It is a well-established fact that the reason Americans today are able to express their views, opinions, pride, and joy is through the brave and significant pilgrims, that so desperately fled England due to religious persecution, and the ability to earn an easier and better living (McKenzie, 2013). But, it is what we did with our opportunity to become a great nation, and how we did it, that bases the premise of this essay.
To understand what led to the drastic decision of our founding fathers to succeed our mother country, you must first understand the cause of their dissatisfaction. The main and undisputed cause agreed on by all historians is: the colonist were drained, and tired. Tired of all their blood, sweat, and tears going into the sophisticated, and complex system of money making. Just so that money would be taken from their iron grip to be cast into the abyss known as the British Empire, through the system known as taxes.
What the average man would have trouble comprehending is the actual problem with taxes. Yes, your money is being taken away, and yes, you have little reasonable clue as to what the money is going to. But, “taxes are essential to the operation and function of the federal government, which provides constitutional functions such as maintaining a standing military”. (Fobbs, 2010). So essentially, you are paying for protection. Which is totally ok, until your protector oversteps their boundaries.
In this particular instance (brutality of reforms) there were many times when the boundaries were overstepped. The first major heinous act that set off vast disagreement was: the stamp act.” The Stamp Act of 1765 was the first internal tax levied directly on American colonists by the British government. The act- which imposed a tax on all paper documents in the colonies- came at a time when the British Empire was deep in debt from the Seven Years’ War”. But, their reason for calling change bogus was because of their understandable idea that only their own representative assemblies could tax them. (Editors, 2009).
After The Stamp Act of 1765 came a twine of events that did not end well, notably for the colonist. In 1770-5 years after The Stamp Act- the hatred felt for the British began to overflow, which consequently resulted in the Boston Massacre. A riot that escalated from a “street brawl” to bloody manslaughter. (Pruitt, 2018). But the injustice done to the American colonist did not stop there. Then came the tea act of 1773, which had one purpose: “To bail out the floundering East India Company, a key component in the British economy”. As a consequence of the hiccup that was the struggle of the East India Company,” The Tea Act cut out colonial merchants” (Editors, 2009). This caused an outrage which resulted in the dumping of tea in 1773 known as The Boston Tea Party. But, all of those things cower in comparison to the Coercive Acts. Which revoked the colonial charter of Massachusetts, and even closed the port of Boston (Pruitt, 2018). Be that as it may, in the long run, individuals progressed toward becoming exhausted and endeavored to shape a mainland congress which lectured taxation without representation.
Yet, even that attempt failed to succeed, because they failed to reach independence. Now, they started to understand that all Britain was doing was harming them as opposed to helping them. So, in return, something needed to be done. Unfortunately, this “something” resulted in the bloodshed of many during a series of battles in which the colonies held surprising force. However, there needed to be solution in which there was undeniable freedom, without the need of chaos. And, as the late Pauline Maier, an MIT professor said in a 2013 lecture: “Britain had hereditary rule…you could never have freedom so long as you had hereditary rule.”
Thus, the arrangement started to shape, and however it was not clear or simple, it was fundamental if they were ever to become autonomous. The agreed upon solution- introduced by a Virginia delegate- was a draft to declare the separation of the colonies from Great Britain. As a result, the rough draft was written by Thomas Jefferson, and looked over by the remaining founding fathers in order to provide a well-established grievance.
Not only were the bloodsheds and tyrannical force, as described in the previous paragraphs a problem. But, the religious, and philosophical beliefs of the people were affected as well. This is also one of the main factors that influenced and dissolved into The Declaration of Independence. And, according to Maria Mayo of the Huffington post, “Patriots argued that their fight was God-ordained, while many Anglican clergy were bound by oath to pray for the King and the royal family.” This shows the prominent pull of influence that divided the previous colonist nation from the interior, and illustrates the need and desideratum for their indivisible rights.
Now, it is hopefully apparent that the independence of our nation was relentlessly fought for. But, more importantly than that, it was well deserved. However, at this period in time, the nation of the Americas was still far from perfect. But the necessary step to break out of their intricate cocoon had been taken. And, would soon be seen as a key role in the making of one of the greatest nations on Earth.
