The Enlightenment Essay Example

On July 4th, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was approved. The road to creating this document was long and difficult. During the years leading up to the Declaration, the colonists faced many challenges that proved independence from Great Britain was inevitable. Years prior, the colonists were exposed to Enlightenment ideas, which gave them ideas on how their government should be run. Growing farther apart from Britain, the colonists faced taxation without representation and bloodshed. After that, the colonists' relationship with Britain was completely destroyed. Independence was declared for three main reasons, Enlightenment ideas, taxation without representation, and bloodshed. 

The Enlightenment took place from 1650-1800. During this time, philosophers used reason to promote a better society. One philosopher, John Locke, created human’s natural rights. These rights include life, liberty, and property. These rights were a core belief the colonists had, before the revolution (Stringfellow). Thomas Jefferson said in the Declaration of Independence, “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” (History.com editors). Jefferson came up with these ideas from Locke, and the Enlightenment. Another Enlightenment idea was the separation of church and state. The separation allowed citizens to freely practice their faith, without the government being involved. Separation enables the country to function democratically. Citizens are freely able to practice their religion, not having to worry about their country being a certain religion. Finally, the Enlightenment also created the idea of separating powers in government. The philosopher, Montesquieu, came up with the idea of separating government into three branches. These branches, executive, legislative, and judicial, all have power, but they are also able to check each other. By checking their power, it prevents one branch from gaining too much power. When creating the U.S. government, delegates used these ideas to create a stable and functioning government, used to this day (Stringfellow).

Years before the American Revolution, England fought the French in the Seven Years’ War. Part of this war took place in the colonies, fighting over land west of the Ohio River Valley. This battle was called the French and Indian War. Even though England won the war, it put the country in massive debt. To pay for the war, Britain relied heavily on taxing the colonies, since the war was fought for them on their land. Although taxes seem like a normal way for Britain to pay back debt, the colonists had never been taxed like this before. Prior to the war, they lived in salutary neglect, which reduced British involvement in the American colonies. Salutary neglect gave the colonists more freedom, since the British were so far away. After the French and Indian War, salutary neglect ended, and harsh taxes were imposed. The Sugar Act was the first tax imposed on the colonists. The Sugar Act taxed sugar, wine, and coffee, but lowered the tax on molasses (Stringfellow). It reduced smuggling in the colonies, however the tax was lowered after two years ( American History Central Staff). A year later, the Stamp Act was put in place. The Stamp Act taxed all printed materials in the colonies. Two years after the Stamp Act, the Townshend Acts were imposed. This taxed goods such as paper, glass, tea, paint, and lead. It also paid for the royal official’s salaries. One of the last and most well known tax was the Tea Act. The Tea Act gave the British East India Company a monopoly of tea sales in the colonies. It allowed tea to be shipped directly to the colonies. This act eventually led to the Boston Tea Party, which was a protest for this act and all the other ones imposed. The main reason for the colonists' protests was because they were taxed without representation. Taxation without representation meant that the colonists weren’t allowed to participate in Parliament decisions that affected them. They were given “virtual representation”, saying that Parliament had their best interest in mind. After the Boston Tea Party and other protests, the final acts were imposed. The Coercive Acts, or the Intolerable Acts, had five parts. The first act, the Boston Port Bill, closed the Boston Harbor. The second act was the Massachusetts Governing Act, which replaced the local government officials with appointed ones. The third, Administration of Justices, protected British officials by allowing them to go to England or another colony for trial. The fourth was the Quartering Act. This act forced colonists to house British troops, however Patriots and other colonists refused to house them. The Quebec Act was the final Coercive Act. This act removed territory between the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers (“Intolerable Acts”) Each act tore the colonists farther apart from the British, and after the last act, their relationship was destroyed. The colonists had enough with the British, and wanted separation.

The final straw for the colonists was bloodshed. On March 5, 1770, a fight broke out between outraged colonists and British soldiers. Before the fight broke out, colonists were insulting a British official, and threatening violence. To protect himself, the official fought back and struck a colonist with a bayonet. In retaliation, the colonists pelted him with snowballs, ice, and stone. While the official called for reinforcements, a mass of colonists came. Some of the colonists pleaded with the soldiers to hold fire, while others dared them to shoot. Some colonists even struck soldiers with clubs and sticks. At one point someone said “fire”, and a soldier fired his gun. It was unclear if the shot was intentional or not. After the first soldier fired, the others opened fire. The battle between the colonists and soldiers resulted in the death of five colonists, and six wounded. This battle later became known as the “Bloody Massacre” or the “Boston Massacre”. Paul Revere created an engraving, depicting the events on March 5th. However, through the use of propaganda, Revere portrayed the event to be a slaughter of the colonists. The colonists were shown pleading and scared, while the British were in formation, commanded to shoot. Paul Revere’s engraving had a huge impact on the colonies. It gave them another reason to be outraged at the British (History.com editors) A couple of  years later, while colonists were preparing to possibly fight the British, the British sent troops to seize their weapons. To defend themselves, the militia prepared to fight them. This battle resulted in less than 100 deaths, and the “Shot Heard Round the World” (Stringfellow). The “Shot Heard Round the World” was the first shot of the American Revolution. This shot sparked the Revolutionary War. Both of these events ended in the bloodshed of the colonists. The soldiers killed citizens in their colony, and it outraged the colonists. They didn’t feel safe, or protected under British rule. 

On July 2nd, 1776, the Continental Congress declared freedom from Great Britain. It was approved two days later, on July 4th, 1776. This day is now known as Independence Day. Leading up to this day many events occurred, making independence more and more inevitable. The most important events were the Enlightenment, the taxation, and the bloodshed that occurred. Even though the Enlightenment took place in Europe, many ideas spread to the colonies, and inspired changes in government. The years leading up to independence, the British imposed many harsh acts on the colonies, which taxed them, closed the port of Boston, forced them to house soldiers, and much more. Finally, many colonists lost their lives due to the British. All of these events led up to the war, and independence being necessary. To the colonists, independence was the only option.