10. JAPAN

The American Independence Revolutiona English Colonial Policy

The 13 English colonies on the American continent were the result of the efforts of the Puritans,1 who were seeking freedom of religion in the New World, and of people interested in trade and developing new lands. Although under the control of the mother country, the colonists were strongly imbued with the spirit of freedom and independence, and they developed democratic autonomy through their respective colonial assemblies. In the North, commerce and industry thrived along with agriculture by landowning farmers, while in the South, tobacco and cotton plantations flourished through use of black slaves.

However, England, the mother country, limited the growth of commerce and industry in the American colonies by means of a mercantile policy of using the colonies as a source of raw materials and at the same time as a market for English products.2 For this reason, the colonies became more and more discontented with England, but during the Seven Years' War [1756-63] there was no outbreak of disputes because the support of the home country was needed.

[Map] Northeastern America during the colonial period (1760). [Major map features identify the 13 original colonies and several important cities; also delineate French and Spanish territory.]

The French threat, however, disappeared with the termination of the war, and England made substantial territorial gains in America. Adopting a stronger mercantile policy to meet the expenditures incurred during the war and to ensure the security of the vast American territory, England then levied taxes on the colonies, thereby increasing colonial discontent. The Stamp Act of 1765, in particular, was opposed by nearly all colonists. Meetings of colonial representatives were held and took the position that, since no colonists were members of the English Parliament, Parliament could not vote taxes on them. Even in the home country, there was support for the proposition that taxation and the right to representation were inseparable principles, and in 1766 the Government rescinded the Stamp Act. Nevertheless, other taxes continued to be levied on the colonies. In 1773, opposition to the Tea Tax led to the Boston Tea Party.3 From then on, the resistance movement grew more intense, but the home government's response was only to apply stronger tactics.

Compilers' Note.-Translated from Kentaro Murakawa, Namio Egami, Tatsuro Yamamoto, and Kentaro Hayashi's Shosetsu Sekai Shi (Detailed World History). (New ed.) Tokyo: Yamakawa Shuppan Sha, 1973. Pp. 218-21. Reproduced with permission from Yamakawa Shuppan Sha. The material is designed for the 10th, 11th, or 12th year of a 12-year primary-secondary school cycle.

In 1620, the Puritans (also known as the Pilgrim Fathers) landed on the new continent from the Mayflower and founded Plymouth Colony, from which the New England colonies got their start.

2Examples of this control are the Sugar Act, which forbade the import of sugar from non-English colonies, and the Iron Act, which banned the manufacture of iron.

[Picture] A view of part of the town of Boston in New England and British ships of war landing their troops 1768.

3To save the East India Company from financial ruin, England gave a special dispensation by waiving customs duties on the company's tea exported to America, thereby inhibiting the profitable smuggling trade of the colonial merchants. The Boston Tea Party refers to the incident in which these merchants and radical anti-Britishers joined together and, disguised as Indians, boarded the East India Company ships and dumped their tea cargo into the harbor.

The War for Independence and Its Effects

In 1774, the colonies held a Continental Congress to protest against the mother country, but the King and the Government refused to change their position, and in 1775 armed fighting broke out at Lexington. The colonies united to fight under Washington. (1732-99) as the commander-in-chief.4 On July 4, 1776, the delegates from 13 colonies met in Philadelphia and adopted the Declaration of Independence. This Declaration of Independence, drafted by Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), together with the later Declaration of the Rights of Man of the French Revolution, forms the basic principles of modern politics.

The Declaration of Independence (Excerpts)

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.-Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and unsurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

While initially inadequately prepared and lacking weapons and food supplies, the independence army continued to fight under adverse conditions. It fought well under Washington's leadership and, with the help of aid from France and Spain and the armed neutrality assumed by the northern European countries, gradually gained supremacy over the enemy. The independence army gained the support of the European countries because these countries were colonial rivals of England and because the spirit of the Declaration of Independence was in line with the ideas of the Enlightenment of that period. Furthermore, support was gained by the eloquent and persuasive arguments of Franklin (1706-90) in Europe. In the end, England, defeated at the Battle of Yorktown (1781), recognized the independence of the United. States with the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1783 and relinquished to the new nation Louisiana east of the Mississippi River.

