Were The American Colonists Justified Dbq Essay

Soon the Quartering Act was passed, directing the colonies to provide quarters for British soldiers. Americans found this oppressive because it meant that soldiers were placed in colonial homes. In 1764 Parliament passed the Stamp Act, putting a duty on most printed materials. This was a normal tax for the British as it had been going on in Britain for a long time, and it made sense that the rest of their empire would pay the same tax. This placed a burden on merchants and the colonial elite who did most legal transactions and read the newspapers. Also passed in the same year was the Declaratory Act, which stated that the colonies were subject to the will of Parliament. This made a lot of sense to the British, as Parliament was their ruling body, but, to the colonies who had become used to their own government during the years of salutory neglect, this was a direct threat to their way of life.

1763 marked the end of French and Indian war and caused a great celebration and pride in the American colonies. But, in next twelve years, the same pride was altered by at bitter and violent conflict with the mother country. The injustices of the mother country finally led the American colonists to declare independence and wage war against it. American colonies were justified for waging war and breaking away from Britain because they were defending themselves against a series of measures Parliament wished to impose on their communities without their consent.

According to the Declaration Of Independence, abuse of the representative powers and their natural rights gave the people the right to eliminate their current government and create a new one. Thomas Jefferson outlines the mistakes of the British government, and asserts that citizens were restricted of natural rights. In such case, during the American Revolution, colonies had the right to get rid of their government because the king was not rightly protecting the citizens rights. Not only that, but direct taxes were enforced upon the citizens leading to acts being passed in opposition to the rebellion. All things considered, I would say that the American Revolution was justified under the Declaration of Independence.

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.

As stated by Thomas Riggs “From the time the British soldiers arrived in Boston, animosity between the military and the town's citizens was evident. Soldiers broke into private shops and stole goods.” This shows how the British soldiers treated the colonists terribly and with disrespect. Along with the act that the colonists had to pay more taxes for goods. The colonists also had to feed, house, and put up with the soldier’s rudeness. This pushed the colonists to their limit and caused them to revolt. That is how the Quartering act and taxes from Parliament is partial to why the British are to blame.

The first reason that the colonists were justified in breaking away from the British was because the British Parliament and soldiers made unjust decisions for their own personal gain and abused their powers over the colonists. As stated in Document 2 of the packet “Document-Based Questions--Path to Revolution”, the British parliament taxed the colonists for the sole purpose of levying money upon them (Stamp Act). The taxes was also mainly used to pay for the French-Indian War, which seems like it justifies the British taxing, except for the fact that it was taxes without representation, which can be labeled as tyranny. This supports my argument, as the American colonists didn’t like having to pay for the war, and let Britain take money away from them for profit. Another piece of evidence that supports my claim would be that on Document 10 of the packet it was stated that, “We have understood it be

Imagine everything that is said is heard in a British accent. It sounds funny now, but that's how it could have been if the colonists had never declared their independence from England. That isn't what happened though. Grievances were made, events came to pass, and the Declaration of Independence was written. Taking a look at the documents from that time, as well as treatment of other colonies by the British one can see that the colonists were completely justified in declaring their independence from England.

Colonists sought independence from British government for a multitude of reasons. Tension quickly rose between England and the thirteen colonies due to the unjust taxing without fair representation in Parliament, the colonist’s rights to assemble were taken away by the British, and there were many unreasonable Acts and laws put into place in attempt to have complete control over the colonists as well as intimidate them. For these reasons and the suffering that the colonists endured at the hands of the British government, I feel that the colonists had plenty just causes to separate themselves from England.

There were several reasons colonists wanted to break away from the English. A large reason the colonists wanted to break away from English rule was the amount of high taxes that they had to pay for almost everything, because they essentially had to foot the bill for a war. The colonists also had no say on the laws that were passed by a government that was across an ocean, thus the phrase “No Taxation without Representation.” Paying high taxes and having no say in what laws were passed obviously made the colonists angry with the British government, but another factor was the British would not let the colonists trade with anyone else besides them. This means that all trades going in or out could only be done with Britain. Forcing the colonists to pay whatever the British merchants wanted to set their price at because there was no major competition. All of these things as well as not letting the colonists expand past the Mississippi River, would calumniate into a revolution in which the colonists would form their own government and finally fulfill their wish of breaking away from British rule.

“Give me liberty or give me death!” Patrick Henry. I believe that the Colonists were justified in waging war and breaking away from Britain and the King. King George was making the Colonists pay very unfair taxes, he was trying to rule over them from all the way over in England, and he wouldn’t take the colonies legislators opinions into consideration. While some people may say that the Colonists were just unappreciative, that is not correct. They continued to stay with the King until the King turned on them and made them do things they didn’t want to do and shouldn’t have to do.

Leading up to the American revolution, there were many events which lead the colonist to justifiably rebel against King George. These oppressive acts by the crown lead the colonies to protest. Because of British tyranny, and unfair taxation, the colonies were justified in separating themselves from the British government.

I do think that the colonists were justified in demanding their rights. Colonists originally came to America to escape the tyranny of the British government upon them. With the imposition of the multiple decrees, such as the Revenue/Sugar Act, the Stamp Act, the Townshend Acts, and Coercive Acts, from the British government, the colonists believed that their English rights had been violated. Ultimately, the colonial government wanted the sole right to govern and tax its own people. 1 The colonists felt like they were not well represented in Parliament. They wanted to be physically represented, while British subjects argued that the colonists were already virtually represented, which represented all British subjects, wherever they were.2

The Anglo-Americans were of course justified in seeking independence from the American Empire. The British empire were clear in their intent to use the colonies as a cash cow. In effort to keep control over the colonies and repaying their own debts, the British continuously increased taxes, on an already stressed environment. If a people cannot have control of their own moneys and livelihoods they cannot truly be free. That is why we still fight about taxes

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.

Secondly, the Americans were unjustified in their separation from Britain because they had a biased view against all that the British did. One well known event that occurred before the American Revolution was the Boston Massacre (History.com Staff, “Boston Massacre”). It occurred on the 5th of March in 1770. A bunch of British soldiers came to support a sentry that was being harassed and taunted by a crowd of American colonists. In response, the British fired. Three were immediately dead upon the first shots and another two died due to extensive wounds. After the event, some important colonial men - such as Benjamin Franklin and Paul Revere - started to spread propaganda to try and get colonists to support them in fighting for their independence (Insider, Business). Some include the disjointed snake, illustrated in 1754 and a print that depicted an armless and legless person illustrated to repeal the Stamp Act - both drawn by Benjamin Franklin. Yet, one very noteworthy piece of propaganda, engraved by Paul Revere in 1770, depicts the story of the Boston Massacre. But, based on the engraving, the story was completely different than what actually had happened (Document 3). According to the engraving, the colonists were not fighting and the British were killing “innocents” because they “felt like it”. However, in Document 3, the description says that the British fired because they were threatened. Because of the biased views of influential American leaders such as Benjamin