How did changes in England affect the development of the American Colonies?

The European civilization was marked by scientific innovations which led to the development of industries and with it came urbanization. The industrialization in Europe therefore lead to an increase in the demand for raw materials leading to a rise in the activities of Europeans in America in a bid to secure such raw materials as were needed. It can therefore be said that the establishment of the colonies as well as the massive plantations within them was as a result of a bid to gain a stable source of raw materials for the industries in England (Gary, 467). More people were encouraged to go to America so that they could establish themselves in the colonies and in this way increase the output of raw materials.

Moreover, activities such as slavery and forced labor in America came as a result of the need for raw materials by the English industries (Nicholas, 542). The need for raw materials as well as the insatiable demand for the products which came from these raw materials led to a great increase in the slave trade as well as slavery. It is upon the backs of these slaves that that the economic foundations of the colonies were set and this practice would continue for another two centuries until it was abolished.

There was an increase in the population of England due to the agrarian revolution which had ensured a stable supply of food for its population. To add to this, industrialization as well as the advancement in medicine and science had ensured that there was an increase in the life expectancy of the population. This made the government of England see the need to look for a new place not only to settle its surplus population, but also to gain those scarce resources it desperately needed for its industries, hence the founding of the colonies in America.

England was a very civilized society, with very advanced systems of farming, weapon manufacture, as well as medical development. These systems would later be transferred to the colonies in America where they were very well utilized by the colonists and even developed further to suit the local situations. Moreover, the English education system was also transferred to the colonies where after a few generations, it continued to evolve on its own until it had many features that were unique only to it. In addition to this, the political and economic systems of England were also transferred to the colonies and it is these which were to later form the basis upon which the new state was formed after the American Revolution (Kiesling 284).

The ideas of the freedom of man to choose his own destiny came from the beliefs which were then common in England and implanted themselves in the colonies. Justice was considered a basic human right in England and it is because of this that the colonists fought to become a free nation and no longer under the control of a colonial master in Europe. It can therefore be said that it was those very English ideas concerning human rights that came to inspire the American Revolution.