After the French and Indian War had ended in 1763, the British parliament passed various laws to collect more taxes in American colonies in ways to pay for their war debt. As a result, colonists outraged as they had been taxed unjustly without having any representation in the British parliament, which eventually led to an uprising known as the American Revolution. In the process of making a revolution, Thomas Jefferson, a revolutionist, and father of our modern constitution, effectively masters an appeal to ethos, pathos, logos, and strong dictions to inform King George III on reasonings behind American colonies’ justifications for becoming independent from the Great Britain. In the first paragraph, Jefferson begins with an allusion to religion …show more content…
Jefferson then uses ethos to give a counter logical argument that government should not be “changed for light and transient causes,” with a sole reason to justify these claims as a necessity. He achieves this by identifying wrongdoings from the Great Britain with strong dictions such as “abuses and usurpations” and “absolute Despotism,” then concluding with another use of deductive reasoning to argue that people have rights to “throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security” if the system has been abused. He states it to inform the readers about abuses that colonists have suffered from the Great Britain and acts as a rational decision to become independent and create a new form of government. Finally, Jefferson continues on using strong dictions to further denote the King George III and begins on utilizing inductive reasoning to logically prove his
Before the Revolutionary War, the tensions between the colonists and King George of Great Britain were “very high”. The colonists were unhappy over the unfair treatment they were receiving from Britain. They were angry with the taxes and laws that King George had imposed upon them. Despite the taxes being for the French and Indian War, which Britain had fought to keep the colonists safe, they still were angered that they had to pay them. The colonists were unfairly taxed without representation and had a legitimate reason to be angry with King George and Great Britain. The only solution that seemed possible was war, so the colonists decided to declare war. The American colonists were justified for breaking away from the British because they were unfairly taxed and were treated unfairly by the British.
In Jefferson’s declaration, both the organization and the use of logic are effective and adequate. He begins with the colonists’ fundamental beliefs that “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights.” He addresses that the role of the government is to secure and protect the rights of the people. As he proceeds, he states that if the government fails to “secure these rights,” then “it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and institute new Government.” Jefferson then creates a list of ways in which the British government has violated and stripped the colonists of their rights. Through the inductive proof, he explains the reason in which the colonists must become independent from Britain to gain freedom and to be treated fairly.
The 18th century can be marked as a period of internal and external struggle for the American colonists. From improper representation, to unfair taxes, such as the Stamp Act, to being overall abused by Britain, the colonists were justifiably angry. From this anger, the slogan “No taxation without representation” was born and quickly began to emerge from the lips of almost every colonist all across America. The demand from colonists everywhere for no taxation without representation weighed heavily as a symbol for democracy, as it revealed the mindset of many – Britain was using the hardworking colonists and took their money without even giving them a say – and laid the foundation for the American revolutionary war, allowing more arguments and
The years of 1763-1765 were truly defining moments for colonist of the colonies, soon to become the United States of America. ‘’War! War! This is the only way!” American Colonist shouted,as they took to the streets proclaiming defiance of British rule. “We as a people shall fight for our freedom and have victory.No more shall we continue to let others control our countries and give our money to a monarch who has no concern for our right’s, dedication that was put forth to help fight and respect us as loyal subjects.We must fight for our freedom!” When American colonist waged war it proved to be the only way for the colonies to become free from Britian. In turn, the colonist were justified in breaking away from England because of: The
American colonists should support the Declaration of Independence and the Patriots in the Revolutionary War. Great Britain was taxing the American colonists because of Britain’s great debt from the French and Indian War. Britain made the quartering act, the stamp act, townshend act, and the tea act. This is taxation without representation and it was unjust. The Patriots were angry and rightfully so. The King was making the colonists pay taxes on imported goods to decrease his country’s debt, the Patriots were outraged and wanted freedom.
Both the British and the American colonists contributed to causing the American Revolution. The war grew out of contempt: England’s contempt for the colonies and colonial contempt for British policies. A series of actions by the British eventually pushed the colonists over the edge and towards independence. The results of the war gave many citizens a new role in society while others, like slaves, felt no change at all. This paper will examine the specific causes and effects of the American Revolution.
During the time period of 1600 to 1776, the relationship between Great Britain and the colonies changed massively. The relationship between Great Britain and the colonies changed greatly because of three main reasons: the relationships that the colonies and Great Britain were built on, the struggles that the colonists faced because of their relationships with Great Britain, and the anger that the colonists expressed because of the ridiculous taxes that they had to pay. Once the colonists realized that they were suffering under British rule, most of the colonists became eager to be independent from Great Britain. The colonists’ Second Continental Congress believed that the acts and taxes created by the British Parliament were unconstitutional, unjust, and unfair towards the colonists and because of that belief, the Declaration signers forever changed our country.
