The Untold Story of American Independence - Part 7

Let us review the previous six posts.

The colonists were tired of being told what to do by the British government (king) on the other side of the ocean. The English crown wanted the colonists to pay a large share of the costs incurred from and after the French and Indian War, so they put upon the colonists taxes like the Sugar Act of 1764, the Stamp Act of 1765 and others as a means to collect what they wanted. Other “burdens” (The Quartering Act, Townshend Acts, Coercive Acts) were also placed upon the colonists. At the same time, the colonists wanted a voice in British parliament or at least the ability to vote for a representative. But like with other British colonies, this did not happen. Through rally cries like “No taxation without representation”; incitement from men like Samuel Adams, Patrick Henry and Thomas Paine for the colonies to be independent and free from English rule; raids and other acts of violence akin to the Boston Tea Party; and other unlawful and disobedient acts, the Declaration of Independence was written and the Revolutionary War begun. The end result? The colonies became free and independent of British rule.
 

Most would say that the colonists had the right to rebel. They may even say that America was established by Pilgrims and others who wanted to be free by governmental control. On the surface, that may appear to be true. However, we learn the following from many sources, including The American Adventure: A History of the United States, Vol. 1 by David S, Muzzey (1927 - pps. 21-22), “In accordance with the accepted doctrine of the age of discovery, mariners and explorers were in the king’s service, and the lands which they might find were taken possession of in the name and for the use of the sovereign. So John Cabot’s discovery of Labrador in 1497 constituted the title of the English crown to the whole continent of America. During the seventeenth century the Stuart kings parceled out the American coast to various chartered companies or individual proprietors or boards of proprietors, granting them not only the right to the soil but also various powers of government.” Companies like the Virginia Company were given charters and patents to settle in the “New World.” This company was given one in 1606 by King James I and resulted in the establishing of Jamestown, Virginia in 1607. The Pilgrims, who came over on the Mayflower and established Plymouth Colony in 1620, received a land patent from the London Company of Virginia in 1619 to settle in the Virginia territory.

What is interesting to note is that the charter for the Massachusetts Bay Colony was similar to the Virginia charter. The Massachusetts charter granted complete English citizenship to those born in the colony as well as to the settlers. It also gave the Massachusetts Bay Company and its members the authority to appoint a governor and a legislative assembly, an assembly which could pass any laws it wanted as long as they did go contrary to the laws and statutes of England.  

The article continues, “The king never meant that either soil or inhabitants should pass out of the control of the crown. Companies and proprietors exercised only a delegated authority. We have constant examples in the early history of the colonies of the interposition of the will of the king. He stopped emigrant vessels in the Thames, requiring the passengers to take the oath of allegiance before sailing to America. He repeatedly sent commissioners to the colonies to carry his royal commands and to conduct investigations of the government." Research shows that the 13 original colonies were considered to be "Crown colonies", colonies with the least autonomy and with a Governor over each that was appointed by the Monarch. However, when it comes to the American colonies, oversight "was far from perfect. Organs of administration were lacking both in the colonies and in England to maintain the authority of the crown.” This was due to several factors such as separation of the lands by the Atlantic Ocean as well as wars being fought by the British which took attention away from the colonies.

The British government’s void in governing the colonies naturally resulted in the colonies governing how they wanted. And when the British government began to realize even more their negligence in governing the colonies and started to organize proper governance of the them, the colonists natural reaction was to rebel, like when the parents of a teenager try too late to rein in a wayward child.

With that said, we will see from the Scriptures – the Holy Bible, God’s word – in our next post how God views their intentions and whether or not their acts leading up to and including the separation were righteous acts in His eyes.