Theme 2
Was the American Revolution largely a product of market-driven consumer forces?

The American Revolution paved the way for democratic rule in nations and ignited the spreading thereof throughout the whole world. Yet events that led up the start of the revolution have been mixed in their significance by historians. Both historians, Carl Degler and T.H. Breen agree that the British mercantile system had benefited the colonists, allowing them to have comfortable lifestyles. Madaras L, SoRelle J (2011)
An argument of both the historians Carl Degler and Fred Anderson, is that the Victory over the French by the British in the Seven Years’ War enabled the Americans Revolution by removing the Threat of the French the American colonist …show more content…

Meetings were called to protest against the law, and the idea of taxation without representation began to take shape. Wood S. G. (2003) & Madaras L, SoRelle J (2011)
Although the American colonists were becoming very unhappy with the restrictions on trade and various import, export duties and taxes, they were not yet necessarily philosophically opposed to the right of the British to control trade, because it made it easy for them to avoid the attendant duties. The Stamp Act of 1765, however, caused new discontent. The Act required that revenue stamps be placed on all newspapers, pamphlets, licenses, leases, and other legal documents, and even on such innocuous items as playing cards. The protests soon stopped being only verbal and men selected to be collectors of the new taxes were openly threatened with violence, and many resigned their posts before they had collected anything. Associations were formed to encourage boycotts of British goods. Colonial legislatures nullified the act, and shipments of stamps were to be destroyed. Anderson F. (2001) & Madaras L, SoRelle J (2011)

In Conclusion, once the American colonists had grown accustomed to having a well-off lifestyle created a mindset for them in which they would not brook any threat to their prosperity. When the British Government and Banks in their efforts to acquire an income from the Colonies ever increasingly after the