Essay Topic: The Moral Foundation for the American Struggle for Independence

During the struggle for American independence there were multiple moral foundations in which justified the colonist actions. In the history of the struggle for independence there are many moral reasons to rise up against the government, however in this short essay we will be talking about a couple of those moral foundations. We will be discussing three main moral foundations that were important in the fighting for independence. The moral foundations are first natural rights, second taxation without representation, and thirdly the rule of the law.

                First let us discus the importance of natural rights and why this was a basis for gaining independence. What are natural rights you might ask? Well natural rights are rights that are given to every human from there supreme creator. Every man has been given natural right by god; they are also known as inalienable rights. These rights include the privilege of life, liberty, and property. Everybody has the right to obtain these things throughout their life and for another to withhold those opportunities is inhumane and unjust. This is a great example of what the king was doing to the colonists. For one he was sending English solders over to invade the land causing people to lose their property after search and seizures took place. The king also imposed many high taxes causing many citizens quality of life to decrease, because they weren’t able to provide all the means necessary to take care of their families properly.  The king also corrupted the government by having the governors be in arms with him by bribery and persuasion causing the peoples liberty to be limited. The people were never able to pass laws because they would always be over ruled by either the king or the government. So as pointed out British rule was inflicting laws and regulations that were taking away people’s rights to their natural rights which go against not only the people’s moral beliefs but god’s law as well.

                The next moral foundations I would like to talk about is how England taxed the American colonies with high taxes and without representation. There are a number of times in which the king and parliament imposed large taxes on the colonies to receive higher revenue and they did this without proper representation. The main example of was the Tea Act in which took place in 1773. The Tea act was put in place so that Great Britain would gain higher revenue on trade goods they did this by makings the East India Tea Company the only Tea Company that could ship directly to the colonies making the prices much lower than the other companies making this business a monopoly in the colonies. This made it impossible for other countries to compete with the prices therefor England was also in control of America’s trade goods. This gave the king a lot of power over the colonies causing them to be under unjust rein. This is just another example of why the colonies were completely justified in their rebellion against the Great Britain. In reality the colonies really had no say in any law or matter they were completely controlled by the king and the parliament.  The king wanted complete dominion over the colonies and he had it. The colonies realized that they really did not have any right or privileges when it came to how the American colonies should be ran so they decided this was another great moral reason why they should resist the King.

                Thirdly the moral foundation of the rule of the law was broken. The rule of the law is a law that states that no one person should be above or exempt from the law. This statement even implicated that even if you are a king or ruler you still have to answer to the law if it is broken.  The law pretty much causes all humans to answer to their sins or actions no matter how or what degree of power you have. For instance King George the III felt that he should be able to control most of the power and that the power in the government should lie with the king. King George the III felt that because the Whigs held much of the power in the government when his father and grandfather ruled that they were not good rulers and he felt the need to change that. King George the III began to make laws and choices that took away the rights of others. He felt like he should be the one with ultimately all of the power and that he could inflict whatever laws he wanted to upon the colonies and that no consequences would be instilled upon him.  However this is wrong the rule of the law can be broken but the rule of law can never be diminished because ultimately god hold all the power and righteous judgment will eventually be placed upon you. The colonist also new that the king believed himself to be above the law and new that he would continue to be corrupt in his decisions. They also knew that the king would continue to ignore their peaceful oppositions to the laws, so they knew they had to up rise and go against the government.

                Although the colonists had many means and moral foundations to revolt against the government they still did not want to go against them. They were very hesitant at first about uprising, but after a long time of abuse and neglect the colonist new that they had natural rights and many appropriate moral foundations to justify their actions. Going against your own nations government is no easy task and many wanted to be loyal to the king but his judgments were so greedy that the colonist really had no other option but to secure their rights as human beings and to rise against Great Britain to gain their rights to life, liberty, and property.  They had plenty of moral foundations to help support them in their journey and struggle to American independence.