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How Did John Locke's View Of Life Liberty And The Pursuit Of Freedom

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Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness are defined as the three “unalienable” rights the colonists eagerly fought for. The British Parliament controlled most of the activities in the colonies while restricting the colonists’ authority and increasing the its own. During the early 1600s, the conflict between Parliament and the colonists grew with the colonists’ demand for freedom and actual representation. British presence, on the other hand, merely increased, and the colonists were forced into a subservient life. However, John Locke’s natural rights were embedded in their minds as the ultimate ideology. Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness were at risk with the presence of England because of its oppressive nature and control over …show more content…

However, their liberty was assaulted. The main aspect of the British Parliament is that the rules applied to the American colonists also applied to Englishmen in England, but they did not dare to attack the authority for better treatments. Jenyns conveyed this argument when he said “No Englishman is or can be taxed but by his own consent as an individual: this is so far from being true, that it is very reverse of truth; for no man that I know of is taxed by his own consent; and as Englishman, I believe, is as little likely to be so taxed, as any man in the world.” His main argument is that the colonists do not have any right to assault Parliament for representation when the Englishmen do not. However, the colonists were in a different land and desired different terms with possibly an altered, and improved governing body. Crévecoeur stated that Americans were people who, “leaving behind him all his ancient prejudices and manners, receives new ones from the new mode of life he has embraced.” The colonists lacked the rights to embrace new ideas and put them into actions because of the control of Parliament; they believed that they should be given rights to refuse to accept the ideology and the rules followed by Englishmen in England. Also, the members of the Stamp Act Congress stated in their carefully thought out declaration, “it is inseparably essential …show more content…

Even though the colonists were on new land, the same rules applied to them and they did not possess the freedom to reject Parliament’s decree. Parliament wrote the Quartering Act of 1765 that the colonists “are hereby required to billet and quarter the officers and soldiers, in his Majesty's service, in the barracks provided by the colonies.” The colonists were forced, by their “Majesty” across the ocean in England, to provide the soldiers with food, shelter, transportation and other necessities while they resided in America. This action took away the colonists privacy and the right to object the commands placed by the British. The Quartering Act was put into action merely for the benefits of the Parliament and interfered significantly with colonists’ rights. In addition to the lack of privacy, the Townshend Act created many conflicts with the already poor economy in the colonies. The Townshend Act required the colonists to pay taxes on the imported goods from England including tea, glass, paper, and more. Parliament’s new act led to more sacrifices of the colonists’ money and also inconveniences since, “in March 1768, a small committee of Boston merchants gather[ed] to formalize their grievances and propose a solution: they stop[ped] importing and selling British goods.” The boycott was inconvenient since the colonists lacked important good

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