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.