Patriot Essay By: Siobhan

The colonists’ Declaration of Independence is filled with powerful arguments as to why they were breaking off from Britain and many appeals to the King to listen to their cause.  At a glance, it may seem that the Patriots were extreme, and in some cases they were.  However, it is easy to understand how they came to their position considering the events leading up to the powerful Declaration.

Many people make the wrong assumption that the colonists were angered by the amount they were being taxed.  This is not true.  In fact, at the time, the taxes were only six percent!  The reason they were revolted by the taxes was the issue behind them.  They felt unjustly taken advantage of by the King because they saw him as having no right to tax them. They already had authorities that were set in place to tax them.  A parallel situation would be if a person lived in North Carolina and moved to Pennsylvania but continued to get bills from North Carolina.

Similarly, the colonists were angered by the murder of a boy in a riot as well as the death of five men in the Boston Massacre.

The King of England was a strict, unfeeling man who was seen by the colonists as a tyrant.  This is understandable as he had performed many injustices among the people.  He refused to let them pass laws, ridded the country of representative houses, elected officers himself, sent armies over without the consent of the people, cut off trade, imposed unjust taxes and juries, and did not listen to pleas for help and mercy.  His armies were cruel to the colonist and got away with murder.

The colonists warned the King before they wrote the Declaration that they would appeal to justice if he did not exercise it among them.

The colonists believed that governments are established for the good of the people to maintain order and justice among them.  When a government is unjust, they said it is the right of the people-even their duty to throw it off and establish a new government.

The argument that the colonists should not break their ties with Britain because they would have inevitable war and death is not valid, because there already had been death.  It would only be so long before war ravished the country anyway because of the many riots and injustices. 

Industry was held up by this unrest, and it was not to be solved until war was declared.

The argument that the colonists should stay allied with Britain because of their need for protection is likewise invalid because the King was not offering protection.  He was allowing people to ‘ravage the coasts.’ 

Clearly, the colonists did not react on a whim.  There were many injustices done to them, and they responded in the only way open to them which was breaking their ties with Britain and establishing a new and greater country-the United States of America.

By: Siobhan aka Stella (14)

10th Grade