Natural Rights And Liberties example essay topic

New thinking and writings that came out of the Enlightenment period much influenced the ideology of the American colonists. Perhaps most important was John Locke and his essays on the Treatise of Government and Concerning Human Understanding. Locke argued that people had natural rights and liberties that allowed man to do whatever he wanted to do without the arbitrary or absolute power of another man. In this state of natural right, people were allotted the basic rights of life, liberty, and property.

Locke believe that contracts were binding, and if people entered into a "social contract" with government, and the government ends up infringing on these natural rights, the people then have the right to resist their government. Prior to the revolution, the British Parliament was certainly an arbitrary and absolute power over the colonies. The oppositionists were political writers who feared that the Parliament, the freely elected representatives of the people who established the basis for political liberty and protection from tyranny, were buying elections from voters. Thus, the oppositionists feared that the Parliament no longer represented the people, and that the "elected" officials were out to destroy liberty.

The oppositionists referred to themselves as the "country party". They were not, of course, the only ones who began questioning English government, however. English radicals such as Joseph Priestly and James Burgh collected ideas from Enlightenment and oppositionists authors and found that "at the heart of all political relationships... raged a struggle between the aggressive extension of artificial power and the natural liberty of the people". People must make sure to avoid corruption in their own lives and most of all, "remain alert for 'conspiracies. ' " Soon after these ideologies emerged, colonists themselves identified the Stamp Act conspiracies by the British that was designed to induce rebellion, and then in turn punishment by Great Britain. Soon media everywhere was bombarding the Americans with messages describing the "enslavement" of the colonies by Britain, as well as ancient Greek and Latin philosophy that "served as constant reminders of the righteous dignity of their cause".

Religion also played a big part, as Americans believed that the British were full of sin and corruption and in defiance of God. At first Concord was fighting for the " 'rights of Englishmen. ' " They mostly wanted to be "ruled and taxed by representatives of their own choosing, the right to govern their own internal affairs". They wanted specific political ends, not a revolution. However, social and economic decline showed little signs of stopping. "Signs of decline were everywhere: in the falling property values, in the worn-out land... in the numerous vagabonds who ramped through town, and, most of all, in the steady exodus of the young".

When the British imposed "new burdens on their purses", and the Intolerable Acts were imposed, the colonists of Concord felt as if they were losing all control of every aspect of their lives. Fathers could no longer pass on land to all of their children. Hence, the "continuing decay in their fortunes added special poignancy to their fears... and if British policy succeeded, they would soon lose even the ability to transmit the birthright of freedom that had been passed on from generation to generation since New England's founding". The families of Concord dealt heavily with sacrifice throughout the war, but it stood for more than just a military conquest.

.".. It was a revolution, a great popular movement for self-determination that unleashed powerful liberating currents in a declining provincial society". The people were out to save their traditional way of life, and the "insistence on the people's right to rule.".