Muscatine

Why DID we break from England?

It wasn't taxes, not really. The British had conceded that point early on, . The later negotiations were clear in that taxation WITH representation would NOT be acceptable if it meant that America would be paying the same taxes as the Home Isle, which were about 25x higher than what they had actually been asking from the colonies

It wasn't freedom, Britain was about the freest country in the world at the time, much better than our main ally, France.

It wasn't culture. We were far, far more British than anything else then.

Why all the big brouhaha? Canada became independent peacefully, though they did keep the Queen, but only in theory.

http://www.uspoliticsonline.com/historical-discourse/60893-what-caused-american-revolution.html#post1699048

Likely the same thing that caused davieboy from having any original thoughts anymore....

Bump

The main cause of the American Revolution can be summarized  as the colonists' view that they were entitled to the full democratic rights of Englishmen, while the British view that the American colonies were just colonies to be used and exploited in whatever way best suited Great Britain.

But, more importantly:

What caused "liberals" to become "progressives"?

What caused Barbara Streisand to become Barney Frank?

What caused Bill Clinton's lip to quiver?

What caused Chris Matthew's leg to quiver?

What caused chosen to become toilet paper?

http://www.historycentral.com/revolt/causes.html