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sholland90 sholland90
wrote...
12 years ago
Need help with my history essays...

The textbook suggests that the war for American Independence was not inevitable, that the British Empire could have been saved. Do you agree? At what point during the imperial crisis was peaceful compromise possible?
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manutd_1090 Author
wrote...
12 years ago
My reading on the English side is there were compromises being attempted. There were voices of reason. Unfortunately the distance between London and Boston was too far (especially in those days) for the two sides to know what was going on with the other side. Action and reaction were too spaced out in time. If a law was repealed today, after having been enacted, it could take forever for those on the other side of the Atlantic to find out and enjoy the effects.

The King, made out to be the real problem in this, from the American side; was not an absolute Ruler and it was the Parliamentarians who kept things from moving smoothly.

Voices such as that of Adam Smith argued for the British to set what became the United States free in an amicable way so the resultant government would be an ally rather than a foe. In the end we see this as what happened but because it didn't occur in quite the way Smith envisaged there were scars and recriminations to be healed before any strong alliance between Britain and America could really be formed.
wrote...
12 years ago
Political Science 101

Between 1740 and 1770 america went through a major population growth spurt. Philadelphia became the second largest city in the British Empire. More people lived in America than Scotland. With this population growth, government became more complex.

Meanwhile, it took six weeks to send a letter to London, and six weeks to get a reply.

With the distance, it is necessary to delegate authority. But the British Government was centralizing authority.

Something had to give, either a Canadian solution, or Independence.
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julieziembajulieziemba
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12 years ago
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wrote...
12 years ago
I believe that the British Empire could have easily been preserved. War was not inevitable. Had King George III not treated the colonists like misbehaving children from whom he could profit, peace could have been maintained, and the American Revolution could have been prevented. Initially, the colonists did not want to be separated from England. They simply wanted the same English rights that the Englanders were afforded by the crown. However, differences over the responsibility of who would pay for the cost of the Seven Years War and Britain’s mercantilist policies prompted over taxation with no representation. 

When the founding fathers gathered at the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia in 1775, they had two primary goals. First of all, they wanted to assert their right to English rights, including representation. Secondly, they wanted to pledge their allegiance to England. To do this, they sent the Olive Branch Petition in a last attempt to ask the king for some relief from taxes and oppression. The language in the petition is humble as the founders defer to the king and pledge their loyalty.  Furthermore, if they were to remain with Great Britain, they would receive the protection of the British navy and the most powerful empire in the world. 

Unfortunately, when the king received the petition, he refused to read it.  Instead, he accused the colonists of all out treason, stating that they had “proceeded toward open and avowed rebellion.”  The colonists at that point realized that they would not be given the same rights and in essence they would always be considered merely a source of funding for the king. It was as if the 13 colonies were the king’s indentured servants—only he was not interested in ever giving them their freedom.

So yes, the Empire could have been saved if the King had listened to the colonists and believed that they were acting in good faith by sending the Olive Branch Petition. Of course, the next document that the king would receive would be the Declaration of Independence, which was, in actuality, death sentences for those who signed it. Whereas war could have been prevented with the Olive Branch Petition, with the Declaration, it was certainly inevitable.
 
References

1.   John Ferling, “The Rocky Road to Revolution: While Most Members of Congress Sought a Negotiated Settlement with England, Independence Advocates Bided Their Time,”   Smithsonian, July 2004, 35.
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