After the French Revolution of the late 18th century, Goethe, a German writer, said that a great revolution is never the fault of the people, but of the government ( ThinkExist). However, his statement also reflected events several decades earlier, on the North American continent, when the British administration helped spark a major social uprising among the colonists. The American Revolution (1763-1789) was generated by an amalgamation of factors, which resulted in a dissonance between the British perspective on the colonies and American colonial reality. The causes of the American independence movement range from the policy of benevolent neglect, to the post-French-Indian War agreements, to British tax and legal strategies, to the constant emergence of an American national identity, different from that of on the other side of the ocean. Great Britain. The combination of these factors gave rise to the American War of Independence. By the early 18th century, Britain was virtually indifferent to enforcing the laws it had passed for the American people. The Crown had little interest in controlling trade regulations and provided great freedom in the administration of local affairs, while trade barriers imposed on merchants had only limited impact. While Britain had in mind the goal of keeping the colonies under control, this proved to be a perfect environment for local political and economic administration bodies to flourish and strengthen their position and power ( Davidson, 133). The settlers gradually adopted the idea of ​​self-government. This further contributed to the development of a colonial social identity, distinct from that of Britain. The growing cultural distance between the Crown and the world...... middle of paper ...... citizens had political representation, their American counterparts lacked it. Taxation without representation was one of the colonists' greatest complaints against the Crown (Greene, 126). Works Cited 1) “Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe Quotes”. Quotes ThinkExist.com. Internet. April 5, 2011.2) J. Hector St. John Crèvecoeur, "What is an American? (1770)" in Raymond Hyser and J. Chris Arndt, editors, Voices of the American Past: Documents in US History, Volume I, 3rd edition ( Belmont, CA: Thompson-Wadsworth, 2005), 46-48.3) Greene, Jack P. and JR Pole. A Companion to the American Revolution. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2004. Print.4) Davidson, James West. Nation of Nations: A Narrative History of the American Republic. New York: McGraw-Hill Higher Education, 2008. Print.