TB+American+Justification+for+their+Independence

//American Justification in their Independence //   On the 4th of July in 1776, the First Continental Congress signed the Declaration of Independence which formalized the political separation of Britain and their 13 North American colonies. //The Americans were justified in their disconnection with Britain due to a lack of colonial representation in Parliament that led to unjust taxes and laws and larger troop numbers in major settlements.//  The colonists had grown accustomed to having every law passed by local legislators. However, as of 1765 the British Parliament had been passing laws that directly affected the colonies. The Parliament bypassed the local legislators and enacted the laws. That gave birth to a new anti-British campaign slogan “no taxation without representation.” Also, the colonists had local taxes that they paid before the Parliamentary laws and they felt this encroached on their rights as Englishmen as they had no say in the taxes that were being levied from them.  They felt that their right to representation in taxation was not the topic only being ignored; they felt that the laws passed on them were too harsh and they felt punished, even after their assistants to Britain during the French Indian War. Some laws like the Sugar Act were unenforceable as it required too many customs officials to turn up any revenue and were shortly after revoked. However, those laws even revoked still left the impression in many colonial minds that Britain was trying to control everything in the colonies. The passing of more laws by King George III like the Proclamation Line of 1763 made the colonist feel like they fought for nothing and that Britain was attempting to stunt growth and the growing power of the colonies. Laws like the Stamp Act and Tea Act resulted with patriots standing up to British officials because angered the middle class which was the majority of society in the 13 colonies. The Coercive Acts were shortly enacted shortly after patriotic demonstrations in Boston were punishing them for them dumping hundreds of pounds of tea in the harbor with the closing of the Boston harbor until the tea was paid for, the reestablishment of the writs of assistants, the revocation of the Massachusetts Charter, and the establishment of martial law in Boston.  The British Crown sent thousands more soldiers to the colonies to restore British control in major cities. However, the British soldiers were notorious for being rude and pushy to the colonials with whom they were sharing their homes and food. The king also, had the trials held in Britain for all crimes committed by British soldiers in the colonies which showed that a British officer could get away with anything. The British soldiers had been disliked but tolerated until the Boston Massacre which left 5 unarmed citizens killed and 8 wounded. The soldiers could also invade any colonials’ privacy and enter their homes for any reason.