Actions of King George III and Thomas Jefferson's justification for American independence

Independence and Constitution

Declaration of Independence to the Constitution

When the American colonies declared their independence from Great Britain the Declaration of Independence stated a number of specific violations of the colonist's rights that British King George III that committed against the colonies. These were stated as the reason behind the American's right to rebel and replace the British government with one of their own. Several years later, after the Americans had won their independence through a long and bitter war, they achieved their goal of forming their own permanent government. After a period of experimentation, the Americans finally formulated a Constitution which would be the basis of the new country. In the Constitution of the United States, the Founding Fathers specifically addressed the abuses of King George III by inserting provisions that would make it impossible for any American government to repeat those abuses. What the Founding Fathers created was a nation where the government was restricted by ethical boundaries which protected the individual.

Many of the grievances presented by Thomas Jefferson when he wrote the Declaration of Independence had to do with the King not allowing the passing of laws which the colonists viewed as "most wholesome and necessary for the public good." ("Declaration of Independence") The colonists, and the governors of the colonies, were forbidden from passing laws "till his Assent should be obtained," something that could take months or even years. ("Declaration of Independence") Another, somewhat related grievance came in the form of the treatment the colonial legislatures received from the King. The Declaration asserts that the King called legislatures in places that made the work difficult "for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance…" ("Declaration of Independence") The King also periodically dissolved these legislatures without reason and refused to allow new legislatures to be elected.

But it was not only the legislative problems that brought about the Revolution but the colonists viewed King George as purposefully limiting the population of the colonies. According to the Declaration, the King accomplished this through laws which obstructed the naturalization of foreigners and the restrictions placed on "New Appropriations of Lands." ("Declaration") The King also was accused of waging war against his own citizens, quartering troops among the colonists, restricting American trade, denying colonists the right to trial by jury, and arbitrarily removing the colonies' original charters and "altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments…" ("Declaration of Independence")

According to the principles of the Enlightenment, rulers like King George had an ethical obligation to protect their people from abuses as described in the Declaration of Independence. Thomas Jefferson was a student of the Enlightenment and its moral doctrine, and thus many historians have concluded that he "held to moral-sense doctrine in its classic form." (Wills, 2002, p. 204) As a result of the King's inability, or unwillingness, to perform the actions that he was ethically obligated to perform, the American colonists felt that they had the right to rebel against that King and replace him with a more ethical form of government. This is the purpose of listing the grievances against the King in the Declaration of Independence, the unethical actions of the King have made it necessary to become independent; to gain "political separation" from that King. (Armitage, 2007, p. 4) And when the Americans finally got around to establishing their own form of government, they made certain that those abuses listed in the Declaration of Independence would not be repeated by any new American form of government.

In order to redress the grievances presented in the Declaration of Independence, the Founding Fathers created the Constitution of the United States. In this document was the blueprint for an ethical form of government that would not commit the same grievances against the American people. In order to solve the problem of the King not allowing the election of legislatures and the passage of necessary laws, the Constitution calls for the establishment of a Congress consisting of two houses. ("U.S. Constitution." art. I, sec.1) It also spells out the procedures for the election of these representatives as well as establishes the principle that elections will take place at regular intervals. In order to prevent the accumulation of power in any one part of government, the Constitution lays out the three branches of government which are to act as "checks and balances." (Epstein, 2007, p. 8) The Founding Fathers feared the power of government being used in an arbitrary and consistent way, as King George was accused of doing, so they made certain to list the specific powers restricted to each branch of government. For instance, in order to maintain an independent judiciary, it was made a separate branch of government with its own rights and obligations. ("U.S. Constitution," art. III) And in order to maintain its independence, Judges were to be appointed by the executive branch, but approved by the Legislative branch, thus ensuring that the President's lackeys did not fill important judiciary positions.

Besides granting powers to the government and providing instructions on how the government should operate, the Constitution also prohibits the government from doing certain things. For instance, "the Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended," as the King was accused of doing. ("U.S. Constitution," art. I, sec.9) And the government was specifically restricted from performing any action that was not specifically granted to them in the Constitution. In order to address some of the more mundane grievances of the Americans, the Constitution allowed for new parts, or amendments, to be added and provided for a process to do so. In the Amendments that have followed adoption of the U.S. Constitution are certain provision which address some of the grievances not directly addressed in the Constitution such as restricting the quartering of troops, unreasonable searches and seizures of property, granting the right to free speech and assembly, the right to trials by juries, and the right to keep and bear arms. ("Bill of Rights")