Why should the colonies be independent?

There were several reasons why the colonists wanted to be independent. One reason had to do with tax laws the British passed for the colonies. The colonists felt the tax laws were illegal. In Great Britain, citizens have representatives that vote for proposed taxes. The colonists didn’t have representatives in Parliament. Thus, the colonists had no representatives that could speak about and vote on the proposed tax laws. The colonists were opposed to the Stamp Act and the Townshend Acts because they had no say in the passage of these tax laws.

The colonists also felt the British were trying to control them. The Proclamation of 1763 prevented the colonists from moving west of the Appalachian Mountains. The British gained this land from France as a result of winning the French and Indian War. However, the British were concerned the Native Americans, who didn’t support the British, would attack the colonists if they moved to this area. The colonists were upset because they wanted to own land. Some colonists defied the British and went to this area in violation of the law. When the British required the colonists to provide housing for the British troops who were enforcing the Proclamation of 1763, the colonists weren’t pleased. They were beginning to think the British were trying to control what they could and couldn’t do.

Tensions increased in the 1770s. In March 1770, the Boston Massacre occurred. This was the first time colonists were killed as a result of actions by the British military. In December 1773, the colonists, who were upset by the Tea Act, dumped a large amount of tea into Boston Harbor. The British wanted to punish the colonists for this action, so they passed the Intolerable Acts. The Intolerable Acts punished the colonists, especially the colonists in Massachusetts, for the Boston Tea Party. The colonists refused to obey the Intolerable Acts. The colonists also formed their own militias. After the battles at Lexington and at Concord, in April 1775,  resulted in many casualties on both sides, more people began to realize that the colonists should declare their independence from British rule. This formally occurred when the Second Continental Congress formally adopted the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776.