Essay about Rationalism in America: The Age That Shaped the World

The colonists would not always feel this way in fact, “During the 1760s few colonists expected or wanted independence from an empire that had been so beneficial for them and which seemed so

The strongest reason to support separation was the British Parliament made them pay, house, and care for British soldiers. The British Parliament had no right to make colonists pay money to care for their soldiers. This burden was too much to ask and it added to their anti-British feelings. The American Revolution was significant because it was the first modern revolution. The colonists banned together to fight for their rights, their rights as individuals and as a separate nation. “We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately”-Benjamin Franklin. Also, the colonies fought together instead as 13 separate colonies and this helped them win. They forced power in working together and this was very beneficial to the success of keeping their individual

The years of 1763-1765 were truly defining moments for colonist of the colonies, soon to become the United States of America. ‘’War! War! This is the only way!” American Colonist shouted,as they took to the streets proclaiming defiance of British rule. “We as a people shall fight for our freedom and have victory.No more shall we continue to let others control our countries and give our money to a monarch who has no concern for our right’s, dedication that was put forth to help fight and respect us as loyal subjects.We must fight for our freedom!” When American colonist waged war it proved to be the only way for the colonies to become free from Britian. In turn, the colonist were justified in breaking away from England because of: The

When the Britain passed the Royal Proclamation the colonists did not follow the law and still settled in the west. They pushed Cherokees out, paying no mind to the Treaty of Fort Stanwix, and kept moving west, which helped establish American nationalism. In the First Continental Congress, none of the colonies were talking about independence yet because all they wanted to do was resolve the issues. They began to take the idea of self-rule and participatory democracy into rule. The colonies began to think their rights were being taken away from them by Britain when Parliament and the King rejected their petition. They began to think ideas of freedom when British troops were being sent to the colonies to establish authorization by Parliament and the King. They didn’t think they could stand up to Britain because they were more powerful and the colonists didn’t have the proper kind of training or weapons. The thoughts of freedom became more real, after the Boston Massacre and after Lexington and Concord. When the colonists finally realized the British would use force to keep them in line and to keep control over them.

The colonists began to question if independence was for them when parliament passed the Stamp Act. The stamp act was meant to raise money for British soldiers and also to pay off some of Britain’s debt. When the King/Parliament passed laws the colonists believed that if they weren’t there when the laws were passed they were illegal (according to the Bill of Rights), which is where the slogan “no taxation against representation” came in to play. The people wanted to separate from England because of how the king only passed laws that benefited him. Colonists had a problem with their government. Thomas Paine says that government is a necessary evil. He says that their government is being hampered by oppression; he believed, along with other people, that the King was leading cruelly and not caring about his people. The Declaration of Independence also says, “That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government”. Thomas Jefferson is saying that the laws that the King/Parliament were passing were becoming destructive and it was the right of the people to become independent or change their

Colonists sought independence from British government for a multitude of reasons. Tension quickly rose between England and the thirteen colonies due to the unjust taxing without fair representation in Parliament, the colonist’s rights to assemble were taken away by the British, and there were many unreasonable Acts and laws put into place in attempt to have complete control over the colonists as well as intimidate them. For these reasons and the suffering that the colonists endured at the hands of the British government, I feel that the colonists had plenty just causes to separate themselves from England.

There were several reasons colonists wanted to break away from the English. A large reason the colonists wanted to break away from English rule was the amount of high taxes that they had to pay for almost everything, because they essentially had to foot the bill for a war. The colonists also had no say on the laws that were passed by a government that was across an ocean, thus the phrase “No Taxation without Representation.” Paying high taxes and having no say in what laws were passed obviously made the colonists angry with the British government, but another factor was the British would not let the colonists trade with anyone else besides them. This means that all trades going in or out could only be done with Britain. Forcing the colonists to pay whatever the British merchants wanted to set their price at because there was no major competition. All of these things as well as not letting the colonists expand past the Mississippi River, would calumniate into a revolution in which the colonists would form their own government and finally fulfill their wish of breaking away from British rule.

