Pros And Cons Of The Declaration Of Independence

Improved Essays
“Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed” is stated by Martin Luther King, Jr. This powerful quote speaks for all thirteen colonies wanting to separate themselves from Great Britain. Fifty-six men were determined to fix multiple problems by introducing the fundamental ideas through a document. The belief brought to attention was all men are created free and equal and own the same inherent, natural rights. This treatment was not given to the colonies which forced them produce the declaration. The Declaration of Independence presents, through grievances, the abuses toward the colonies by King George III. The cruel acts the citizens of the colonies experienced were truly horrific, some more …show more content…
It suggests that the King of Great Britain has stirred up rebellions among the people and has gone about trying to convince the violent Indian populations to kill the people of the colonies. With gruesome violence, aimed towards the colonies, breaking out that is why this grievance is a part of my top three. In addition, because it was ordered by the King that makes it even worse. According to Brent Riggs, in his article “Declaration of Independence: A Modern English Rewrite," the Indians are well known to have only one rule of warfare: kill every man, woman and child without mercy no matter what their age or physical condition. This abuse now seems to be even more hostile. The citizens of the colonies were in a dreadful situation, and had no way to prevent it. The twenty-seventh abuse is a huge reason for the colonies to be demanding their freedom. This offense is shocking because of the fact that King George III actually persuaded the Native Americans to kill innocent people. Just because the men and women of the colonies wanted freedom from the unjust acts does not mean death should be placed upon them. The King could have simply warned them, and if he really demanded punishment, it should've been much less

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    These ideas sparked riots. Colonists started turning to violence. This not only surprised the British, but also the americans. All of the rebels formed mobs and did things like destroy and burn Thomas Hutchinson’s,one of the active enforcers of the navigation, house down. They also damaged other people’s property purely out of anger.…

    • 823 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    American Colonists Dbq

    • 125 Words
    • 1 Pages

    One especially heinous example of the British lack of respect for the colonists was the Quartering Act, which required the colonists to let British soldiers live in their homes and eat their food (Document 5). This created a feeling that Britain didn’t see the colonists as equals to British citizens who…

    • 125 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    READING: Chapter 7: The Road to Revolution 1763-1775 Key Concept Questions: Why did salutary neglect of the 13 Colonies end after the Seven Years’ War (French & Indian War)? Salutary neglect is a historical term that refers to the 17th & 18th century when Britain avoided strict enforcement of parliamentary laws. These laws were meant to keep American colonies obedient to England but with the lack of enforcing these laws, they did the opposite. Salutary neglect of the 13 colonies ended after the Seven Years’ War due to the massive debt owed.…

    • 731 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    These two violent acts were the last straw and the Patriots decided it was time to go to work. The revolutionary war has now begun, at first the Patriots didn't know that they were fighting for their freedom at first, they were just fighting for less taxes. After a while when Parliament passed the Declaration of Independence it became a fight for freedom, this turned many more Colonists towards the Patriots efforts for the freedom of the United States of America. This just goes to show how the relationship between Britain and the American Colonies drastically changed from the time after the French and Indian war because of a series of events caused by the greediness of Britain. Yes, Britain did need money because they were in debt because of the French and Indian war but the colonists did not think they should be responsible for this debt so, they did something about it.…

    • 710 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Clearly, this enraged the colonists and for many obvious reasons. Many of the colonists influenced each other in being completely irritated of Britain and eventually got most of the people to go against what Britain was doing (Document 4). All of the colonists knew we were being poorly treated and being taken advantage to a point where they knew it all had to be taken care of, and so they had no other option but to withstand the power that the British had and fight for their independence; something needed to be down. Based on Britain’s counterargument as to why they were taxing the colonies in the first place, they stated they fought the French and Indian war only to defend us, so they thought that we should return the repayment for the protection by being…

    • 627 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    (Doc 4) King George also had a history of unlawful seizures on the colonies and that the king is unfit to rule Britain and unable to rule the new developing colonies. (Doc 7) As the tensions grew between Britain and the colonies, the colonist joined to start a revolution and try to break free from Britain's rule. To try to break free the Second Continental Congress wrote the "Declaration of Causes and Necessity of Taking up Arms". This had stated that how the colonist should be loyal to Britain or resist by force. (Doc 5)…

