Second Continental Congress

The French and Indian war is now complete and the United States is ready to achieve independence, but the British stand in the way. The British crown still had governmental power over the United States at the time. Britain began heavily taxing Americans in order for money to repay debts from French and Indian war. British incidents such as the Boston Massacre, the Tea Act, and the Intolerable Acts all pushed the American citizens over the edge to attempt independence from Britain. Americans were tired of strict British rule so they responded by the Boston Tea Party, writing of Common Sense, and boycotting on taxed British goods, yet these would all lead up to American Independence. Economic factors made up a large part of American and …show more content…
The Second Continental Congress was so important because it had all thirteen colonies represented and George Washington was selected to head the army in Boston. In 1776, the publication of Common Sense was released to the general public. Thomas Paine wrote this pamphlet to show why America needs to become independent. His pamphlet did not just call for independence, but it also called for a new government type called the republic. The republic would have governmental power come from the people instead of one single ruler. This pamphlet lead more Americans to seek independence which would lead to more governmental advances in order for American independence to be achieved. On July 4th, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was approved by Congress. This document went into detail on how the British king did not respect the natural rights that every person has; therefore, Americans had the right to rebel against the British government. America and Britain had two completely different views on governmental representation. Britain had a virtual representation while America had a territorial representation. Britain’s virtual representation meant that one representative in Britain represented a representative over in America while America’s territorial representation had committees such as the House of Burgesses represent a certain …show more content…
John Locke put together, what he called, the natural law theory. This theory consisted of five main points that are naturally given to every person on earth. Those theories can be summarized as all human beings have a reason for being on earth, all humans have inalienable rights, governments should be formed by people, any government must protect the rights of man, and rebellion by people is allowed if government fails to protect those rights. Locke’s theory of freedom inspired Thomas Jefferson to write Declaration of Independence. The American Revolution was known as a minority movement because many colonists were either apathetic or neutral. The Declaration of Independence and Common Sense were drafted in order to change these Loyalists’