As Colonists we were justified in breaking away from the British. We were being taxed heavily, and we were not given representation in parliament. We needed to stand up for what we believed in and fight for our rights by gaining independence from Britain and establishing our own country. Since we did not have representatives in Parliament that could speak about and vote on the taxes, our rights were repeatedly violated. The many taxations and laws passed by parliament had a grave affect on every colonist with only benefit for the British. Although the British had a good reason to tax us colonists their expectations of how us colonists would fulfill, were unrealistic. The colonists were not able to choose how they wanted to repay the British
Normally, in a revolution, a government is overthrown and replaced by another type of government. An example of a revolution is the American Revolution, in which the British monarchy got rejected by the colonists in the Thirteen Colonies. From the rejection, it resulted in a war in which the Thirteen Colonies uprised against the British. Both argued over a disagreement about the way the colonies wanted to be treated versus the way Great Britain treated the colonies. Ultimately, the idea of equality among the people and government became a major concern. However, resulting in a war from a dispute did not bring satisfaction to anybody. Instead, The Revolutionary War was “not revolutionary” because it did not significantly change the lives of British citizens, African Americans or women during and after the war.
The people of America (colonists) were tired of being controlled by England. They wanted to be free and independent. They believed that they were able to control themselves and be their own country. They wanted England to let go of their control and to view them as independent and their own country.
Even though the colonists did not have a clear understanding of freedom because they were under the rule of a tyrant, the Speech in the Virginia Convention and Crisis #1, written by Patrick Henry and Thomas Paine, both motivated the colonists and congress to aspire and achieve freedom.
As Locke puts it, “Great mistakes in the ruling part, many wrong and inconvenient laws, and all the slips of human frailty, will be born by the people without mutiny”, basically a populace will put up with next to anything to maintain their government (113). The reason? A government that is in place is almost always chosen over creating a new one from scratch; part of this is due to the doubt and uncertainty that comes with the unknown. The colonies did exactly as Locke prescribed in his text, they took all the abuse by the British, with nothing but discontented murmurings, no actions taken, until they simply couldn’t anymore.This point was to prevent an overturning of the government for just any little thing, and in the colonial period Americans withstood as much as they could bear from the British. In 1689 an English bill of rights was put into effect protecting its citizen’s rights; this was the beginning of a long road of pushing back the British for the Americans. From then, until the brink of the war in 1775, the British passed act after act utilising the American’s for their raw materials and attempting to contain them under the British
Oppressive actions such as the Boston Massacre heavily shook the general public’s view of their British rulers. Unfair policies such as the Stamp Act, in which colonists were forced to pay taxes on almost all paper goods, further agitated unrest in the colonies. If it wasn’t for a mix of oppressive actions and overbearing policies, the Revolution likely would not have gained enough traction to sway the views of the general public, and likely Thomas Jefferson would not have had enough support to write the Declaration of Independence. Thomas Jefferson not only used the Declaration of Independence to announce the United States secession from the British Empire, but he also used it to express all of the injustices he saw against colonist’s natural
When the early colonists migrated over from Great Britain, they were proud of being British and of where they originated. Most of the colonists did not have any complications with King George III, in fact, despite common belief, they even thought of themselves as loyal subjects of the King. They had ties and loyalty to Great Britain still through trade and the way the government was run throughout the colonies. However, disagreements started to configure between Great Britain and the colonists. There were various different events leading up the American Revolutionary War, which after often considered the cause of the war.
Many historians believe that Captain Thomas Preston ordered his men to shot the American colonists of Boston. However, there is evidence that proves this statement to not be true.
As soon as the first shots were fired at the Battle of Lexington and Concord were fired, the American Revolution was inescapable. Tensions between the colonists and the British were constantly on the rise, with the colonists basically looking for an excuse to go to war. They had long been protesting taxation without representation, for example, dumping tea into the Boston harbor after an the Tea Act was passed. This only led to an increased British military presence in the colonies, such as King George III’s closing of the Boston harbor until the colonists paid for the tea. As a result of the constant discord between the colonists and the British government, the patriots only felt a stronger need to fight for their rights. When it was heard
The American Revolution is undoubtedly one of the most defining events in American history. The American colonists, after suffering under unjust and improper taxation, decided to revolt from Great Britain and sought to become a nation of sovereign, independent states. “Taxation without representation,” as we have come to know this as, is perhaps the most major cause of the war. The climax of this war, the Yorktown Campaign, perfectly encapsulates the colonists’ desire for independence and their yearning for their own sovereignty (History).
When looking at the social and political changes that took place during the early American colonies you can see a steady progression towards ideologies that would lead to the Revolution. When you have different levels of government being put in place by the states depending upon their needs, where rural areas had different court systems than more urban areas, you see a level of independence for governance that the colonists began to see the benefit of having, separate from the rule of the Crown. To counter this increase in independence. the Crown implemented ever changing political positions that could be assigned to those who were loyal to the Crown and the social hierarchy that was prevalent in Britain at the time. These actions of corruption
The colonists had, had enough persecution from the British and they wanted freedom. They had been dirty dogged, made lesser than, and had been taxed by instill they were broke. They knew the only way to stop all of this persecution was to become independent from Great Britain. The colonists made the right choice when they decided to declare their independence from Britain for they had been treated like dogs and had been taxed to near bankruptcy.
We cannot start this revolution, because if we do it could be detrimental to our economic, social and cultural standing point. Before the argument about whether these colonies should start a war or not, there were many key events that lead up to this argument ensued. One thing that was important that has happened is the writings of Thomas Paine, he wrote the popular pamphlet known “Common Sense”, and this pamphlet sparked the interest of breaking away from Britain. There were many events that occurred that sparked this argument on whether the colonies should split. As colonists we should stay loyal to Britain because we have cultural ties with Britain, British troops provide protection from attacks, and Britain providing important goods that
The French Indian War was one of the main reasons the British Empire fell into an economic crisis. Tensions between England and its Colonies in America started growing. Many taxes were put on the colonies along with restrictions which led to the colonists to rebel against the Empire.
"Revolutionary War" redirects here. For revolutions in general, see Revolution. For other uses, see Revolutionary Wars.