Justification for Independence

During July 4 1776, the American colonies sent a declaration to British King George the third, stating that America wanted independence from England. This declaration was called the “Declaration of Independence” in it where the reasons why America wanted to seceded from the nation of Great Britain. It stated, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with unalienable rights that among them are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” In this clause of the Declaration of Independence the writer Thomas Jefferson was talking about the rights that King George the third violated. Through king George torturous acts of killing people that opposed his view, he violated the right of life. And with his violation of the rule of law, he abused the right of liberty. Furthermore the king created the coercive acts that taxed everyone and got into everyone’s business by doing so he infringed on the right to pursue happiness. In doing these acts and declaring war on America he created many threats that made the colonist want Independence.

                In retrospect to the Declaration of Independence, the founding fathers didn’t want to be independent from England before 1773. At that point in time, they saw Britain as an alley that let them express their views and have a conservative amount of representation. Although England had superior control of the colonies, they were to some degree understanding toward the colonies views.  But the freedoms of the colonies where all minimized when a certain king came to power. Unlike king George the second, king George the Third wanted to rule with an iron fist. When he came to power he went to war with France creating the war known as the seven year war. In the aftermath of the war England won, but accumulated one hundred and forty million dollars in debt. To the king there was only on way to pay for the war and that was through taxes.

                During 1763 to 1765 the king laid out a collection of tax acts that went into effect. In 1764 the king presented the Sugar acts that taxed items such as limber, textiles, sugar and wine. The sugar act also made colonies only trade with England reducing trade with other nations and making certain goods more expensive than others. Through this act, the total economic output of the colonies and the average household income decreased making colonist resentful toward England. But this resentfulness wasn’t just applicable toward the sugar act but was also shown when the stamp act came into law. Before the stamp act came into law the colonist showed a great degree of resentment. In response to the act a group called the sons of liberty intimidated the stamp distributors to resign from their job making it impossible for the act to be enforced.  Overall the colonist thought that taxes without representation violated the rights of an Englishman.

The colonists were angered for they didn’t have any representation or say in most legislation. Through the British parliament and the king, the colonists were made to believe that they were completely reliant on England.  The Whig party that represented the colonies was dismantled from any power by the authority of King George the third. Under his reign he put his own judges and governors in power over the colonies. With these leaders in charge the king directed his authority and judgment over the court system and the legislative power over the states. And to even further constrict power he enacted the currency act (1775) to take over the monetary system. As an effect of the acts of the king the colonist rebelled and didn’t seem to follow the acts. After King George’s acts were not followed, he took matters into his own hands by sending the military to enforce the laws. In addition to this obscurity the king created a new act called the Quartering Act (1775) that allowed British soldiers to stay at any of  the colonists houses. In all of these acts the colonist were angered; they felt that their civil liberties were taken away from them and that they had minimal involvement in the legislative matters that were brought before them. This anger came to a climax in Boston when the Townshend Act taxed all the imported tea that came to the Americas. In response to the act the colonist disguised themselves as Indians to raid the East Indian Tea ships by dumping the cargo over the ship.

As one can imagine the king was not pleased with this action. In response he started the Coercive Acts which included the Boston Act, The Massachusetts Government Act and the Administration of Justice Act. The Boston Act destroyed Boston’s economy by blocked all of the Boston shipping ports. In addition to the Boston act, the king and parliament started the Massachusetts Government Act, which abolished Massachusetts from having a government. Then the Administration act went into effect against the rule of law. In the Administration of Justice Act the British officials over the colonies didn’t have to be tried in American courts but in British courts. George Washington commented on the Administration of Justice Act by stating by calling it the “murdering act.” Indeed it was a murdering act because British officials could get away with murder without being tried in court.

                The natural rights of the colonist were meaningless to the British. To the British the 13 colonies were only an aid to building and funding their empire.  To the colonist the British were only using them and minimizing the freedoms of the people. After all the British had the colonist minimally involved in the legislative affairs of government and proved biased judicial system by implanting Judges that favored the crown. By letting the British officials free from being tried in American courts, the English king violated the rule of law. In doing so the British officials could get away with murder. These acts and the taxes that the king poured upon the people went against the Magana Carta when it stated that taxes can’t be made without representation. Collectively the colonist had little freedom with many of their rights being violated and with this in mind the colonist justified the right to go to war against the British.