Then in 1765, the Stamp Act was passed and this one was even more unpopular. It was a stamp that colonists had to buy and stamp it on any legal documents such as playing cards. More protests began to occur in the colonies and Virginia’s House of Burgesses passed several resolutions saying hat they alone had the right to tax themselves. What is a protest without an emotional speech? Patrick Henry, one of the youngest members in Virginia’s House of Burgesses, made a speech attacking the unjust laws. He was looked at as a traitor and was hurled insults and cries of treason, but he told the people “If this be treason, make the most of it.” Patrick Henry even before the revolution, was a spokesperson for independence. In the year 1775, he made another …show more content…
Even in the Continental Congress, support for independence was limited to only one third of the delegates. John Adams, a Patriot, complained that the Loyalists used the prospect of independence as a way to frighten people into giving up the struggle. But in January 1776, a pamphlet titled Common Sense was published. The pamphlet supported the idea of independence. The author, Thomas Paine, had strong logic and powerful words written into Common Sense, which then inspired the colonies to support independence. About 500,000 copies were sold between January and July of 1776. General Washington wrote, “Common Sense is a powerful change in the minds of men.” This wraps up the history of the events that lead to Declaration of Independence. The Declaration costed many years of unfair rule and the lives of the Continental soldiers, but the lives did not go to waste. The Declaration was needed in order to announce our independence and if the delegates did not write the Declaration, we would have not been free today. The freedom we received may have not been free, but in the end, it allowed us the be free and have a vast number of opportunities in these free