    • 497 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “It is better to be violent, if there is violence in our hearts, than to put on the cloak of nonviolence to cover impotence” -Mahatma Gandhi. Just like Gandhi Patrick Henry also protested Britain's rule over his land. They also thought that it was better to fight the British when it got to a breaking point versus pretending like the problems didn’t exist. Tensions between Britain and the American colonies were escalating after the blockade of Boston Harbor in retaliation of the Boston tea party. This caused the formation of the second Virginia convention convened to debate the course of action that should be taken to deal with the cruel rule of the British over the American people.…

    • 818 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    American Revolution Dbq

    • 1230 Words
    • 5 Pages

    As these unfair acts were established the rise of protests and civil unrest among the colonists rose. Britain in their attempt to afford an empire had now created severe social and political disorder in said empire. Distracted by the fantasy of creating a new British commonwealth, they ignored the burdens in establishing a commonwealth and these burdens were laid on the wrong…

    • 1230 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.” said Thomas Jefferson, the principal author of the Declaration of Independence and later third president of the United States. The thirteen colonies were under the rule by the mother country, Great Britain, until on July 4th, 1776, 56 people with an age range of 26 - 70 years of age. The colonists of the thirteen colonies should have declared their independence because they were taxed without representation, their rights were violated, and they were not allowed to settle in land past the Appalachian Mountains.. Although taxes help the British government, they taxed the colonists without representation and consent. First off, acts like the stamp act taxed colonists without their consent.…

    • 537 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Declaration of Independence and Mazinni’s essay were put together with similar goals in mind. They each had the goal to express how the nation should function. Within each of these pieces of history it discusses the freedom that The United States gained from England and how it should further its function of being free. These two pieces of historical writing discuss the ideas that are necessary to a correctly functioning nation. They do this through key similarities and differences on how the United States should function.…

    • 777 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The founding fathers were among the greatest thinkers of their time, to the founding documents they took inspiration from other American and European thinkers. America was founded on the these founding documents; The Declaration of Independence, The Constitution and The Bill of Rights. The Enlightenment ideals of Deism, Liberalism and Republicanism were written into our founding documents the founding fathers. The Declaration of Independence was written to make the colonists fight against the royal crown legitimate.…

    • 915 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Often when people are feeling oppressed, they tend to separate themselves from the oppressor leading to the person becoming independent. This is also true for the American colonists who felt that their basic human rights had been taken from them due to the mistreatment by the British. Thomas Jefferson, in the Declaration of Independence (1776), asserts the reasons why the American colonies are becoming independent from Great Britain. Among these reasons lie the abuse and tyranny of the British king, George III, upon the colonists. Through his use of structure, syllogism, and diction, Thomas Jefferson portrays the message that separation is a…

    • 103 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Colonists were treated unfairly by England, during the Revolutionary war period. England kept passing acts and placing taxes on everything; eventually colonists grew hostile and fought to become a free country. Patrick Henry’s “Speech to the Virginia Convention” and Thomas Jefferson’s “The Declaration of Independence” are great examples of Revolutionary literature. “Speech to the Virginia Convention” is trying to convince colonists to rebel England. The Declaration of Independence is letting England know America wants to become a free country.…

    • 618 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The thirteen colonies that became the United States had long been governed by the British Empire, however in the late 1700’s the citizens of these colonies had gotten past fed up with British rule, and the first seeds of the American Revolution grew. People of color as well as women longed for access to equal rights and suffrage in democracy. Although white men were already treated with this sense of social equality, they were displeased with the taxation without representation and inability to govern themselves. Although each category of citizens had a different reason for doing so, they all stood in support of the American Revolution as an attempt to promote their own personal freedoms. Free blacks in northern states sought to utilize the progressiveness of the Revolution and its fundamental ideals as grounds to push forward their claims to the same rights that all other men claimed when the founding fathers wrote the declaration of independence.…

    • 1417 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    This angered the colonists because they felt as though they were being controlled and used for the motherland’s benefit. The end of…

    • 704 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays