The Cause of the American Revolution

"The American Revolution took place because the British government, even with the best intentions, did not understand what America and Americans had become."

This statement is ambiguous. Parliament didn't understand who the Americans had become, but the contradiction is that the British did not have the best intentions. In fact, it was quite the opposite. The King wanted colonies established in America for profit reasons only. Colonies overseas would bring territory, a market for exports, and raw materials to the British. The Spanish used a system of mercantilism, and I'm sure that wasn't a bad goal for Parliament. The British wanted to make money from the colonies. It wasn't supposed to be the other way around. The taxes that they imposed upon the colonists didn't help the colonists, it gained money for Parliament. Overall, I think that the main thing the British were interested in was making more money. For example, Queen Elizabeth supported Sir Francis Drake in his pirating scandals. She made Portugal angry, and later caused a war, but she got her share of the wealth, so she let it go on. Later on, Britain funded many explorers in search of trade routes and riches. I think that throughout the entire colonial period, Britain wanted to rip the colonists off, even if it was blatantly obvious. The reaction of the colonists didn't even matter, since they were on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, unless it threatened Parliament's income.

The British made two major calculations which led to their defeat at the end of the Revolution. First of all, I don't think the British ever thought the colonists would start a war. The Brothers of Liberty showed many signs of disapproval, but the British only seemed to underestimate the colonists. For example, the Boston Tea Party was in response to taxes on tea. As a punishment, the British implemented the Intolerable Acts. This wasn't going to help the British control the colonists. The Brothers of Liberty had already shown how they react to heavy taxes. This would only provoke more actions. The British didn't understand that the colonists were becoming increasingly angry with the way Britain controlled them, and Parliament only did more to increase their anger. If the British knew that the colonists would start a war, and then WIN, Parliament definitely would have changed its tactics.

In this way, the statement was correct. The British didn't understand that America was willing to risk everything to become independent. On the other hand, Parliament did not act in the interest of the British colonies in America. Therefore, the British did not fail with good intentions. They had bad intentions the whole way through. They expected to make a profit off of the colonies, and that was the only thing that the colonies were good for.