British Colonies Essay

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American colonists were unhappy with British rule for a number of reasons, the most important of which included the following:

Parliament passed laws that the colonists considered unjust.
The colonists had no direct representation in Parliament.
The colonists were unable to sell products to any country except Britain.
To force colonists to buy English products, Parliament placed high taxes on French and Dutch goods.
Parliament expected the colonists to help pay the costs of the French and Indian War.
Thomas Paine's 1776 pamphlet, Common Sense, focused the colonists' frustration on King George III.

Main Components of the Declaration of Independence
The Declaration of Independence was written primarily by Thomas Jefferson and approved by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776. The document explained to American colonists and to the world why the colonies were declaring their independence. The Declaration has four major components:

A statement of the new nation's ideals about equality and the rights of men
A list of the alleged abuses by King George III against the colonists
A description of the attempts by the colonies to solve these problems before resorting to declaring independence
The actual declaration by the signers that the colonies would from then on be free and independent states
The following definitions may help in your reading of the passage from The Declaration of Independence:

assent: consent

relinquish: give up

inestimable: priceless

tyrants: dictators

annihilation: destruction

Naturalization of Foreigners: process by which foreign-born persons become citizens

tenure: term

render: make

abdicated: given up

perfidy: violation of trust

insurrections: rebellions

Use Site 1 to answer the following questions.

Who helped Thomas Jefferson draft the original declaration?
Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston
When did delegates actually begin to sign the completed document?
August 2, 1776.
What did General George Washington order done with his copy? read to the assembled American army at New York.
Why do you think he gave this order?
To stir the spirit of revolution

Part 2
Decide which ten accusations against the king offer the strongest evidence to back up the colonists' justification for independence. Rewrite them in your own words on the following chart. 1. He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of
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