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These new American colonies and Britain were fighting back and forth over the topic of salutary neglect where the British would leave them alone to then Britain placing heavy taxes and being very strict with them. Britain had decided that it made perfect sense, although they are an ocean apart, the colonists are who the British defended during the French and Indian war, making them a part of Britain. However, to the colonists, this seemed unruly and unjust because they were different from the island of Britain and they felt a sense of unity growing alongside the growing anger towards Britain. The colonies were standing together as the small island across the ocean controlled them and as these tensions grew, the common idea of democracy began to spread amongst the colonists. Notably, in the northernmost colony, the effect of taxes drove certain groups to develop ways for themselves to regain some sort of control. One way that this group began to spread their ideas outside of the northern colonies was through the use of pamphlets. This group led by Thomas Paine released a pamphlet called Common Sense, the main idea presented by this pamphlet was that the control Britain had recently instilled was harming the colonies’ success in order for Britain's personal gain. When the Pamphlet was eventually spread to other colonies, the common man began to align with the same ideals. This collective understanding of the effects of British control had on the colonies led to the American Revolution.

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The most influential idea that pushed the colonies to resist the British is the idea of controlling their own economic policies. In the period following the French and Indian war, many policies were implemented to control the colonies. This included a policy called the quartering acts, in which the colonists had to provide housing for British soldiers. Many colonists saw this as a violation of their space and privacy. This is the main reason they wanted to protest and regain their privacy. Another piece of evidence is the curfews done by the British. The British during this time decided to impose harsh martial law. What we saw out of this anger is the Boston Tea Party. The taxation alone was not enough for the revolt, the fact that they did not make this policy themselves angered the colonists. This act of rebellion resulted in more soldiers being shipped to the colonies to enforce curfews, which only further pushed tensions. For these reasons, the idea of controlling their own policies is what most heavily influenced the colonies to resist the British.

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Commercial exchange systems helped the colonies’ economy thrive and gave almost unlimited potential. The open exchange of America’s untapped goods was necessary for growing America’s economy. Much of Europe wanted resources the colonies held such as tobacco. Although most of this income came from Britain, they were not the only country willing to invest in the colonies. Other countries would buy the colonists’ goods and this shifted the power dynamic over time. They needed Britain less and less as time went on. This then opened the door for revolution since they are not as dependent on Britain as when they were founded.

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Mercantilism had a great impact on the British North American economy. This is because colonists could only buy goods from Britain and not other European countries. This made the colonies dependent on Britain and gave Britain lots of economic power over the colonies. The colonists knew Britain was doing this to diminish the colonies’ independence. This would eventually lead to protest of these laws by the colonies; for example, the Boston Tea Party in 1773.

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Throughout the Enlightenment, American colonists, influenced by the Europeans, became influenced by the ideas the Enlightenment possessed. Prior to the signing of the Declaration of Independence the American Colonists sent the Olive Branch Petition to Great Britain in hopes of a peaceful end to their conflict before war would erupt. This Enlightened thinking, though it did not work, led to the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the American colonists wanted to separate from the monarchy that ruled over them and create their own democratic government. But, this all would not have come to be without Enlightenment author, Thomas Paine, and his novel, Common Sense. This novel further spread ideas of independence throughout the colonies and became a pivotal piece of “propaganda” that pushed colonists to begin to fight for their independence and right to self-govern.

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For Self-sufficiency, Navigation Acts were created by Parliament to control the trading center in America. The British Monarchy thought it was necessary to impose the Navigation Acts on raw goods to promote the self-sufficiency idea, to create an economy with just the use of the British and colonies. Although the British saw this as a good dependent decision, it infuriated the colonies because they wanted to grow their economy. Not only was Parliament trying to promote self-sufficiency, but it was also to stop the growing change of the colonies by refusing them to have a dependence on foreign goods. This created the idea of smuggling, a way for the colonies to still grow their economy but also not follow British Rule. Although some people believed the Sugar or Stamp act created more control and change because of their pressure to regulate commerce and direct tax, Navigation Acts overall angered and had more control on America. The Navigation Acts were imposed to cause a self-supported economy, bringing change and control, but with smuggling techniques the colonies illegally started to bring in imported goods, causing a benefit and change in the rising world trade center.

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A significant cause of self government separating from the British was the American passion of representation and liberty shown through actions and ideas. One of these included the growth of the First and Second Continental congress. This meeting of colonists noticed America’s needed change for independence after the period of Salutary Neglect, which was the British's unfair rule through taxation. These gatherings fabricated the Declaration of Independence, stating the people’s rights, these rights not provided through the ruling of the British. Another component in this time of rallying was Thomas Paine’s Common Sense . His words, confronting the British's authority and monarchy which were unfair and illegal towards the states. This boost of American liberty promoted the separation from British Rule leading to the American Revolution, and would later create opportunity for a representative democracy.

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Self-Government had a strong impact on the British colonies after the French and Indian war. Great Britain was in debt and began to tax the colonists, which the colonists believed was unfair. These taxes ended the period of salutary neglect, in which the colonies had more freedom in government. After such a long period of self-government, the colonists felt they should be able to continue this period instead of being subject to a King across the sea.

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Furthermore, although the political ideas of enlightenment and republicanism both played a significant role, enlightenment ideas had a larger influence over the colonist’s reactions. Republicanism showed the colonists how they wanted their government to be run and helped them to identify where their values in a government lay, but without enlightenment, without the emphasis on reason, skepticism, and individualism, the American colonists would have had difficulty getting to the point of being able to consider republicanism. Ultimately, without the age of enlightenment, we would have never seen an American colonial reaction to British imperial authority altogether.

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Similarly to the Townshend Acts, the British government’s imposition of the Stamp Act brought on the desire for American colonists to rebel. Following Britain’s spiral into debt caused by the 7 Year’s war, King George III forced colonists to receive a stamp of approval on many matters, no matter how small. The stamp cost the Americans too much money and affected their everyday lives. Their anger fueled their hatred towards the king and plans for independence.

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After the Boston Tea Party, the British government was furious and wanted to punish the colonists. This came in the form of the Coercive (Intolerable) Acts which shut down the Boston port until the destroyed tea was paid for. These acts also put Boston under martial law, which put a leader given power by the British government in charge, rather than who the colonists chose. This shows great change in the British colonial economy because when the colonists lost access to the Boston port they could no longer trade with other countries or parts of the US. This made merchants lose a great deal of revenue and many colonists lost their livelihood impacting the entire economy. Martial law also prevented citizens in Boston from having representation in government and decisions that would affect their economy.