Declaring America

The owner of revolutionary ideas concerning the natural rights of man and the social
contract, that is what I am to the people. My name is John Locke and this is my story.

The wind is howling of fear in the state of Massachusetts. As Im looking out to

the cold emotionless buildings, I started reminiscing what this world has become. It all
started because of what I had ended, my life-long journey of politics, philosophy and
lots and lots of inevitably important questions.
I was born inside a small village called Wrighton, Somerset in England. The year
was 1632, just a tad before the English Civil War. When I was born, my father worked as
a lawyer, but he was sent to fight on the Parliamentarian side of the war. My parents
were pure Puritans, they were fighting for the protestant movement within the Church.
As they had connections with the government, I was lucky enough to be put in
Westminster School, an elite school in London. Getting that great education majorly
helped pursue my dream of becoming a doctor, and studying at Oxford. During my
university years, I met a person who would undoubtedly steer my life into a whole new
direction. His name was Anthony Ashley Cooper, later to be renowned as Earl of
Shaftsbury. He was truly an ambitious politician. Once he came to Oxford to cure his
liver disease. That was how we became acquainted. He then asked me to move to
London with him to become his personal physician. At the time, I was also assisting his
business and political matters. After Shaftsbury was declared a chancellor, I became his
Secretary of Presentations, debates and such. My life grew more and more involved in
politics. Shaftsbury has engraved in me his political thoughts and outlook on society.
And that lead me to become a political philosopher I am today.

Now, the Brits have came here to form an alliance, but the Americans have sent
waves of reproach and oensiveness lately. The Brits has to take control over the
colonies, arming their forces, getting ready for battle. They needed to be able to handle
if any rebellions break out, which it probably will, because the colonies would not put
up with the British Rule. Englands legal power to tax is rather debatable, making the
colonies oppose that they should not be taxed without representation. As humans, we
have rights to fight for what we agree or disagree, even under such control. I think it is
fair to rebel considering what they have done to them; take away their freedom and
charge unreasonably high taxes.
 I have talked about this issue with my fellow political philosopher friend,
Voltaire. I met him in England when he was exiled from France, because he was the
outspoken supporter of social reform which was against the authorities. He has always
been on the peoples side, without fearing the government. He agreed with that
movement because its purpose was similar to his ideas, the idea of free trade and civil
liberties, which eventually supports mine too.

Britain couldnt stand the rebellions any longer. Instead of giving the Americans
what they wanted, they kept enforcing the taxations. The Stamp Act which was
responsible for taxing legal documents, newspapers, even playing cards, was established.
That was a part of the Townshend Duties, which included the taxes on paint, paper, tea,
etc. While the British army were occupying Boston, they failed to control the
increasing amount of rebellions and street fights. One fight between soldiers and the
mob in particular has left five patriots dead. The event was known commonly as the
Boston Massacre among Americans. Towards them , it was harrowing to lose five lives
to Britain, but this would be a stimulating cause of the American Revolution later on.
British would call it The Incident on King Street. As Massachusetts was greatly
impacted by the war, many turned to sympathize.
Soon enough, the Committees of Correspondence was established throughout
the colonies to harmonize American response to British colonial policy. After Britain
has announced they would help any Americans who are on their side. The nation was
suddenly split in two; patriots and loyalists. The patriots would fight for Americas
independence, while the loyalists would support Britain to stay out of trouble. African
Americans who were slaves would seek their freedom by becoming loyalists.

After the Incident on King Street, many minor wars have broken out. Starting at
Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts. American people came up with several
actions to pull away from Great Britain. Delegates proceeded to draw up the famous
document, known globally as the Declaration of Independence. I like to think that
this book was inspired by my idea that every person should have their own rights.
During the ongoing Revolutionary war, I came to know that France was secretly
helping America. They were sending supplies in revenge of Britain when they took the
French land back in the Seven Years War.
This sparked the anger of loyalists, as they were losing their rights as the
colonists had more power. At the peak of their force, there were over 500,000 loyalists
around the states, most were located in the middle colonies. The loyalists power was
constantly decreasing in contrast with the patriots, who were getting more and more
recognition.
 Ten years of overly unjust taxations, a year of continuous wars, American
representatives would not follow the oppressing British rules anymore. They finally
gained enough people on their side to ocially declare their liberty. On September 3,
1783, The Treaty of Paris was signed and declared the American Revolution over.
Though it took a year to completely be approved. Britain finally let the Thirteen
Colonies free and continue as independent states. They would no longer have any claim
on the land or government. The American authorities started to provide army to defend
their hard-earned nation. The congress voted to start printing money once again. The
Constitution was also created by the U.S. representatives, with the main goal of
creating a powerful enough government to run the country. They branched the
government and distributed the power accordingly. This would protect the citizens and
secure their basic rights. I certainly agreed with the fact the Americans were finally
given the freedom and human rights they deserved. Plus, the Constitution also made
people afraid of breaking rules.
What was left were the thirteen British colonies which formed their own nation
over the east coast. The Declaration of Independences consequences were not only
positive. It took a long time to colonize all of the land, in the meantime King Phillps
war started and around 3000 Native Americans were killed, captured and shipped o to
slavery.

