The liberation of Oromia inlight of American freedom

By Rundassa Eshete*

When the Americans were getting ready to fight for their freedom, Britain was world’s military and economic superpower. The thirteen American states were British’s colony just like Oromia and other states are Tigreans colony today.

In addition to other colonies it had, Britain defeated France and took away more territories east of the Mississippi River as well as all of Canada and Spain surrendering its claim to Florida. Given the sheer magnitude of the British military and its empire, the actions taken by the Americans for independence was the most fascinating thing to think about.

How did the Americans able to achieve a victory over what was at the time the world’s preeminent military power? What were the consequences of achieving independence? These and many other questions forces us to look into economic, legal, military, political, and social matters that helped the Americans during their liberation struggle from British.

Economic Causes of the Revolutionary War

As apart of the British empire, 13 colonial states of America were protected from foreign invasion by the British military. Just like todays Oromia under the Tigre colonial rule, America’s 13 states adhered to the British rules and regulations that required the colonized states that;


2. Under the terms of the Proclamation of 1763 and the Quebec Act of 1774 the americans were not allowed to settle or to trade with the Indians without the permission of the British government.

3. The americans had pay high taxes during the war between Britain and France

With 10,000 standing army in North America, the largest military on the face of the earth during that time, Britain continue to acquire new territories and enforced its new land policy in the West. Forts were to be built which would become the new centers of trade with the Indians.

When the Sugar Act of 1764 past by the Britain against the Americans, the Americans opposed these rules initially in a variety of peaceful forms.

First, they attempted to exert some influence in parliament through petition and lobbying. However, it was the economic boycott that became by far the most effective means of altering the new British economic policies. In 1765 representatives from nine colonies met at the Stamp Act Congress in New York and organized a boycott of imported English goods. The boycott was so successful in reducing trade that English merchants lobbied Parliament for the repeal of the new taxes. In 1776 Parliament soon repealed both the Stamp and Sugar Acts.




In an effort to assist the financially troubled British East India Company Parliament passed the Tea Act of 1773, which allowed the company to ship tea directly to America. A small group of colonists/Americans responded by boarding three British ships in the Boston harbor and throwing overboard several hundred chests of tea owned by the East India Company


On September 5, 1774 American delegates conveyed to the British government a list of grievances that demanded the repeal of thirteen acts of Parliament. What happened then was a sequence of events that led to a significant increase in the degree of American resistance to British polices. The British government decided it was time to impose a military solution to the crisis. Boston was occupied by British troops. In April a military confrontation occurred at Lexington and Concord.

Within a month the delegates decided to fundamentally change the nature of their resistance to British policies. By then, the Americans purchased arms and munitions. To pay for all of this they established their own currency. In October as American forces closed in on Quebec the King of England in a speech to Parliament declared that the colonists having formed their own government were now fighting for their independence. It was to be only a matter of months before the Americans formally declared their indpendence.


The colonized Americans had both strengths and weaknesses in terms of undertaking a revolution. The American population was two million while the British population was six million. The hurdles confronting the Americans in achieving independence were indeed formidable. The British military had an array of advantages. With virtual control of the Atlantic its navy could attack anywhere along the American coast at will and would have borne logistical support for the army without much interference. A large core of experienced officers commanded a highly disciplined and well-drilled army in the large-unit tactics of eighteenth century European warfare. By these measures the American military would have great difficulty in defeating the British. Its navy was small. The American Army had relatively few officers proficient in large-unit military tactics. Lacking both the numbers and the discipline of its adversary the American army was unlikely to be able to meet the British army on equal terms on the battlefield.


With the victory at Saratoga the military side of the war had improved considerably for the Americans. However, the financial situation was seriously deteriorating. The states to this point had made no voluntary payments to the American congress. At the same time the new currency which the Americans printed had to compete with a variety of other currencies for resources. Each American states were printing their own individual currencies to help finance expenditures. Moreover the British in an effort to destroy American funding system had undertaken a covert program of counterfeiting the American dollar. These dollars were printed and then distributed throughout the former colonies by the British army and agents loyal to the Crown.
Altogether this expansion of the nominal money supply in the colonies led to a rapid depreciation of American dollar. inflation enhanced by any negative impact upon output resulting from the disruption of markets along with the destruction of property and loss of able-bodied men. By the end of 1777 inflation had reduced the specie value to about twenty percent of what it had been when originally issued. This rapid decline in value was becoming a serious problem for America in that up to this point almost ninety percent of its revenue had been generated from currency emissions.


As the American military situation deteriorated in the South so did the financial circumstances. Inflation continued as American congress and the states dramatically increased the rate of issuance of their currencies. At the same time the British continued to pursue their policy of counterfeiting the dollar. In order to deal with inflation some states organized conventions for the purpose of establishing wage and price controls. With its currency rapidly depreciating in value the American Congress increasingly relied on funds from other sources such as state requisitions, domestic loans, and French loans of specie. As a last resort they authorized the army to confiscate property.





The Articles of Confederation


Difficulties in the 1780s



Rundasa*The author can be reached at: