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There are several reasons that ignited the war such as the refusal of the Olive Branch Petition by King George Ill, the Pamphlet, Common Sense, published by Thomas Paine that stirred up the colonists, and the several acts passed against the colonists by the British Parliament, and the Albany Plan of Union, that had great potential in preventing the war. If the British parliament responded to the concerns, grievances and proposals of the colonists, things would have turned out differently.
The First Continental Congress met in Carpenter’s hall in Philadelphia and every colony sent delegates except for Georgia. Although the delegates’ objective of this meeting was to Inform the grievances of the colonies to the King and parliament, they had deferent solutions to their problems. Some wanted to separate, while others wanted resolution with England. The meeting came to an end after the Declaration and Resolves set a common ground for all the colonies and agreed to meet again after one year if the British do not respond to the grievances of the colonies.
If England had listened to the concerns of the colonies and addressed them, the Second Continental Congress would not have met and the number of delegates and people that seek to separate from their mother country would have decreased and the war could have been prevented. When the Second Continental Congress met, the delegates sent the Olive Branch Petition to George Ill requesting a compromise and declared their loyalty to the crown even though the King did not agree.
The Olive Branch Petition could also have prevented the war if the King acknowledged and compromised with the colonies since the delegates’ primary Intentions were looking for WAP to make peace with the crown. Therefore, the King of England had the power to prevent the war but rather chose not to. Thomas Paine was born In Defrost, England to a poor Quaker family. In London, he met Benjamin Franklin and Franklin encouraged him to move to America in 1776, Thomas Paine wrote a pamphlet titled Common Sense which laid out “nothing more than simple facts, plain arguments, and common sense.
He said “everything that is right or reasonable pleads for separation. ” This pamphlet sold a total of 400,000 copies, of which 120,000 were sold solely in America. Common Sense got Americans stirred up to strive for independence from England. Throughout in his life, Paine believed in free thinking, standing up for one’s beliefs, and people have the right to be free. Paine was an influential person for the American Revolutionary war.
If this pamphlet had not been published, It would not have caused the people to revolt, question the King and seek for Independence from the crown thus, would have prevented the American Revolutionary war from happening. After the Seven Years War, England had a large amount of national debt. Parliament imposed Stamp Act and Revenue Act to help pay boycotts against British goods. The parliament responded to resistance towards the taxes by repealing the Stamp Act and passing the Declaratory Act.
The Declaratory Act stated that Parliament could take “whatever action they thought fit for the good of the empire. ” The colonists were blinded by the Stamp Act when it was repealed and failed to see the significance of the Declaratory Act. As a result of this Act, the British Parliament passed several acts against the colonists. The Quartering Act of 1766 required Americans to house British soldiers at their own expense and Townsend Acts of 1766 taxed all imported goods coming into the colonies.
In addition, parliament gave rights to the East Indian Company to sell tea directly at a cheaper price than that of the colonist importers. This angered the businessmen involved in importing the teas leading them to dump 342 boxes of tea into the Boston Harbor later known as Boston Tea Party. The King responded to Boston Tea Party by forbidding town meetings, by requiring the colonists to pay for the tea, and most importantly, by closing the Boston Harbor. This threatened the other twelve colonies because they thought they could also face similar punishment.
Each of the acts passed by parliament intensified the tension between the British and the colonists because the colonists believed that taxation without representation is illegal. These acts played a major role in starting the Revolutionary war but also had the power to avoid it if the parliament had not imposed a high burden taxes and duties upon the colonists the tension would not have been as great as it was. Benjamin Franklin reposed the Albany Plan of Union at the Albany Congress in 1754 which was an early attempt to unite the colonies and form an army to fight the French and Indian war.
Unfortunately, this plan failed to pass because colonial legislators did not want to give up control of their own affairs. If this plan had passed, England would not have sent troops to fight the war and would not have gotten itself into a deep national debt and thus the colonist did not have to be taxed to compensate the expenses of the war . In conclusion, as important as the American Revolutionary war was to the American story, it could have been prevented from happening.
To being with, Benjamin Franklins proposal of the Albany Plan of Union could have solved the tax problems that arose from the French and Indian War. Even after the Franklins proposal failed to pass, if the British parliament addressed the concerns of the colonists the war could have been avoided. If Thomas Pain’s Common Sense pamphlet was not published, it would not have put the colonists in rebellious stage. Lastly, if King George Ill had not ignored the Olive Branch Petition, the American Revolutionary war could have been prevented in that way also.