Teresa,+Elise,+Zea,+and+Lisa+ARJ+Project

toc = Elise =

Under what conditions are people justified in revolting against their government?
 Revolting against government is often the nature of any human being, if the revolting is caused by unfair treatment, it is justified. For instance, Colonists in the Americas during the mid 1700s had reasons to revolt from their motherland, Britain. First of all, the colonists were not represented in British government, leaving their voices unheard. Secondly, the colonists were unlawfully taxed by British in the Stamp Act, which put taxes on stamps, and the Townshend Tea Tax, that put tax on glass, white lead, paper, paint, and tea. Finally, the colonists had a right to revolt against their motherland because of the shameless killings that were committed by the British during acts such as the Boston Massacre, in which the British killed several colonists due to a misunderstanding in the Massachusetts town. Revolting against government, is not suggested but implied that that’s what must be done in order to reach independence, in Thomas Paine’s Common Sense. Paine also adds that Government is what keeps people from anarchy. Later, he adds that the Government is a consequence of people acting inadequately. In order to revolt against government it is mandatory that the people have a fair reason, and revolting is often required in order to become a successful, independent country.

= = = Zea =

What did the colonists accuse the British of doing?
 The Declaration of Independence states, “when in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve political bands... a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation”. The American colonists did not just break away from England for no good reason, the colonists had legitimate complaints about the English treatment. This important document also says that governments are created to protect humans’ rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness and that when a government becomes destructive to the people then the people have the right to alter or abolish it. Thomas Jefferson wrote that “The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States” which he then proves by listing the facts.


 * He refused his Assent to Laws which would have been good for the people.[[image:http://onemansblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/declaration-of-independence.jpg width="451" height="340" align="right"]]
 * He forbade the governors to pass important laws and neglected them.
 * He refused to pass laws for people unless they have up their right for representation.
 * He tried to fatigue legislative bodies in order to get them to comply with his wishes.
 * He dissolved the Representative Houses repeatedly - against human rights.
 * He tried to prevent the population of the States.
 * He obstructed the administration of justice by refusing the establishment of judiciary powers.
 * He made the judges dependent on him to get their pay.
 * He sent officers to America to “harass our people and eat out their substance”. (Boston Massacre)
 * In times of peace he kept armies in the colonies.
 * He tried to make the army more powerful than the civil power.
 * He subjected the colonies with a jurisdiction foreign to their constitution and unacknowledged by their laws:
 * Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us. (Quartering Acts of 1765 & 1774)
 * To protect the armies, he created mock trials as punishments for any murders which took place in the States.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Cut off trade with parts of the world. (Navigation Laws of 1686, Molasses Act of 1733, and the Prohibitory Act of 1775)
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Imposed taxes on the colonies without their consent. (Sugar Act of 1764, Stamp Act of 1765, Tea Act of 1773, and Townshend Acts of 1767)
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Deprived the colonies of the benefit of Trial by Jury.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Transported colonists to England to be tried for fake offences.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Took away charters, abolished laws, and fundamentally altered the forms of their governments. (Proclamation of 1763)
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Suspended the colonies’ legislatures and declared themselves invested with the power to legislate for the colonies in all cases whatsoever. (Declaratory Act of 1766)
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">He declared the colonies out of his protection and waged war against them. (August 1775)
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">He plundered their seas, ravaged their coasts, burnt their towns, and destroyed the lives of their people.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">He sent large armies of foreign mercenaries to attack the colonies (hired the Hessians).
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">He forced captured colonists to fight against the colonies or die.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">He got the Indians to attack the colonies.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> The Declaration of Independence ends saying that they has humbly asked the king to redress these oppressions (First Continental Congress of 1774, Second Continental Congress of 1775, & Olive Branch Petition of 1775), but their repeated petitions were “answered only by repeated injury”. Thomas Jefferson wrote that the king is “unfit to be the ruler of a free people” and that the colonists had tried to get the British to change their actions towards the colonies, but that they ignored these pleas.

= = = Lisa =

Did the British do these things?
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 36pt; vertical-align: baseline;">The Declaration of Independence reveals that the American colonists accused the British with justifiable reasons. Now we will have to examine whether or not the events that occurred impacted the colonists in the way they claimed.


