The colonists had the right to rebel against the British rule. The colonists throughout this era had the British breathing down their backs. This meant that the British tried to control all of the colonists within their reach. The colonists were restrained from their natural rights while being a colonist. The British not only took away the natural rights of the colonists, but they also taxed tea for the colonists. Everyone is born with natural rights. This is a quote from John Locke. These rights are not given by the government and the government cannot take them away. At this time John Locke put a contact in place, this contract is called the social contract. The social contract is a contract in which the people give power to the government
The American Colonists were justified in waging war and breaking away from Britain because the Britain had unfair laws against the colonists. Throughout the time the Colonists were under British rule, the Colonists were treated horribly and in a cruel manner. One of the laws the British created that was unfair to the Colonists was the Tea Act. The Tea Act was created to force Colonists to pay taxes when they bought tea. A piece of evidence that proves that Britain had unfair laws against the colonists is in document 2. In document 2, John Dickinson talks about how the British parliament had no intentions what so ever of forcing the colonists to work until the
The colonists were in every right, aspect and mind, not only justified but also it was about time that they stood of and actually take action against the British. The choice of going to war with them, was the only choice that they had. All diplimatical options that they had ceased to stand a chance against the tyrant Britain. From the very beginning when the colonists felt upset against their mother country and the way that they went about the law making, up until the beginning of the war, they tried all diplimatical options that they had, by sending letters, you name it. When they didn’t work then they had no other means but to declare war.
And in order to collect the taxes, the Bratians raisen the Sugar Act and Stamp Act to put more restrictions on colonial trade and forced colonists to buy special stamped paper. That makes conlonist getting angry and to against the "Taxation without representation", the only thing they want to do is to elect their own colonial legislatures. Also the Proclamation of 1763, bans them from crossing and going to the settlement of the west. So the colonial rebellion is reasonable, they just deserved to have much more control over their own government. For the resistance, colonies coordinate to boycott the British goods. And the matter was worsened when the British government enforced the Townshend Acts through force, it imposed taxes on imported goods from Britain, which really hurt many colonial merchants. And colonies respond that with more boycott. Although the Tea Party removed taxes on tea sold by British, but American tea still taxed. So on the December 16th, 1776 the Boston Tea Party dump 90,000 pounds of tea into the ocean to resist. But after that, British soldiers flooded into Boston, and colonists had to feed and lodge them. The Continental Congress was formed to reason the King George, in the attempt to keep the peace between Britaish and colonies, but he refused the negotiation, and sent troops to
I believe the colonists were justified in rebelling against the British, because of the abusive king and British parliament, the taxes without representation, the laws without consent of colonists (such as the Quartering Act), and deaths of the colonists in brutal events, such as the Boston Massacre. All these events combined caused outrage throughout the colonies (such as the Boston Tea Party, and tarring and feathering of British officials), and sparked a rebellion that would change the history of the colonies forever.
Many people have the misconception that the American Revolution occurred because British colonists did not want to be British citizens any longer. This may have been the case for a select few, but many British colonists desired to maintain their status as British colonists and citizens. The foremost reason that the colonists began protests, boycotts, and petitions against the British was because they believed their innate rights as British citizens were being violated. The American Revolution occurred due to a chain of events and a complex set of intertwined reasons.
In one of the most valued and important documents known to the United States, known as The Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson states that “all men are created equal” and that we have rights “unalienable Rights, that among these are life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness” these rights are called natural rights. These are believed to be god given, some believe that we were given these rights so we could be the person God made us to be. A person should respect these rights as well as others opinions.
In the late eighteenth century, North American British Colonies worked to free themselves and create their own governing body. Some ideas stated by revolutionaries helped to unite the colonies in a single governing body and revolt against the existing government. The primary driving forces of the revolutionaries included the belief that humans had the right to freedom and to govern themselves, and that they had certain natural rights that the ruling government of Britain was not allowing them, as well as a general hatred for the ruling power of the European monarchy. These ideas that were so prevalent in the colonies were stated by many different revolutionaries, but many of them held the same idea, freedom was a right that was shared by all
In the years leading up the Revolutionary War, American colonist grew increasingly resistant to British authority over the colonies. The British passed a series of taxes that sparked controversy of Parliaments authority to pass legislation over the colonies. These events eventually lead to the Boston Tea party, which was a protest of the Tea Act and British rule. The British response to escalating situation in Boston was a show of force placing the city under military rule. These actions untied the Americans colonies under the goal of Independence. The American Revolution was lost by the British due to supply and terrain issues, unclear strategy, and military miscalculations.
