Were The Founding Fathers Justified Essay

The Founding Fathers were justified in their actions of starting the American Revolutionary War against Britain. The Founding Fathers started the American Revolutionary War because of the excessive taxation, lack of parliamentary representation, and forced participation in the French and Indian War by Britain. The colonists attempted to work with Britain by boycotting and lobbying for representation but their attempts were dismissed by Britain. Britain simply continued to treat the colonies as a means to generate more money for Britain solely.

The British government repeatedly taxed the colonist while denying the colonists ability to develop and grow various industries such as textiles. The British government taxed the import of everyday
Laws and Taxes were passed impacting the daily lives of the colonists without any input from the colonists. But to be fair, kings and monarchs at that time ruled by their judgement and not too many others had a real say in the matter. In addition, other British colonies did not have representation within Parliament so why would the American colonies have representation – Britain did provide the initial means and opportunity for the colonists in America. However, by the late 1600’s and early 1700’s England did have another governing body, Parliament and in 1689 the English Bill of Rights were enacted. The English Bill of Rights limited the king’s power plus providing certain rights to Parliament and English citizens. Parliament had the right to regular free speech and free elections and that citizens had rights that the government must respect. The English Bill of Rights in conjunction with ideas and philosophies of the Enlightment thinkers fueled the Founding Fathers and their rebellion against Britain. The Founding Father must have asked themselves “do we have the rights granted by the English Bill of Rights?” The Enlightment provided such interesting ideas as people are born with “Natural Right”. John Locke believed that people were born with the rights of life, liberty, and property. Rousseau stated that a government receives its power from its people.