Justification? Essay, Research Paper
Were the colonist justified in declaring independence from England? I feel
that they had plenty of just cause to separate themselves. England was taxing
the colonies without fair representation in Parliament, the British also took
away the right to assemble, and they were using different tactics to attempt to
intimidate the colonists.
One of the greatest thing that angered the colonists was the taxation
without representation. The British government had good reason to tax the
colonies, because they just went to war to defend them. That they understood,
but they didn’t appreciate the fact that they didn’t have a say into how the
debt would be paid. The British passed the Townshend Acts to offset the war
debt. This caused the colonist to reinstate the boycott on luxury items.
England then passes the Tea Act taxing imported tea, but also gives the
British East Indian Tea co. a complete monopoly, cutting the middleman out
of the deal, thus putting American merchants nearly out of business.
As time went on, and the British got a little more nervous about the
colonies’ acts of rebellion, they decide to try and stop it by taking away a
basic right, the right to free assembly. This further angers the colonist.
England pushes harder on the colonists until an assembly was considered to
be two guys meeting on the street. All of this forces the colonists to meet
underground.
During this entire period the British were starting to make attempts to
intimidate the colonists in hopes to end the rebellions. It seemed that the more
and more England tried to scare the people, the angrier they got. The tactics
obviously didn’t work, but instead pushed the colonists even further into
standing up against Britain. The British soldiers in America were told not to
entice violence, and especially not to kill anybody. Accidents do happen, as
shown with the Boston Massacre. The crowds were getting rowdy, made then
British soldiers panic, and they opened up fire. The incident upset both the
British government and American colonies greatly. The soldiers were found
innocent accept for two who were found guilty of manslaughter, branded and
set free.
The British seemed to have good intent in the beginning, but had to
much pride to agree with the colonies demands. If the British had only
listened, and worked with the colonies things could have been worked out.
But ultimately their arrogance and greed cost them their colonies, a war and
even greater, their dignity.