Why I Would Not Have Been a Traitor

If you lived in the American Colonies 232 years ago you where in quite a quandary, a few days ago a large group of your fellow citizens decided that they were going to commit treason and rebel against the duly anointed King. You’ve got to ask yourself one question, do I stay loyal? Well do ya, punk?

It is easy in 2008 to know what the right answer is, the USA is the world leader in basically everything and we have done very well for ourselves. However, in 1776 this was not the case; it would be the equivalent of Appalachia wanting to declare independence from the United States. In 1776 Great Brittan was the world’s largest and strongest empire. Eventually the empire would be large that the sun would never set on the British Empire.

Had I been a colonist at that time there is no way I would have joined the rebellion. Taxation without representation would not have been enough for me to commit treason. When you look at it, we pay taxes now; do you feel better about paying those taxes because you are represented?

The British tax was so much easier then the one we have now, you were simply taxed on the tea that you drank it would be a present day equivalent of a tax on beer. Last time I checked neither tea nor beer was an essential item but rather a luxury. If my government could get all the revenue it needed by taxing beer then tax my beer. Given the choice of taxation with representation that makes no sense or taxation and no representation that seems fair, I will take the taxation with no representation please.

Finally, why did Great Brittan need to tax the colonies when for so long it had not done so? Well, prior to 1776 the Colonies faced a threat from the French and their Indian allies in the west. The seven years of conflict in the French and Indian War nearly bankrupted the empire. The Colonies were now safe because of the victory but the government was broke. Great Brittan needed to replenish its treasury and the colonies seemed like a logical place to begin, after all it was the citizens on the other side of the Atlantic that benefited the most.

The only reason Parliament did not tax the colonies before was because they wanted to give them an opportunity to grow and expand, taxing them would have made it less desirable for business people to move to the New World. Brittan gained a lot from its colonies so there was no need to tax them until after the costs of the French and Indian War.

Perhaps if I had lived back then I could have done a better job of arguing the King’s position then the loyalist did and we could have avoided a war. It would have been hard, dispelling the spin from the radicals in Massachusetts (the Boston Massacre being the biggest hoax of all time) but I think I could have held my own; however that Sam Adams would have been a tough one.

In the end, I am glad that I was not there, it would have been a moral dilemma either way and ultimately I would have been on the losing side, something that really bothers me (like 1992 and 1996). By breaking free of Great Brittan the United States was able to experiment with a form of government for the people and by the people that would change the world.

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