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the dependent on Britain for capital and the Sugar Act of 1764 enforced laws
on molasses importation. Finally the last straw was the 1765 Act which took
fees for stamps, on every type of documents imaginable. (Thomas, 1968)
The taxes created discontent for the colonists who did not want taxation
without representation.
Similarly in the 1848 revolutions, Germany was one nation that was severely
disillusioned because of King Frederick William IV raised taxation policies.
Similar to France, the maintenance cost of the King from tax payers money
was an issue of debate. This can be seen in Source 1, an extract from a
publication by famous German philosopher Frederick Angels who in a
nutshell viewed taxation as not the biggest problem but the transparency of
tax administration the main issue. (Engels, 1843) Therefore the fact that
taxation was a mutual factor creating economic distress, serves the fact that
economic factors combined with other social and political factors led the
revolution to take place.
Another economic factor that struck all of Europe and created economic
strife with the eventual result of revolution was the agrarian crisis of 1846.
The agrarian crisis of 1846 affected the prices of grain. This had a huge
effect all over Europe because a high percentage of European population was
rural and the bulk of food purchases were either grain or potatoes. The effect
can be seen in Table 3 (See Appendix), where there was a minus 19-20%
decline in potato yields in France in 1845 and 1846. Furthermore, lower class
households in 1850 spent two thirds and three quarters of their income on
food which highlights how this can create significant economic hardship.
(Berger & Spoerer, 2001) Hence, one mutual cause of the 1848 revolutions
was the tight integration of local markets that shocked the economic system
of Europe. This tight integration of markets can be seen from Figure 2 (See
Appendix) showing grain price fluctuations in England, France, Prussia
(North-Western Germany) and Sweden. All the graphs show an upward spike
in grain prices around the time of the revolution.
Similarly, The French Revolution of 1789 was also characterized by a similar
harvest failure creating prices to soar and discontent to turn in to radical
upheaval of masses. Although there was no significant agrarian crisis leading
to the American Revolution there were other abundant economic concerns
prevalent. Another interesting pattern in Table 3 worth mentioning, which is
that Netherlands experienced a minus 56-71% decline in potato yields; a
huge decline in staple food. However, Netherlands was one of the countries
References
Appendix
Source 1: Frederick Engels about Frederick William IV, King of Prussia.
Written: about October 1842; First published: in the Einundzwanzig Bogen
aus der Schweiz, hrsg. v. Herwegh, Zurich and Winterthur, 1843; Signed: F.
O.; Source: MECW, Volume 2; Transcribed: in 2000 for marxists.org by Andy
Blunden.
As for the financial administration under Frederick William IV, he has not been able
to keep to the kind of civil list which his father established for himself, who laid
down by lawthat 2'12 million talers annually should be allocated to the King and his
household out of the revenue from the domains, and that the remainder, together
with other revenues, should be used for state requirements. Even if the Kings
private income is taken into account it can be reckoned that he spends more than
2.5 million yet this sum is also supposed to cover the maintenance of the other
princes. In addition, Blow-Cummerow has proved that the so-called financial
accounting of the Prussian state is absolutely illusory. In general, it remains a
complete mystery how the state revenues are administered. The much-talked-of
reduction of taxes hardly deserves mention; it could have been carried out long ago
under the previous King had he not feared that he would be compelled to raise
them again.