In the late eighteenth century, North American British Colonies worked to free themselves and create their own governing body. Some ideas stated by revolutionaries helped to unite the colonies in a single governing body and revolt against the existing government. The primary driving forces of the revolutionaries included the belief that humans had the right to freedom and to govern themselves, and that they had certain natural rights that the ruling government of Britain was not allowing them, as well as a general hatred for the ruling power of the European monarchy. These ideas that were so prevalent in the colonies were stated by many different revolutionaries, but many of them held the same idea, freedom was a right that was shared by all

One of the reasons the Founding Fathers had written the Declaration of Independence was because they wanted America to be free so that Britain could stop taxing the citizens. There were many acts going around such as the Tea Act, the Sugar Act, and the Stamp Act. The colonists had no representation in any of it. Sparknote had stated in their article, "the King interfered with the colonists' right to self-government and for a fair Judicial system." This had ticked the colonists off along with the acts. The King had also "instituted legislation that affected the colonists without their consent." This wasn't fair to the colonists and it would be understandable that they wanted independence.

The colonists strongly desired independence and separation from Britain once taxation without representation was imposed on them. The colonies struggled to earn their representation in the Parliament of their mother country. They were turned down repeatedly and this caused huge issues for the colonists; it was the complete reason for the Revolutionary War. Therefore, the demand for no taxation without representation was the primary force to motivate America against Britain and it was also a symbol for democracy.

They wanted freedom of religion. They didn't want a monarchy. They wanted a different system of government that did not involve a king and queen structure. By drafting their own laws they would be able to select delegates for each state, to establish power to conduct foreign affairs, to declare war if necessary, to maintain an Army and a Navy and to coin money. A strong central government is what they wanted to have so that Great Britain couldn’t infiltrate. Establishing their own government would also get rid of the Stamp Act, one of the many acts that required them to pay taxes forced on them by the British to help them with their indebtness. If there were a serious crime committed in the colonies; the person being prosecuted would have to be shipped off to England for trial. This was not fair in the colonists’ eyes because they felt as though there would not be a fair trial because of the lack of their own peers in the jury. Since the British didn’t want to give them a voice, parting ways seems like the best

Enlightenment ideas helped the Americans fight against British rule and create a new nation. With the fight for their new nation came the Declaration of Independence. This document is based on the beliefs of John Locke. John’s teachings mostly focused on self-government and natural rights. John Locke Believed that everyone was created equal with the same three natural rights. The Declaration of Independence argued for natural rights and equality as well. The Declaration of Independence was influenced by Locke’s idea of Equal rights and self-government. They liked the idea of a Democracy, the rule of the people. The United States’ Declaration of Independence states. The American colonist separated from Britain because King George 3rd was not governing the people correctly. For example, he created “Taxation without Representation”. Taxation without Representation is when the American Colonist were being taxed unfairly. John Locke believed the government was there to protect the people, and if they were not being protected they have the right to rebel against the ruler. This is exactly what the American colonist did. The document by the colonies declaring separation from Britain, stated. John Locke’s beliefs of self-government influenced the colonies to rebel and become it’s own

The American Revolution was not only a battle between the British and the colonists; it was a historical movement that brought about new ways of thinking. The ideas of liberty and equality began to be seen as essential to the growth of the new nation. The separation of the American colonies from the British Empire occurred for a number of reasons. These reasons are illustrated in the Declaration of Independence. Although Thomas Jefferson wrote the document, it expressed the desire of the heart of each colonist to be free of British rule. British rule over the colonies became unbearable in the early months of 1776, making it clear to the colonists that it was time to either give in

The colonists desired to have their own nation, but the British government continued to place laws and rules over them so they would not lose rule over them.

The birth of ideology leads to the death of rationality. While undeniably a contentious statement, this notion has arguably been evidenced in the behaviour of all those who fall under the dogma of an ideology, from religious to political, sacrificing their rationality for ideological belief, enslaving themselves to rules from which transgression is forbidden. Human rationality is the cornerstone assumption from which sociologists, psychologists, economists, and political scientists work off of, assessing humans as rational creatures, methodically working towards goals (which may be as simple as survival) and making decisions based upon reason. Ideology, however, has a powerfully disruptive effect upon one’s ability to behave rationally, as far too often, the ideas and the rules espoused by the ideologues are internalized by individuals, and said individual’s rational goals and reasonable actions switch to the goals endorsed by the ideology and the actions it enforces upon them. This phenomena is poignantly evidenced in the film ‘Der Untergang’ (Downfall in English), which depicts the last ten days of the Third Reich from the perspective of those inside the Fuhrer 's bunker, and the film ‘Timbuktu’ which paints a picture of life in the town of Timbuktu, Mali under the command of the Islamic militant group Ansar Dine. In both films the focal point is the behaviour of the supporters of National-Socialism and radical Islam, humanizing the Nazis and the jihadists and portraying