Political Science 2244E Chapter Notes - Chapter 2: Daniel Shays, American Revolution, Direct Grant Grammar School

• School: Western University
• Department: Political Science
• Course: Political Science 2244E
• Professor: Peter A Ferguson

Document Summary

The goal of the american revolution was liberty. What the american colonists sought to protect when they signed the declaration of. Men will seek power, many colonists believed, because they are ambitious, greedy, and easily corrupted. The liberties the colonists fought to protect were, they thought, widely understood. They were based not on the generosity of the king or the language of statutes but on a (cid:862)higher la(cid:449)(cid:863) e(cid:373)(cid:271)od(cid:455)i(cid:374)g (cid:862)(cid:374)atural rights(cid:863) that (cid:449)ere ordai(cid:374)ed (cid:271)(cid:455) god, dis(cid:272)o(cid:448)era(cid:271)le i(cid:374) nature and history, and essential to human progress. The declaration was in essence a law(cid:455)er"s (cid:271)rief, prefa(cid:272)ed (cid:271)(cid:455) a stirri(cid:374)g philosophi(cid:272)al claim that the rights being violated were unalienable that is, based on nature and. Providence, and not on the whims or preferences of people. The real revolution, as john adams afterward explained in a letter to a friend, was the (cid:862)radi(cid:272)al (cid:272)ha(cid:374)ge i(cid:374) the pri(cid:374)(cid:272)iples, opi(cid:374)io(cid:374)s, se(cid:374)ti(cid:373)e(cid:374)ts, a(cid:374)d affe(cid:272)tio(cid:374)s of the people. (cid:863)