Understanding the American Revolution

One needs to look back into the annals of history and look at some stories in the age of enlightenment to get an idea of some of the social reasons that moves a society into revolution. Most of the time it's all about the economic machine. Following the money trail is usually a good place to start looking for scandalous history.

A few questions to consider:

What constitutes a nations economy?
How much of the British national economy was devoted to fighting the colony wars?
How many British subjects became indentured and sent to the colonies?
How many British subjects were treated like currency to serve a wider and more wicked purpose other than that of the Monarch?
Who's soul authority is supposed to be divinely inspired to serve the well being of everyone.
Who sold this authority to craven and willful men and women?
Who were the buyers?

Those are just a few question to ask. More will probably follow as we go along.

At the heart of all those questions lie one group more than any other: The Money Changers

Using tools in common law such as writs of assistance they were able to finagle their way into the political machine of the time. When these writs were first introduced it caused a great commotion. 

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Writs of assistance were court orders that authorized customs officers to conduct general (non-specific) searches of premises for contraband. The exact nature of the materials being sought did not have to be detailed, nor did their locations.

The writs were one of a list of grievances that the Americans harbored against the Crown and contributed to the process of changing loyal colonists into advocates for independence. 

Writs of Assistance

Reasons of Revolution

After the 7 years war with the French all the booty and land grants were granted mostly to British officers according to rank and privilege. The higher the rank the better the privilege. This gentry of British system of control had their own system of prejudice percolating. Colonial officers and low rankers were treated less than a citizen of the Empire. It made the colonists feel neglected by the British constitution. Prejudice for ones own kind. Or jealousy...whatever! It's a secular division from within.

Earlier, the Spanish displayed these tendencies towards their own kind as well. Example being a pure blood Spaniard born in the mother country was superior in nature to a full blooded Spaniard born in Mexico.

How does this change our understanding of the American Revolution? Essentially, the merchants were breaking the transportation laws and smuggling goods without paying duties. Pirates hacking the system! They were fighting the bigger pirates - King Georgies crazy cronies: The madmen who solicited contracts with the moneylenders and commercial enterprises.

Sorting out the logic and searching for order and revenue. This brings us to the idea of sacred property rights. The colonies sure did have a lot to say on that subject. But, we'll get to that...

First of all, the British parliament passes a proclamation in 1763 declaring a halt on all migration west of the Appalachian Mountains. Thus, killing any chance for squatters or groups of people to go in and take over land from the Indians, or anywhere else, without Crown or parliamentary approval. There's a nifty little clause in there that seems to indicate no one else may deal with the indigenous tribes but for a Crown appointed official. This implies 'ownership' by the Crown even before anyone else has a chance to gain control. The Crown issues trade licenses and warrants to set a tone indicating that the west shall not be a refuge for scoundrels.

Then, a year later, the sugar and currency acts became policy. Sugar, molasses, run, textiles, etc. all had their taxes lowered across the board. Plus, only British ships could be used for transportation. Parliament wanted to cut the smugglers and American shipping out of the picture. The currency act really began a flow of cash for Britain in that it required all funds be shipped to England. On top of all that, these acts also empowered the British Navy to confiscate any and all shipping interests that broke these new policies. If any colonist wanted their goods back they had to travel to Nova Scotia for a tribunal to be heard. How many of those colonists could afford such a journey after having been 'legally raped' of all resources to defend their 'rights'? The authority for these deeds was already in affect with those 'writs of assistance' already mentioned earlier. These new acts gave more teeth to the burgeoning concepts being developed for control and of ultimate corruption.

Lessons learned from the stamp and sugar acts....

After repealing the Stamp Act Parliament decided to pass the Declaratory Act. This wicked little device effectively puts Parliament in control over all colony policy. Leaving the colonies under the net of Parliament. With no direct redress or appeal to the king himself. What? No appeal to Caesar?

The colonies didn't pay too much attention to this act at first. As they were only concerned with the economy.
After the Stamp and sugar act debacles something had to be done.
But, there were some who saw this as a prelude to bigger things on the way: taxes!
More taxes with bigger teeth to collect it.

So....

Release the hounds...

The Townshend Duties.

Remember those writs of assistance? These are permission slips giving power to the enforcers to crush all opposition and feel justified doing it. Including confiscation of all goods and vessels.

All of these acts and policy changes started to stack up.
Like making music one note at a time.
Stacking the notes to make chords to create lawful Harmony.

Harmony for who?

The hidden song of greed began its movement.
The melody is sounding chromatically ominous.
The rhythm of revolution began to quicken....

Who is still hiding in the background behind these machinations of policy?

Who has forgotten the reasons we were fighting the tyranny in the first place?

This pyramid of power from Britain became too large to control from one place and the elite started bickering. The Crown of Britain and all it stood for seemed to be breaking apart forever. But, no! The American Elite wanted to control their own destiny and build they're own machine.

Down the hole we go....

Communication Breakdown