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The Rights Of The British Colonies Asserted And Proved Summary

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After reading the document "The Rights of the British Colonies Asserted and Proved" wrote by James Otis, I agree with the contemporaries of Otis that the document was written to challenge the authority of the king and parliament. In the document, Otis argued in favor of the natural rights. He believed that each individual should carry his or her own judgments; these judgments should be valued regardless of the physical power, wealth or property the individual possesses. He questioned the king and parliament by raising the discussion about the relationship between authority and property; since authority confers property, as he believed, the government should give independence to its people to earn respect and to avoid future conflict. Otis believed that British colonies should have the rights to rule their own land and to protect its people from forced slavery. …show more content…

The government has responsibilities to protect the natural rights of its people. In the document, Otis states that the "absolute slavery" is opposing natural rights since it takes away one's freedom and liberty without one's consent. The natural rights each individual carries since birth should protected by the British government; if the government failed to protect its people, war and conflicts will be unpreventable. Otis believed that there is no way to justify forced slavery; freedom and liberty is essential to human being and no government should be able to take away people's natural rights without

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