Samuel Adams and our other founding fathers were justified with their actions towards Great Britain because the colonists were taxed with out representation, the king was not following the Rule of Law, their natural rights and Englishmen rights were violated, and Britain was not following the English constitution. The colonies were being taxed without representation.
The British government was putting themselves far above the law and not going by the Rule of Law. The colonies were being forced and therefore their liberty was also being violated. They had no say in what they were giving up their money to. Through the Sugar Act, Townshend Act, and Stamp Act the colonies believed that their rights as Englishmen were being violated. They had no say what so ever in the decisions parliament made. There were new taxes being created specifically for the colonies alone. As a defense to their natural rights and rights as Englishmen they acted justifiably in their actions because their lives were being threatened. Britain had put into place a Quartering Act and colonies were forced to house British soldiers. Not only did they have to give up housing, but they also were forced to give up food in order to feed the soldiers. They were giving up food that would be feeding them; therefore, their lives were at risk for those who didn’t have a lot of food. The Boston Massacre was a huge violation of their rights. They were being punished and many lives were taken. In Boston there was also a port bill that refused to let ships leave the port. This effected trade that they needed in order to survive and create good living standards. The Coercive Act, the Justice Act, and Administrations were all more ways that Britain was violating their natural, God given rights. The Justice act was a major one that was literally causing and threating the colonies lives. All these Acts were a way in which the colonies had no will.
The colonies tried to voice their independence and rights in a rational way. They started petitions and boycotts. They were continuously ignored and they had to take action in order to secure their rights. Their voices were not being heard and they had to follow the British rule even though they weren’t given the rights of all Englishmen. An improper government was governing them. They were given no authority, voice and were not given the same rights that Englishmen had. When the colonies tried to be rational through petitions it didn’t work because they were simply ignored. Another natural right that was not considered was the right of property. In the Quartering Act they were forced to house soldiers and in doing so they were giving up their property not out of free will. The Rule of Law played a part in the justifications of the colonies actions against Britain. Britain was violating precedent. They didn’t adhere to the precedent of the colonies making the government above the law. The Sugar Act was a great example of this. The British would appoint people to higher positions in all places of government. The royal appointments would then have to follow the British ways because that’s who was paying them. This made so that the colonies had no say what so ever in the government. King George the III wanted more power unlike his father and grandfather had. He felt it was his right to make these decisions. He wanted to be strong and have a lot of power. He made sure he would get people to make sure it was his word that they followed. The colonies power and rights were being taken right from under their hands. All the colonies rights, which they had according to the English Constitution, were not being given or secured by the British government. If they had not acted the Britain would be in complete control and with that we would have nothing. Our rights would not exist. Without those rights we lose our agencies, our lives, and our property. We would never have the “pursuit to happiness”. We needed to make that step in declaring our independence from Britain in order to protect those rights.
The colonists tried to do what they could in all reasonable matters, but it wasn’t going to work. This farther proved that as time went on they were losing more independence to govern themselves. Through the loss of independence not only were they losing that they would lose all say in what would happen? Our founding fathers are the reason we live in a country like this today. We are able to have our free will; our lives are protected along with our property. They had to start taking more action because with out it we wouldn’t have a country like this. They had to start a war in order to fight for that which was naturally ours. They were completely justified because they fought in defense.
