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| PRE-1776 | |||||||||
| 3 PASSAGES THAT LINK TO THE DOI THAT HAPPENED IN PRE-1776 | |||||||||
| For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world: | |||||||||
| For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent: | |||||||||
| There are many reasons on why the colonists wrote what they did in the Declaration of Independence. For one example, the Declaration states, ?For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world: For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent." When the colonists wrote this passage, they were referring to what the king of Great Britain had done to them in the past. When the passage states, "For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world," the colonists were talking about the Tea Act which occurred in 1773. The Britain gave the East India Company special concessions in the colonial tea business and shut out all colonial tea merchants. The merchants could not legally sell their tea to other parts of the world nor could they buy tea, which was usually cheaper, from other parts of the world. Also, when the colonists stated, "For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent," they were talking about all the tax laws the king put on the colonists. One of these many tax laws was the Stamp Act. In this act, it was required that the colonist purchase special stamped paper for printed items such as stamps, paper, and even dice. Such taxes, without the colonials consent, were one of the reasons why the Thomas Jefferson stated that in the Declaration of Independence. | |||||||||
| We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.-- | |||||||||
| This passage is one of the most famous passages from the entire Declaration of Independence. This passage is stating that no matter what race you are, what social status you are in, or how much your yearly income is, all men have the same number of rights. When the colonists wrote this passage, which probably took a lot of thought, they were also saying that the King of Great Britain has the same rights as an untouchable who lived in the United States. By writing this in the Declaration of Independence, they were degrading the King?s status tremendously. The colonists would not have just written such a passage for no reason, it was because the King harassed limit which crossed the line. One of the many reasons of why the colonists, Thomas Jefferson in particular, wrote this was because of an incident that occurred which is called ?The Boston Massacre.? This incident occurred when British troops were stationed in Boston and were taunted by an angry mob of colonists. The troops then fired into the crowd, killing five men while injuring many. Five men might not seem a lot to someone buy what if one of those men was your father, your brother, or your son? The British troops had no reason to fire into the crowd because even if it was considered a ?battle,? it was an unfair battle. If both sides had the proper ammunition, then it would have been understandable but the ?battle? was between loaded guns versus pebbles and rocks. This was just one of the many reasons why the colonists stated this passage in the Declaration of Independence. | |||||||||
| For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever. | |||||||||
| This passage is basically saying that the King of Great Britain gave the colonists no right to make decision about them selves. The King?s legislatures had all the rights and ability to decide what is ?good? and what is ?bad? for the colonists. The legislature?s decisions were usually based on what would benefit the King. One reason why the colonists might have written such a passage in the Declaration of Independence is because of an act called the Intolerable Acts. King George, the King of Great Britain, tightened control over Massachusetts by closing Boston Harbor and quartering troops. The King gave all soldiers the right to live, eat, and stay in any colonial houses they like and if any of the colonists disagreed, they would be thrown out of their own property. The colonists did not feel that they need some type of protection against any enemies but the King still decided that his troops could stay at their house. The reason why King George forced this act was because of the 15,000 pounds of tea that was dumped into Boston Harbor by the colonists. The colonists had no right to speak up about what they felt and how if they thought what the king was doing was right or wrong. This is one of the reasons why this passage was included in the Declaration of Independence. | |||||||||