Samuel Johnson Statement Relating To The American Revolution

“Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one.”1 -Thomas Paine, “Common Sense”
In 1763, Dr. Samuel Johnson, an Englishman, said, “If the abuse is enormous, nature will rise up, and claiming her original rights, overturn a corrupt political system.” This statement has been validated throughout the course of human history. But, Dr. Johnson’s statement does not apply to the American Revolution. However, the British Parliament abused their power by directly interfering with the colonial governments, the colonial judicial systems, and by taxing the colonists without their consent. Therefore, Dr. Johnson’s statement does apply to the American Revolution.
“He has dissolved Representative Houses

After the French and Indian War, the British government was low on funds. Their solution was to tax the colonies, beginning with the Sugar Act of 1764. This act, designed in part to eliminate the illegal sugar trade between the colonies and the Caribbean, strengthened enforcement of the tax on sugar. It also lowered the tax on molasses, which further damaged the market for colonial-grown sugar. The Stamp Act of 1765 followed shortly afterwards. This act imposed a tax on most printed goods in the colonies, from newspapers, pamphlets, and almanacs, to deeds, wills, licenses, and even playing cards. Each document needed to be stamped when the tax was paid, so that officials knew the tax was (or was not) paid on that specific document. The Stamp Act caused numerous protests, unlike the Sugar Act, which primarily only affected New England merchants. Members of the newly-organized Sons of Liberty, in protest of the Stamp Act, terrorized stamp agents and burned stamps. They got so bad out of hand, the Sons of Liberty even ransacked Lt. Governor of Massachusetts Thomas Hutchinson’s elegant house and virtually destroyed it.The colonies even formed the Stamp Act Congress to deal with the issue, which primarily sided with the “no taxation without representation” camp, as stated in Article V of the Stamp Act Congress Resolutions, “That the only representatives of the people of these colonies, are persons chosen therein by themselves, and that no taxes

This sparked large boycotts of the taxed goods and the encouragement to buy only American-made products. Other large protests were sparked from the Townshend duties, the most notable of which was the Boston Massacre, killing 5 colonists. The Townshend Duties were eventually repealed, except for the tax on tea, however the withdrawal of them never had the opportunity to pacify colonial