The American Revolution is sometimes called the "historical oxymoron" (essay,p1) because people look at it as not a total revolution, but more of a conservative change in power in the new world. The colonial Americans fought England for control of the land they lived in and to run things their own way, but after a brief period of anarchy under the Articles of Confederation, America was being run by a very similar system that the colonists had revolted against a few years early. Three main arguments for the revolution by the colonists, Parliaments right to tax, political corruption/ interest in wealth in Parliament, and the right of a king to govern America, were all in turn adopted by ...view middle of the document...
After the war was won and the constitution was written and ratified by all 13 states, within the lines of the Constitution stated that the federal government had the right to tax. Although formal state taxes weren't employed for another 50 years, many small tariffs and excise taxes were instituted by the American government on the American people. Some colonists wondered what the revolution was for if all that was accomplished was the same rule by different people, now Americans instead of English. Colonists that had been so angered by taxation by Parliament a little over 10 years before, were now once again living under a government that had the right to tax its people.Another reason Americans used to justify their reasoning for a revolution was the corruption in Parliament. The English Parliament was heavily interested in their own personal wealth gains from the New World. Members of Parliament often faced conflicts of interest, where they would vote a certain way to either pass or decline a law, so they would still be able to gain profit from the colonies. The Colonists couldn't stand this, they couldn't stand being used only for profit, and they hated the corruption that lurked in Parliament. Of the two political groups in England, the Whigs and the Tories, the Tories didn't agree with the colonists in the New World. The Torie's Prime Ministers would often pass laws out of spite just to anger the colonists. For example, the English government passed the Declaratory Act in 1766 saying that the colonies were subject to Parliament passing laws whenever they wanted to. With the Declaratory Act the British government "drew its line in the sand."(Bailey, p128). Once again, when the revolution was won by America, there were signs of this interest in personal wealth apparent in the constitutional convention. When the Founding Fathers were writing the constitution they wanted a strong central government, but at the same time they wanted " to make more money"(Sink, Lecture)...
