Preview

Were The Founding Fathers Justified Essay

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
687 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
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
…show more content…
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.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    I do believe that the founding fathers were justified to rebel against the British because of the unfair treatment the colonists were receiving. Metaphorically, the colonists were a bunch of dogs and the government was the leash. They were controlling and had a lot, if not all the power over colonists.…

    • 399 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Yes, our founding fathers were justified in declaring from Great Britain. The colonist had to pay many taxes to Great Britain, the taxes were also very unreasonable. Also, soldiers would just come to your house and you would have to let them stay no matter what. So if you had family members in your house you would have to make room for the soldiers to stay at your house. You would have to feed the soldiers and provide warm water for them. The Proclamation line of 1763 would tell people where they had to live and the people did not like this. This is why I think that the fathers were justified for declaring independence from Great Britain.…

    • 118 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    As our textbook describes it, the Enlightenment period “encouraged people to study the world around them, to think for themselves, and to ask whether the disorderly appearance of things masked the principles of a deeper, more profound natural order” (Roark Ch 5) The Enlightenment ideas of John Locke proved to be the most influential as they became the base of the early American government. He believed “government was a social contract obtaining power by consent of the governed, and individuals agreed to surrender certain power to it.” (Doyle, 8/12) While in the beginning the colonist agreed with John Locke’s views, it wasn’t until around 1765 when Britain tried to gain more control over the colonies through the initiation of the Stamp Act that the colonists began to use these ideas to defend their rights. Even though at this time they had no interest in separating themselves from England, it was this belief that they were entitled to some say in their government and taxation that resulted in the “The Declaration of Rights and Grievances.” Which was…

    • 1002 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Colonists came to America in the search for independence from Great Britain. But, some may ask the question, why? Why did these people want independence and freedom? What was so bad about Great Britain? These colonists were your ordinary people who wanted to live freely however they wanted to. Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence that listed multiple reasons why these colonists should be free from Britain’s rule. These people had their unalienable rights which consisted of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. They were just trying to keep those rights, whereas Britain wanted to keep those rights from the people. (Jefferson)…

    • 775 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Thomas Jefferson states in A Summary View of the Rights of British America that they "possessed a right, which nature has given to all men." The British deprived the colonists of these rights when they did not allow a representative in the House of Commons, as decided in the Resolutions of the Stamp Act Congress of 1765. This was especially unfair for the colonists for they were not only being taxed, but also received nothing in return for their own benefit. Additionally, the taxes did not profit the colonist itself. Rather, all tax profits went to Britain. It was a way for the British to reimburse the financial debts from the Great War for Empire. Taxation on the colonists was a way the British "liquidated its war debt," as stated in Document N. As said in the Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms (Document I), The colonists did not give consent to Britain to take away their money by exploiting the land by heavy taxes. They felt that only they had the power and the right to tax themselves.…

    • 612 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Soon after the war the British began to strictly regulate trade and began to enact taxes such as the Stamp Act. This angered many of the colonists and they began to protest against ‘taxation without representation’.…

    • 669 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The main piece of aggravation to the colonists was the Stamp Act. The Stamp Act was protested upon the principle “No taxation without representation”. This particular act affected virtually all the colonists and limiting economic success, and thus the colonists protested. An additional factor in the company was the Townshend Act. The British Parliament was illegally taxing. As a result, the colonists boycotted British goods (Document C). The Tea Act made the colonies economically inferior to that of England’s. The Tea Act was an act where the colonies merchants were being evaded and the British took over the trading. This hurt the economic success of the colonists, multitudes strengthened in resentment and soon after the Boston Tea Party followed (Document F). The British were furious at the colonial resistance to British law. In retaliation the Intolerable Act was passed. The Intolerable Act deactivated the Boston Port at Massachusetts Bay. Deactivating the port also deactivated the center of economic success for the colonies (Document H). England was also limiting the colonists to raw material production, which also hindered their economic success.…

    • 309 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The English Bill of Rights was made to protect the basic rights of citizens. The English Bill of Rights was important to the colonists because it allowed them to have basic rights, no matter who they were. An example is education. A law passed requiring that all large towns have a school. Some colonial governments allowed the colonists to vote. Voting was a freedom; and was typically given to the white, land owning men. These governments also protected the basic rights of life, liberty, and property.…

    • 455 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In addition to limiting others political rights, the Government of the Colonies abused their power and altered the economic rights…

    • 393 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Essay On Founding Fathers

    • 1520 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Important founding fathers were Deist and not Christians as most people believe. According to David L Holmes, author of The Faiths of the Founding Fathers, “Deism is what is left of Christianity after casting off everything that is pecu-liar to it. The Deist is one who denies the Divinity, the Incarnation, and the Atonement of Christ, and the work of the Holy Ghost; who denies the God of Israel, and believes in the God of nature” (Holmes 39,40). Now that we know the definition of Deism, we can affirm that some founding fathers were Deists. Starting with Thomas Pain, the English-American philosopher, and revolutionary, who, although did not signed any important document in the foundation of the United States, historians attribute him to be the…

    • 1520 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    they taxed the colonies. In addition, the British passed the Navigation Act that required the…

    • 830 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    independence from britain

    • 2136 Words
    • 7 Pages

    attempt to tax the colonists for trade and other regulations that happened solely within the…

    • 2136 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The idea of American exceptionalism is not a new one. Thomas Jefferson spoke of civilizing the Indians many believed they were savages. Surely the Native Americans thought the white newcomers were the savages. The white men forced the Natives off of the “new” land and proceeded to murder them. The United States continues this tradition today, going into countries where we are not welcome, and trying to change them, make them more like us.…

    • 480 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Now, trade goods, like glass, paper, and tea, all had a tax on them. New boycotts started all over. The Boston Massacre happened and things only got worse. Soon after, the Tea Act was passed that placed a large tax on tea products. This lead to uproar in the colonies and the Boston Tea Party was planned and executed. After this, the British government passed the Quartering Act that required that all colonists have to house and feed soldiers of the British.…

    • 672 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The written constitution and the Bill of Rights produced early in the history of the United States was at least to some extent a reaction to the British rule of colonial times. Britain has thrived for centuries without a written constitution but it became clear that British colonies were not being governed in the same way that the home land was.…

    • 116 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays