Olive Branch Petition Essay
Hailey Ohl Mr. Snyder American Cultures I period 3 11 December 2017 The Olive Branch Petition could not stop The Revolutionary War If Britain had accepted the Second Continental Congress’s Olive Branch petition the Revolutionary war could not have been avoided. The Olive branch petition is a peace petition sent to king George III by colonial delegates after the battles of Lexington and Concord. There were several reasons based on events that had happened before 1775 that can date back to many things the British have done that would have not stopped the war it was just a matter of time.
When the Revolutionary War occurred, that was when America started to try and break away from Britain. With that happening, more action started to escalate - war after war along with acts being put into place, such as the Boston Massacre, Shot heard around the world, Stamp Act and Townshend Acts. The American colonists were justified in waging and breaking away from the British because it was war after war that the colonists weren’t recovering from past wars because so many of their soldiers were dying or wounded. For example, after the Boston Massacre the colonists wanted nothing to do with the British.
Settling in the New World provided both the American settlers and the British government with many opportunities. For the colonists, North America provided an opportunity to improve their lives and escape religious persecution. For the British, settlers in North America provided access to raw materials and new markets in which to sell finished goods. This mercantilist relationship continued for several years, until the colonists began to question Parliament’s right to treat them differently than other British citizens. Taxes were imposed on the colonists as a means of helping to pay the debt Britain had incurred fighting the French.
The Olive Branch Petition was sent from the colonists to Great Britain in hopes of achieving peace and relieving the tensions between them put in place prior to the Battle of Lexington and Concord in 1774. Great Britain responded to the petition with a letter referring to the colonists as traitors to their mother country. This response effectively initiated the Revolutionary War for the colonists. Many varying political views stemmed from whether the colonists should embark on a revolution that would move them out of the guidance of Great Britain and that would provide them independence from Great Britain. Some argued that the revolution would be a “conservative” revolution where every thing will remain largely the same, in terms of political
The colonies also called for a continental congress, in the first meeting they made decisions basically defending themselves from anything Britain could possibly throw at them: military preparations in case the British in Boston chose to attack, boycotting in hopes of abolishing trade with Great Britain, rejecting a colonial union under British control, the basically wanted nothing to do with Great Britain because Britain abused their power over the colonists to begin with. The Battle of Lexington and Concord was the official turning point for the colonists, they had colonists prepared with guns, minutemen, that were ready to fight at a seconds notice and they kept close eyes on Boston just in case the British chose to attack. William Dawes and Paul Revere were keeping watch for any British movement. When the British came the colonists were ready and by the end of the battle the British had lost many of their troops in this revolutionary war. This war was definitely the beginning of the fight for independence for the colonists, thy showed the British that they could stand up for themselves and that they deserved better treatment.
The colonists refused to submit to a king that was only interested in their money, causing the colonists to become irate with the British once more. Since Great Britain thought that it was superior to the colonies, Great Britain did not give colonists the opportunity to speak up for what they wanted, which lead the colonists to rebel. The arrogance of Great Britain led to the rebellion of the colonists, which sparked the Revolutionary War through social, economic, and political actions. Furthermore, Great Britain caused a tremendous amount of irritation to develop inside of the colonists. The Revolutionary War showed that it is a necessity for Americans to have their opinions voiced.
Georgina Casillas 10/19/17 Block 6 Were American colonists justified in fighting a war to break away from Britain? With a great sense of nationalism and pride in the year of 1763 colonists were celebrating the victory from the French and Indian war. This war left the British government in debt. The British tried to pay off the debt
The American Colonists were justified in waging war and breaking away from Britain. Before the outbreak of the American Revolution, tensions had been building between colonists and the British authorities. The injustice and the abuse of power in the government for the Colonists caused two main reasons by which The American Colonists waging war. Injustices against the colonists and the government’s abuse of power were the two main reasons that the American colonists were justified in breaking away from Britain.. First, one of the reasons that The American Colonists were justified was the taxation without representation.
American Revolution began in 1775. There were lots of events, which led to the America revolution. Till 1763, everything was going in favor of England. Majority of the Americas were in favor of British rule, and they were big supporter. They use to treat parliament and queen of England with full respect.
Even with the ideas of a split nation from Britain and becoming their own nation, these goals were still hard to achieve. Battles were fought, lives were lost, Treaties were signed, and Acts were put into place. With all of these ideas of America becoming a free country wasn’t easy to accomplish. The country you and I live in today is due to these delegates and members of the Continental Army for fighting for our freedom. The closer the government of the United States came to cutting ties with England, the more of a tax Britain was putting on our goods.
Many of the reasons the American colonies believed they were justified in their rebellion from England lay in trade and taxes. When George III inherited the throne at the end of the Seven Years’ War England’s debt had risen to 145 million pounds and his chief minister believed that the American colonies needed to help shoulder the debt. (Nash, et al., 2007. , p. 134) In attempting to collect these taxes from the colonies to relieve the mounting debt Parliament passed a range of acts, which led to discontent among the colonists as many of them restricted trade, their political maneuverability and left many believing they infringed upon their “right to be taxed only by their own consent.”
The British government was not looking for the best of the people. They were only thinking about what they wanted; the government was not interested in what the people wanted so they decided to make decisions on their own, which resulted in changes that form the United States today. Because of this, they were justified in rebelling and declaring independence. One reason why the colonists decided to rebel and declare independence was because of taxation.
Before Britain became the dictatorial power clouding any American effort to speak up, they were involved in a series of four wars. The last of them, the French and Indian War, occurred on American soil and the British victory handed England a pile of debt and a huge land dispute between the Indians residing in the territory the British gained through the Treaty of Paris and the colonists eager for new land. This started the ferocious turmoil between Britain and the American colonies. From the end of the French and Indian War in 1763 to the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, British antagonistic policies only added gasoline to America’s resentment of British rule, and sparked their unity and dedication to colonial republican values. The end of the French and Indian War, signals the beginning of harsh
The American Revolution was, to date, the best event to happen on American soil, providing freedom and representation in government to the individuals who fought so hard for it. France and Spain aided our cause, helping this group of brave colonists to defeat the strongest army in the world. But, there is a question still not answered; were the colonists justified in breaking away from Britain? The American colonists were justified in breaking away from the British because there was taxation without representation, they had no freedom, and the British government violated their individual British rights. I believe the American colonists were justified for breaking away from Britain because there was taxation without representation.
After all the taxes and limitations were placed onto the colonists, they were angry and wanted war, this is shown from the tarring and feathering of the British and the disregard of taxes and acts placed on them by the British, many of the colonists used propaganda to support the cause such as Thomas Paine’s book “Common Sense” or Paul Revere’s paining of the Boston Massacre, these were both used as effective propaganda to anger the colonists against the British, but if these were not created, the revolution would not have had as much strength, and might have died down, which would have avoided the war or if people had listened to the colonists that did not want war or loyalists that showed that there was a way to resolve the differences without violence, as shown in James Chalmer’s Pamphlet, “Plain Truth”. Another way the war could have been avoided is if the British had signed the Olive Branch Petition, as shown in the Second Continental Congress meeting, which would give the colonies independence from Britain and there would be no need for the war. However, this did not happen, the British declined the Olive Branch Petition and went to war with the colonies. These sources show that there was many ways other than actions that the Revolutionary War could have been avoided. To sum it all up, there was many ways that the Revolutionary War could have been avoided, such as the British not being unfair to the colonists, or the colonists not rebelling against the British.
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