’s population. ... ion to rule quarter of the world and they were merely looking for appropriate places to send their convicts to, searching for gold and trying to establish trade relations. However, during the process of attaining these objectives, British soon discovered that they rule approximately quarter of the Earth’s land area. By 1970, the extensive British Empire also consisted of thirteen American colonies extending from Georgia to New Hampshire.2 American Revolution: The British would never have been able to hold on to its colonies especially the American colonies even if it really wanted to because of many reasons such as the lack of elected representation in the British Parliament. The colonial rule research helped me identify the major problems Britain was facing while it was governing America. The era of American Revolution started in the year 1763, and coincided with the British victory at the French and Indian War. The British victory eliminated the threat which the American col onies had from the French military forces. Soon after the War ended, British Parliament expressed the desire to increase the amount of money that the colonies were paying for protection. Therefore, British imposed a series of high taxes and certain other Laws in an attempt to strengthen its authority on the colonies. Ironically, these attempts proved to be the precursors for political upheaval and unrest. On the other hand, American colonies lacked representation in the government which inevitably led to insecurity among the Americans. Many colonists believed that their right and interests as Englishmen were violated by the enforcement of a series of illegitimate Laws. By 1772, hatred against the governing British Parliament had prevailed to the extent that colonists began to form Committees of