The revolution itself had a great impact on Great Britain. The British prime
ministry became unstable, kings had risen and fallen on a regular basis. Britain was
scared to lose more colonies who would follow what America had done. They finally
reached that point of paranoia and imposed stronger regulations on Ireland, their own
faithful neighbor.
The Revolution also led to increasing unemployment and stopped all trades
between America and Britain, which included some of their best customers. But that
loss was not as strong as the Great Britains loss. Britains export and import rates
became disproportional as trade routes to America was suddenly discontinued.
Although Britain was quick enough to get back on track by trading with the rest of
their colonies. Moreover, the British military was reputed as one of the strongest in the
18th century, but after they lost the American Revolution, they became less and less
popular. However, it did have some positive eects, such as education which has been
looked upon as more necessary. It also noticeably divided the church and the state,
which is one of the consequences of rationalism. Though rationalism did not directly
oppose the idea of religion, it influenced the Americans to think for themselves, relying
on logic rather than repeatedly told beliefs. Although I do not agree that rationalism is
always good, because it leads to people not rethinking their actions and learning to
develop through experiences.
This revolution might have proven my theory that the governments duty is to
secure under control peoples rights and represent what they want, not fight back and
put the country in a state of war every time there are conflicts or opposition. As that
was the leading cause of wars spreading out throughout the states and throughout the
decade. I may look at this period in history as a lesson for future conflict resolutions. As
knowledge is gained from experience, rather than innate, people should have realized
that there were many wars like this that happened before that caused severe
consequences to humans and their countries. We should learn from our mistakes not to
let history repeat itself.

Finally, this long, hard-fought series of wars has come to an end. How long has it
been? The time wasted with the war on power, money, alliance, loyalty, betrayal and
lives concerning independence. Chaos that once consumed not only one but two
countries. Some has lost themselves during the state of war, some has fought. It is
almost as if a calm after a storm. After all, the people are what drives the country
forward, freedom must be a necessity and no longer a privilege.
Im glad that me, myself and my ideas, took part in a great revolution like this.
Even though the revolution has ended, the thoughts and intentions of people, who
devoted their lives to enhance numerous peoples lives, will still pass on to the next
generations, I believe. The American Revolution has totally changed ways of American
life, it changes the aspect of their rights, freedom and independence, it encourages
people to stand for their rights, even sacrifice is imposed. Likewise, it has influenced
other countries too. I knew that after French military has stealthily helped and kept
their eyes on this event, their citizens who are facing similar problems became more
martial, I think now theyre willing to fight and against the authorities for their
ambitions too. Maybe one day there will be another great revolution happened, who
knows...

__________________________________________________________________
References

American Revolution. (n.d.). Retrieved October 04, 2017, from http://

www.ducksters.com/history/american_revolution.php

Markie, P. (2017, July 06). Rationalism vs. Empiricism. Retrieved October

04, 2017, from https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/rationalism-empiricism/

Age of Enlightenment. (n.d.). Retrieved October 04, 2017, from https://

www.khanacademy.org/humanities/monarchy-enlightenment/rococo/a/a-
beginners-guide-to-the-age-of-enlightenment

The Treaty of Paris. (n.d.). Retrieved October 04, 2017, from http://
www.ducksters.com/history/treaty_of_paris.php

Empiricism VS Rationalism. (n.d.). Retrieved October 04, 2017, from

http://www.mesacc.edu/~davpy35701/text/empm-v-ratm.html

Voltaire. (2016, October 28). Retrieved October 04, 2017, from https://
www.biography.com/people/voltaire-9520178

1st Earl of Shaftesbury. (2017, October 03). Retrieved October 04, 2017,
from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Anthony_Ashley_Cooper,_1st_Earl_of_Shaftesbury