What Were The Goals Of North America Dbq

Everyday we go through our lives with a sense of freedom and liberty in America. Although this freedom feels secure and everlasting there was time in our history that wasn’t similar. Before the United States of America, the east coast of this country was made up of many colonies. These colonies were extensions of the British reigns. During this time period the goals of every country were to expand land overseas and have the most gold in their treasury. These goals can be defined by the word mercantilism. As these colonies in North America further developed and established themselves independently without the help of Britain they began to feel more entitled and slowly became frustrated with the economic policies pushed on them by Britain. As

acts such as the Intolerable Acts, Stamp Acts, and Tea Acts presided over the economy tensions grew higher and higher. Now, many colonists were eager to secede from their mother country and become independent politically, economically, and socially. This sparked a series of battles that are extremely important to our American history. The revolutionary war was waged by the colonists. I believe that the colonists were justified in waging war with Britain because of the unfair treatment imposed on them legally and the violence ensued upon them leading up to the declaration of war.
To start off Britain was imposing ridiculous taxes and legal inquisitions on the colonies that could be deemed unconstitutional.

The mother country taxed the colonies without any representation in parliament. This is where the popular sentiment “no taxation without representation” originated from. John Dickinson, a Pennsylvania politician noted that the Stamp Act was “...unconstitutional and… destructive to the liberty of these colonies.” (Document 2) The Stamp Act was one of many acts applied to the colonies that raised excessive amounts of revenue for the British Crown and unjustly depleted the economy of the colonies. The British Crown viewed the colonies as their property, existing simply to make them money. As the colonies furthered developed they became tired of existing to benefit a distant mother country. They were eager to establish themselves and develop a working economy that could possibly flourish into an independent body. At the Second Continental Congress on July 5th, 1775 Thomas Jefferson wrote that the colonies are being “...reduced to the alternative of choosing an unconditional submission to the tyranny of irritated [British officials].” (Document 5) The colonies were tired of being unconditionally controlled from someone so distant physically and metaphorically. Because of the tyranny and economic strain constantly opposed on the colonies their justification to wage war in order to obtain freedom was

justified.
The British Crown also imposed violence on the colonies at times of dissent.

Although it can be debated by historians, the bottom line is that lives of colonists were lost at the Boston Massacre. It is made clear that “soldiers fired into the crowd,” leading to the conclusion that “several people were dead and more were wounded.” (Document 3) Colonists grew enraged and felt cheated of their liberties more than ever after violence ensued. They now no longer just felt economically betrayed by their mother country, but they felt physically betrayed. Because of this anti-British spirits were high in the colonies. Thomas Paine furthered America’s anger towards Britain's violence when he pointed out the Battles Of Lexington and Concord. He notes that “No man was a warmer wisher for a peaceful settlement than myself, before the fatal nineteenth of April, 1775 [the battles at Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts, occurred on this day], but the moment the event of that day was made known, I rejected the hardened, sullen tempered [King of England] forever.” (Document 6) The violence that the British Crown ensued upon the colonies made them eager to separate themselves completely. Their people blood on the soil they cultivated enraged them enough to wage a war for their own freedom. I believe the colonists were justified in waging war because of the violence expressed towards them by the British

Crown.
Overall we can thank the colonists who waged war many years ago for the lives we live today. Without these liberty fighters and patriots it is possible that America would not exist, and would simply be apart of the British Crown. The colonists made it evident in the Declaration of Independence that “Great Britain is a history of injuries and usurpations,” because of this they fought for their freedom and declared war on Great Britain. (Document 7) I believe that the colonists were justified in their waging of war due to the unfair legal impositions forced on them by the British, and because of the violence ensued by the British.