Organized colonial resistance began between the years 1763-1776. The policies of Britain toward their American colonies over this time period escalated tension between the two, and finally led to the rejection of Royal power by the colonies. The British policies caused this outcome because they threatened the colonists’ republican values. These were ideals adapted from the early classical Greek and Roman republics, as well as from laws established by the British. These core beliefs centered strongly on God-given inalienable rights, liberty of the people, and the belief that all should take part in the government. The combination of harsh British policies regarding taxation, settlement and everyday
About a decade before the American Revolution happened in 1775, there were lots of tension building up between the colonists and the British. The colonists did not like being under British rule and control because they liked freedom and wanted independence. However, the British government attempted to raise tax revenues by imposing more taxes on the colonists to pay for the leftover debts from the Indian-French War. Some of the laws passed include the Stamp Act of 1765, the Townshend Tariffs of 1767, and the Tea Act of 1773. Some events that escalated the tension include the Boston Massacre, the Boston Tea Party, etc. The colonists were justified in rebelling against Britain.
The colonizers had left a government that hindered their freedoms. They fought the revolutionary war to break free from the British authority and have the power to make their own
The infringement upon their liberties to which Richard Henry Lee was referring was largely an economic concern for the colonists. Taxes and duties implemented solely by the British government and the Navigation Acts limited trading rights. The colonists believed that they held the right to tax themselves, especially since there were no Americans in Parliament. After this claim England replied that colonists were represented by “virtual representation” as a result of the Magna Carta. The inferred inferiority of the Americans to Britons by this fallacy insulted colonists and further pushed them into unrest, causing a movement that resulted in the Non-Importation Agreements being enforced The Non-Importation Agreements demonstrated the power of the American colonists over the depressed English economy. Once the Stamp Act and the Townshend Acts were repealed, there was no turning back for the seditious Americans; they had discovered who truly was dependent on whom.
However, not everyone agrees with the idea of human desires needing to be regulated by a governing state, as they supposedly can control their needs and desires. John Locke believed that humans are good in nature. They can limit their desires and act rationally. He was an empiricist and was widely influenced by the social contract theory. His thoughts and theories argue mostly against Hobbes’. He agreed that when human beings are born they are not subjected to any government as they are all born with God-given rights. His view on human nature is that it is characterized by reason and tolerance. This is supported by his theory of mind thesis; in which he implies a human mind is filled with knowledge through experiences they go through. In his
John Locke was a famous philosopher who believed people were born inherently good and were entitled to natural rights such as life, liberty, and property. In the 17th century, John locke provided the idea of a social contract theory through his philosophical writings. This theory was that in the beginning of time, man lived in the state of nature. They had no government, so they had no laws or rules to regulate their daily lives. The freedoms that people had before the founding of the government was being equal, free, and independent. They were equal to the greatest and a subject to no one. They were in charge of their own persons and possessions. Man lived in a quixotic time. Even though people had absolute freedom there was a problem of the concept of absolute freedom in nature. The law of nature is ill enforced in the state of nature. This means there are no boundaries in the state of absolute freedom; any person can invade another’s freedom and natural rights. In the social contract theory, people pledged together to unite under an authority, government, and surrendered part of their freedom and rights to this authority in return of protection and security. Under John Locke's social contract theory, the only time the government should socially and politically be created is when the people of the society want to protect their natural rights, moralities, avoid corruption in the state of nature, and ensure themselves safety.
The first way the colonists felt mistreated was the fact that they did not have the same basic rights as British subjects. This was unjust because the colonists were born and raised in Britain with those basic rights. Now that the colonists are in America, however England mistreats them by making the colonists feel like they do not have basic rights that they would otherwise be entitled to; if they still lived in England. We see this when James Otis states in his letter, “‘tis reconcilable with these principles, or to many other fundamental maximums of the British constitution, as well as the natural and civil rights, which by the laws of their country, all British subjects are entitled to”. The colonists believed that they should be entitled to the same rights and rules as those residing in England, because they too are British. The