John+Adams

__ **John Adams** __
By: Miss Megan Eline media type="custom" key="11512310"
 * Part One**

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 * Part Two**

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 * Part Three**



**Should we fight for independe****nce?**

According to John Adams, **fighting for Independence is the right answer**, and **I have to agree with him**. Britain wanted control over the colonies, and their increasing taxation, regulations, and controls became to much for the colonist. Britain **blamed** the colonies for their immense amount of debt, much of which was accumulated during the French and Indian War. Britain believed that since they were fighting to protect the colonists and their land, it was only right to tax the colonists, so they could pay for the war debt. If I were a colonists, I would not agree with this. Britain was not fighting for the colonists, Britain was fighting to keep it's land in the new world, to **remain a power** in North America, and to remove the French from territories bordering theirs in the new world.

Not only was Britain taxing the colonists for the wrong reasons, but they were taxing the colonists without giving them representation in parliament. The quote "**no taxation without representation**," made famous by Patrick Henry, rings true. Actual representation was needed, and rules, regulations, and taxes should not have be placed on the colonists without their opinion, vote, and say. Britain argued that the colonists had virtual representation, however the colonists were never treated as Englishmen. The British soldiers who occupied the colonial towns refereed the the colonist as **gillies**, or "trash." Virtual representation is far from reality.

Along with no representation in parliament, **Britain did not listen** to the grievances of the colonists. Britain used the colonists as a means to make a great deal of money. As the theory of **mercantilism** shows. Britain wanted to benefit from the colonies, and they made sure they would be the only country that did. Britain added many items to the enumerated goods list, which made trading between countries very difficult for the colonists. Britain did not care about the well being of the colonies, **they only cared about money**, riches, power, and well behaved colonists. And by the time of the American Revolution, was experiencing just the opposite. This is one of the reasons Britain decided to punish the colonies.

 I believe that **the colonies should have declared their independence from Britain** because they were not provided representation in parliament, they were taxed and controlled for inaccurate and greedy reasons, and Britain had no real interest in the individual prosperity of the colonies.



__Resources Used__

http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/related/congress.htm http://www.usfca.edu/fac_staff/conwell/revolution/congress.htm http://www.aoc.gov/cc/art/cox_corr/g_exp/first_continental.cfm http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/signers/adams_j.htm http://library.thinkquest.org/TQ0312848/ccf.htm http://www25.uua.org/uuhs/duub/articles/johnadams.html