The independence of the United States contributed to the cause of the French Revolution in two significant ways by aggravating the financial plight of the French Government, which came to the aid [of the Americans], and by serving as an inspiration to the French people's hopes for freedom. Also greatly influenced were the independence movements in the Latin American countries in the early 19th century.

Adoption of the Constitution and Establishment of the United States

After the United States became independent, the 13 States were loosely bound by the Articles of Confederation, and political and economic distress continued because the central government was weak. Therefore a movement to form a stronger central government began to grow, and in 1787 a Constitutional Convention was held in Philadelphia and drew up the Constitution of the United States. This Constitution recognized the broad autonomy of the respective States and provided for the separation of the three powers [of government] by establishing an office of the President to execute the affairs of the United States, a legislature consisting of a Senate for State representation and a House of Representatives for representation of the people, and a judicial authority consisting of the Supreme Court. Then a struggle began between the Federalists, who supported the Constitution, and the Anti-Federalists, who criticized it, thereby creating the basis for political parties.

In this way, the foundation of the United States

1800). After that, the United States exerted efforts was laid down, and in 1789 Washington became the first President (1789-97). Moreover, the city of Washington was created and became the capital (in

to recover from the war and to expand her territory, welcomed many immigrants as settlers from Europe, and endeavored to promote the growth of her commerce and industry.

Social Conditions in Britain's North American Coloniesa

During the period of over 120 years from 1607 to 1732, British colonists had successively established 13 colonies along the eastern coast of North America: Virginia, Massachusetts, Maryland, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Delaware, North Carolina, South Carolina, New York, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, and Georgia. Later these colonies became the original 13 States of the United States of America.

In the beginning, the 13 colonies administered their affairs under British rule without mutual consultation, and there was little political link between them. Move over, their relations with the suzerain state were not all the same. On the eve of the War for Independence, 8 of the 13 colonies were colonies of the Crown, with Governors directly appointed by the King to administer them; three were proprietary colonies whose Governors were nominated by the proprietors with the King's approval; and two were self-governing colonies whose Governors were elected from among the people of the propertied class, subject to the King's approval. The Governors of the 13 colonies were largely members of the British nobility or military officials, and they held military, political, financial, and judicial powers with which they could directly suppress the colonial people in the interests of the British ruling clique.

As a result of the ceaseless struggle of the colonial people for their political rights, the 13 colonies

Compilers' Note.-Translated from Kuo Sheng-ming, Mei-kuo Tu-li Chan-cheng (The War for American Independence). Peking: Commercial Press, 1973. Pp. 6-48 and 58-60. The material is designed for the upper years of a primarysecondary school cycle that may vary from 9 to 12 years in duration, and for use in adult classes at a comparable educational level.

practiced bourgeois representative government by setting up their own local legislatures. As electoral rights were restricted in many ways in every colony, those elected to the colonial legislatures were mostly landlords, gentry, and agents of the bourgeoisie, without any representation whatsoever from the working. people. There were struggles between the Governors and the legislatures. These struggles reflected the contradictions [i.e., conflicts, problems] between the colonies and their suzerain state.

During the middle of the 18th century, the economy of the 13 colonies was basically still agricultural. Generally speaking, 90 percent of the population were farmers. However, in New England textile, logging, mining, ironsmelting, shipbuilding, and other industries began to flourish, and handicraft factories of all types and variety increased rapidly. Furthermore, they were substantial in size, thus leading to the emergence of a bourgeois class of immense wealth. On the eve of the War for Independence, the annual exports from the colonies had already reached a value of $20 million (American). Capitalism had already begun to emerge, and the colonial people wanted to develop independently.

But the British administration of the colonies in North America was completely in the interests of the bourgeoisie in Britain. Pursuant to the Navigation Acts and other enactments restricting the trade of the colonies during the period of the Cromwell administration (1599-1658), the British Government prescribed that farm products produced in the colonies, such as tobacco, indigo, and cotton, must first be shipped to Britain to be sold there, while industrial goods needed by the colonial people must be imported solely from Britain. Moreover, the British Government dispatched naval ships to patrol the seas in a stringent search for smuggled goods. The British colonial rule thus impeded development of the national economy in North America. It forced certain local industries and businesses into bankruptcy, put workers out of their jobs, and caused farmers to suffer losses from the very narrow market for their