Justification of the American Revolution

Justification of the American Revolution

In the mid-1700s, the thirteen American colonies launched an uprising which was aimed at gaining independence from Britain. The Americans were questioning Britain's authority and this had begun as early as the French and Indian war . The Americans were in every right, aspect as well as mind to take action against the British. The choice of rebelling against the British through launching a war against them was the only choice they had. The diplomatic steps taken before had ceased to stand a chance against the brutal Britain. The American had used diplomatic means like sending letters to the Britons, an option which didn't bear fruits. Hence, this was a good reason to indicate that the Americans were justified to launch a rebellion.

The Americans were justified to launch a revolution because the Britons were making laws which would take away certain rights from the people. Britain didn't use her power in such a way that it would benefit them and the American people. They took control of what the people could and couldn't trade with. The laws were good ideas to the king, but not the best to the Americans. Hence, the British were missing this aspect in their colony and this led to the American Revolution. The Americans wanted to relieve themselves from these oppressive laws from the Britons.

Additionally, the American Revolution was justified because of a massacre which was carried out by the Britons. Research shows that the Americans completely changed the way they viewed Britain. The picture of how the massacre occurred shows that winning the hearts of the Americans again would be very difficult. It occurred in such a way that the Britons randomly fired on the crowd, not just a particular area. The picture indicates that the British were very organized and out to kill the Americans . A simple picture shows that the British troops had a desire to kill people and this can been seen from their organization. The picture clearly portrays the Britons as murderers and this was a good reason to warrant a revolution.

The king had total control and power over the Americans and could do what he deemed necessary to control them. In this case, he didn't care about the people's feelings and instead of adopting policies which would make them happy, his decisions were centered on making the government better. In the long-run, the government was to be made happy by the king through generating a lot of money. One of the ways the king was raising money was through taxing the Americans heavily. Any time the king made a law which the people of America didn't like, it would backfire on him and this would lead to more uprisings. The people became unhappy and this led to a rebellion against the Briton.
Arguments which Americans Levied Against the British and their Counterclaims

One of the arguments the Americans levied was that the king's legislation was oppressive to the people. Additionally, the people of America argued that the king instituted these legislations without the people's consent even though they would affect them. Some of the legislations were high taxes as well as preventing the people from trading freely. The Britons on the other hand argued that all these legislations were passed for the common good of the government and the people. The taxes were meant to create a perfect government for the people of America. Additionally, they argued that they had the right to tax the Americans, just like other colonies. However, the government turned too oppressive and this led to a rebellion.

The Americans also questioned the relationship between their local, colonial, which were the elected bodies and the British parliament in which the Americans were not represented. The Americans on their side argued that only the elected bodies had the legitimate power to impose taxes. However, in this case, the king and the British parliament in which the Americans were not represented had the power to impose taxes. The Britons countered this claim by arguing that even in England, most of the citizens didn't vote for delegates to parliament .

Additionally, they also argued that all the citizens of England enjoyed a virtual representation in the parliament which represented their interests. The argument was meant to show that the British parliament had the power to impose taxes on the Americans even though they were not represented. However, this was a distasteful part to the Americans because they had been electing their legislators for a long time.

How the World would View the American Colonists Today

In the today's world, the colonist would be viewed as oppressive and less democratic. Imposing taxes on people who are not represented in the taxing body was a form of oppression . Additionally, denying the people the chance to elect their leaders and trade freely wasn't democratic. To show that this is oppression, the current situation in the United States as well as Britain is that the people are taxed by democratically instituted bodies and laws.

However, this wasn't the case in America in the colonial era. Another example lies in the fact that the poor and the rich are taxed differently in the two countries. During the colonial era, especially in America, all the people were taxed equally whether rich or poor. Finally, in today's world, essential and non-essential commodities are taxed differently. However, the case of America shows that tea and paint were taxed equally which wasn't fair.

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