 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Navigation Laws: These laws gave England almost complete control over the trade in and with the colonies. The Americans resented the laws because it was a sign that England was trying to control them, but the laws didn’t really effect the colonists because they just started smuggling. Also Britain wasn’t even aiming to hurt the colonists, the laws were created to help England defend itself from its rivals.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Sugar Act: It was passed to raise tax revenue in the colonies for the crown by increasing the duty on sugar. The colonies protested about being taxed so England lowered the taxes.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Stamp Act: It was a stamp tax, created to raise revenue to support the new military force. Britain saw these taxes as being just because British citizens were already paying them and because the taxes were going to be used to pay for the defense of the colonies. It was hated by the colonists and so they created a Stamp Act Congress in which they proclaimed their rights and grievances. It was ignored by England. The colonists also adopted non-importation agreements.Quartering Act: In order to solve the problems with the costs of arranging troops in the colonies and and to provide protection, the British government passed this law in the year of 1765. It states that certain colonists “must” provide food and shelter for the British troops. But many complaints from the colonists started to fire against the motherland because of the cost that the colonists had to pay for the food and other necessities for the soldiers; the complaints became a huge resistance and then tension between the colonists and the British Parliament.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Townshend Acts: Right after the repeal of the Stamp Act, the Parliament passed this act in an effort to collect more tax from the colonists even after the strong resistance against the similar act (Stamp Act). It was meant to solve many problems: to punish New York for not complying with the Quartering Acts, to pay salaries for the governors and judges in the colonies, and to create a mindset that the British Parliament had the right to tax the colonies no matter what. But colonists wouldn’t just let it go that easily and pay for the tax like obedient sheep. It later resulted in Boston Tea Party and the tragic Boston Massacre.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Tea Act: It is a tax placed on tea in the colonies that Britain created to keep the British East India Company from bankruptcy. The tea was actually cheaper, but the colonists didn’t like the d [[image:http://en.wikivisual.com/images/d/df/Boston_Massacre.jpg width="409" height="377" align="right" caption="Boston Massacre"]]<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">uty merely because it was a tax for the Britain.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Coercive Acts/Intolerable Acts: Britain designed these acts to chastise Bostonians for the Boston Tea Party. The acts outraged the colonists and were called “the massacre of American liberty”, but the British only created the acts to stop the colonists from further rebellion.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Prohibitory Act: Britain stopped the American trade to punish the colonists for their revolts. Britain was trying to regain control over the colonists.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Boston Massacre: Townspeople in Boston started taunting and provoking a squad of redcoats who got nervous and opened fire on the colonists, killing or wounding eleven people. The colonists blamed the British for it, but in reality the British troops were only defending themselves.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">All of the decree above resulted in the complaints of the colonists and increasing tension between the Britain and the Colonies. Britain’s effort to solve problems through acts backfired and in the end resulted in tragic events such as the Boston Massacre.

= Teresa =

Do these things justify a revolution?
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The colonists had every justifiable reason to revolt against the Great Britain. The British not only taxed the colonists unlawfully but also mistreated them in various ways. The Great Britain kept the colonists troop in the colonies that led to the Quartering Act. The Great Britain also unlawfully imposed tax on various goods because the Great Britain believed that the presence of the military benefited the colonies. However, the colonists did not have representation in the British parliament. Thus, taxation without consent was a violation of the colonists’ rights as Englishman. Moreover, the British redcoats killed innocent colonists whom they were supposed to protect (Boston Massacre). At Lexington the British shot into the colonists and that lead to the deaths of nine innocent colonists who were only trying to defend themselves. The violence that the British had brought tears and pain that the colonists did not deserve.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">As Thomas Paine states in his “Common Sense”, the colonists were justified to declare war. Paine asks, “Tell me then whether you can hereafter love, honor, and faithfully serve that power that hath carried fire and sword into your land?” The colonists had no reason to stay loyal to the Crown that sought to undermine their rights and freedom. Therefore, the colonists’ rebellion against the Great Britain was justified. = = = = =Works Cited (Written)=

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">[|http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/document/index.htm__] <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">[] <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">[] <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">[]

=Works Cited (Pictures)=

__<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">http://onemansblog.com/2008/09/20/the-us-declaration-of-independence/ __ <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">[|http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_1J11lnNV_GI/SmcdfY7NO3I/AAAAAAAABn4/Vyoqhm4sUdA/s400/join+or+die.jpg] __<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">http://en.wikivisual.com/images/d/df/Boston_Massacre.jpg __

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