{"id":2215,"date":"2026-07-08T11:08:53","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T11:08:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/corporate-movers-usa.com\/?p=2215"},"modified":"2026-07-08T11:08:53","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T11:08:53","slug":"the-real-reason-the-colonists-declared-independence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/corporate-movers-usa.com\/?p=2215","title":{"rendered":"The real reason the colonists declared independence"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<div><audio><\/audio><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>This month marks the 250<sup>th<\/sup> anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, an anniversary well worth celebrating. It is not, however, the anniversary of the start of the American Revolution. That began on April 19, 1775, with the battles of Lexington and Concord Bridge. It took over a year of fighting to convince colonists to accept that the time for compromise, for reconciliation, for any kind of reversion to the previous state of existence \u2014 for half-measures \u2014 was gone and the only path forward was independence. <\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/corporate-movers-usa.com\/?p=2213\">After the flood | Inquirer South Jersey<\/a><\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>That\u2019s where Thomas Paine and <i>Common Sense <\/i>played a role. Since his arrival in Philadelphia in 1774, Paine had watched American politicians try to reason with England, hoping to reshape the relationship with George III and with Parliament, rather than to sever it. It did not work. \u201cWhy is it that we hesitate?,\u201d Paine asked his readers. \u201cFrom Britain we can expect nothing but ruin.\u201d<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>Paine wrote <i>Common Sense<\/i> at the end of 1775 \u2014 between when the Revolution began and when the colonists declared independence \u2014 and he wrote specifically to convince the colonists to break their ties with England. \u201cNothing can settle our affairs so expeditiously,\u201d he told his readers, \u201cas an open and determined declaration for independence.\u201d <\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>In the winter of 1775-1776, a growing number of colonists were ready to meet the British Army on the battlefield. The colonists and the British government had been at odds with each other for a decade, fighting over taxes and over jurisdiction. The government in London, though, seemed only to be pushing things further to the brink, especially when they began stationing soldiers in Boston. <\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>Still, and much to Paine\u2019s chagrin, through the rest of 1775 most colonists thought that declaring independence was a step too far. Three months after the fighting began, when the Continental Congress set out to explain the \u201ccauses and necessity of taking up arms,\u201d they tried to assure \u201cour friends and fellow-subjects\u201d in the British Empire that \u201cwe mean not to dissolve that union which has so long and so happily subsisted between us, and which we sincerely wish to see restored \u2026 We have not raised armies with ambitious designs of separating from Great-Britain, and establishing independent states.\u201d <\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>Five months later, when Paine wrote <i>Common Sense<\/i>, he still worried that \u201cthe sentiments contained in the following pages, are not <i>yet<\/i> sufficiently fashionable to procure them general favor.\u201d And so, Paine made a case not just outlining England\u2019s crimes, but also explaining why they had rendered any sort of half-measure or compromise impossible. <\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>We tend to associate the lead-up to the American Revolution with the colonists\u2019 complaints about British taxes and duties, which certainly led to disputes about jurisdiction and the relative authority of the crown and the colonial governments. We also remember the catch-phrase of the era, \u201cno taxation without representation. <\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>Those debates and those issues, though, were not part of <i>Common Sense<\/i>. Paine focused on what, for him, was Britain\u2019s unforgivable crime: setting the British Army against the colony\u2019s own citizens. \u201cThe independancy of America,\u201d Paine wrote, \u201cshould have been considered, as dating its \u00e6ra from, and published by, <i>the first musket that was fired against her<\/i>.\u201d<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>This was a point that Paine returned to again and again. <\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>\u201cNo man was a warmer wisher for reconciliation than myself before the fatal nineteenth of April 1775.\u201d But once he learned that British troops had attacked the people of Lexington and Concord, he knew that \u201ca new era for politics is struck; a new method of thinking hath arisen. All plans, proposals, &amp; c. prior to the nineteenth of April \u2026 are like the almanacks of the last year; which, though proper then, are \u2026 useless now.\u201d As for King George II, \u201cI rejected the hardened, sullen tempered Pharaoh of England for ever; and disdain the wretch, that with the pretended title of father of his people can unfeelingly hear of their slaughter, and composedly sleep with their blood upon his soul.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/corporate-movers-usa.com\/?p=2211\">The mall is adding 7 new retailers | Inquirer Cherry Hill<\/a><\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>Paine\u2019s message was clear: setting troops against the people demanded resistance. And <i>this<\/i> message was the key to getting the colonies to unite and declare independence. The disputes about taxes and jurisdiction went back to 1765. The colonists\u2019 leaders had fought British policies on every issue, without ever wanting to stop being a part of the British Empire. But now that the British had sent their own army against the colony\u2019s British citizens, Paine\u2019s calls for independence found an eager audience among American readers.<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>When Paine wrote of moderates calling for reconciliation with England, he urged them to think closely about the violence which the British Army had inflicted on the colonists, and if that level of violence had made reconciling impossible. \u201cTell me,\u201d he wrote, \u201cwhether you can hereafter love, honour, and faithfully serve the power that hath carried fire and sword into your land?\u201d <\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>In January 1776, his answer was no. In July 1776, that became the Continental Congress\u2019s answer, as well \u2014 colonists from New Hampshire to Georgia were united enough in their horror at the British army\u2019s violence that they declared their independence not as 13 colonies, but as 13 united states.<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>This concern about state-sanctioned violence resonates again today. Paine\u2019s reference to British soldiers as \u201cHighwaymen and Housebreakers\u201d brings up images of agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement barging into homes without warrants and dragging out their terrified inhabitants. <\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>In 2026, there is no foreign power from which we can declare independence, but as state violence persists, so too does the legacy of resistance by colonists who heeded Paine\u2019s call to reject Britain\u2019s \u201clong and violent abuse of power.\u201d<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p><i>The \u201cRoad to 250\u201d series is an initiative of Historians for 2026, a group of early American academics, public historians, archivists, and educators devoted to shaping an accurate, inclusive, and just public memory of the American Founding for the 250th anniversary. <\/i><\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p><i>Noah Shusterman is associate professor of history at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He is the author most <\/i>recently of <i>Armed Citizens: The Road from Ancient Rome to the Second Amendment<\/i>.<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p><i>Made by History<\/i><i> takes readers beyond the headlines with articles written and edited by professional historians. Opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of The Inquirer.<\/i><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/corporate-movers-usa.com\/?p=2208\">Shaped by sorrow | Sports Daily Newsletter<\/a><\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>While school children learn about taxation without representation, Thomas Paine&#8217;s Common Sense reminds that it was Britain&#8217;s use of troops against the colonists that pushed them over the edge.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2214,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The real reason the colonists declared independence - 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