England 's introduction of the intolerable acts upon American colonists created a ripple effect which they did not anticipate, which completely changed the views of many colonists. These colonists went on to become the voices that fueled the American Revolutionary War and spread the messages of liberty, freedom, and a new way of life. Some voices stood out more so than the rest, their names became etched in our history books their thoughts and beliefs paving the way for the Revolution. One such colonist is James Otis wrote a series of patriotic pamphlets outlining his views on the colonies state of affairs , one of those pamphlets is The Rights of British Colonies Asserted and Proved written in 1763. In The Rights of British Colonies Asserted and Proved James Otis outlines his perspectives on government 's rights and the rights of the people , these perspectives revolutionized colonial opinions and made famous the quote” no taxation without representation.”
This document takes many of the ideas presented in the other documents that have been examined in this essay and “ties them all together” into one set of formal complaints against the British monarchy. Like the other documents, The Declaration of Independence states that the British king has “a history of repeated injuries and usurpations” and attempted to arbitrarily assert his power over the colonies (Document 7). The Declaration also states that “in every stage of these oppressions [the colonists had] petitioned for redress in the most humble terms” (Document 7). These two statements show that the colonists’ repeated attempts at peaceful solutions to their problems with the British government were never taken seriously and that the king took every petition and grievance as an opportunity to usurp the colonists’ rights as British
The American colonists had just finished living in a war-zone, in which the French and Indian war had just taken place, and they, after the British won the war, were still suffering under the British’ control. The Colonists were angered by the fact that they had no representation in parliament, yet they were being taxed by the British. As Patrick Henry said at the House of Burgesses, “We can under law be taxed only by our representatives. We have no representatives in the British Parliament” (Doc 1). The colonists were trying their hardest to peacefully let the British know that they didn’t agree with what they were doing, yet nothing calm or subtle seemed to be doing the trick. The colonists had a decent reason to be angered by this taxation due to them having very little to say in what goes on in their land, yet having to pay a
Leading up to the American Revolution, were a chain of events that created a spark in the colonists to obtain independence from Great Britain. The American Revolution could not be tied to one single event but instead by the feelings and determination brought on by this chain of disgraceful actions. Gordon S. Wood explains what he believes caused the rebellion of the American colonists from Great Britain and how those causes help explain the outcomes of the revolution in his essay, “Radical Possibilities of the American Revolution.” Wood argues that the colonists were motivated to rebel against the British monarchy due to their need to preserve their liberties and through this revolution a radical change in government and American life occurred.
The American Revolution was not only a battle between the British and the colonists; it was a historical movement that brought about new ways of thinking. The ideas of liberty and equality began to be seen as essential to the growth of the new nation. The separation of the American colonies from the British Empire occurred for a number of reasons. These reasons are illustrated in the Declaration of Independence. Although Thomas Jefferson wrote the document, it expressed the desire of the heart of each colonist to be free of British rule. British rule over the colonies became unbearable in the early months of 1776, making it clear to the colonists that it was time to either give in
The American colonists were loyal British subjects until King George went against the established English principles of the Magna Carta, and felt that he was above the law. The King began to assert his authority over the colonies. (www.archives.gov). The ongoing costs of administering and protecting North America in the Seven Years War nearly drained the British treasury. (Keene, 2011). A great deal of money went to buying expensive supplies for the American army and the colonies. In order to pay off his debt, the King felt the need to instate taxes on the colonies without their consent. This was viewed “As an ominous first step in a plot to deprive them of their liberty,”(Keene, page96) and an infringement of the rights of the citizens.
Henceforth, the overall rundown of the book is based off the British view of the the American Revolution and how they viewed the colonist from a retrospect in the events happening. To begin with, King George the III had been placing taxes on the colonist, which made them furious over their relationship with him. The loyalist saw these “acts” as a part of
In this essay I explain the evolution of American attitudes and ideologies—apropos of Britain—from 1764 to 1776. I do so by, first, beginning with providing the context and explaining the state of the relationship between America and Britain throughout the course of the years 1764 to 1774, which in turn, consequently lead up to and instigated the creation of Thomas Jefferson’s 1774 piece entitled A Summary View of the Rights of British America. Next, second, I situate and analyze this very piece, that being: Thomas Jefferson’s A Summary View of the Rights of British America, which is was a tract written before the Declaration of Independence, in which Thomas Jefferson (under his own personal authority/discretion) lays out—for the delegates of the First Continental Congress—a set of grievances directly against the King of England and his corresponding Parliament, and moreover, ultimately radically forewarns and threatens specifically the King of England to fundamentally change, alter, and lessen Britain’s stronghold on America or else something will be done on behalf of America. Finally, third, I reach to and evaluate another subsequent document, that being: the Committee of Five/Continental Congress’ 1776 Declaration of Independence, which is a statement written by the so-called “Committee of Five” (Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert Livingston) and the Continental Congress, which was to be adopted by the newly formed United States of