Question

Why did the colonist believe they were justified in breaking away from British rule

Answer 1

The colonists believed that they were justified for breaking away from British rule because of their want for freedoms such as freedom of religion. Also, after the colonists had established themselves, they were upset with the taxation without representation by Great Britain, which is how the Declaration of Independence was born.

Answer 2

The Declaration states that “whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it . . .” This means that, according to the creators of the Declaration, the main purpose of government was to protect and uphold the rights of citizens. If a government fails the people it governs, those people have the right to rebel and overthrow the government. The colonists included a long list of grievances they had with British rule. These included unfair taxes and no representation in British Parliament. To the colonists, their treatment at the hands of the British government was an abuse of power that gave them the justification to break away and form their own government.

Plato