Revolutionary War Dbq Essay

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The principles and the goals of the revolutionary war are mostly stated in the Declaration of Independence. More specifically, the reasons people fought the Revolutionary War were: to separate themselves from the British tyranny or arbitrary power, to create their own systems of government, to allow the consent of being governed, and to gain natural rights. Based on these principles, the constitution, a well organized and detailed document, provides a stronger reflection of the revolutionary principles when compared to the Articles of Confederation. A main reason why many colonist fought this revolutionary war was to separate themselves from the British tyranny or arbitrary power. Just before the revolutionary war, Thomas Paine, galvanized…show more content…
After the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, the first original constitution, also known as the Articles of Confederation, was adopted by the First Continental Congress on November 15, 1777. However, the original constitution had many weaknesses. the confederation gave states’ sovereignty, but it was a loose system without an effective central government.[“Declaration and Resolves of the First Continental Congress, 1904, I, 63](Document A) In addition, the confederation excluded the right to tax. According to the letter from George Washington to James Madison [Washington, Writings, XXIX, 52](Document E), George Washington noticed that the Articles of Confederation was not working, and the Shays’ rebellion was a main reflection of the Confederation weaknesses. The Shay’s rebellion was caused by the excessive land taxation and economic depressions in the state, which were the main of results of having a weak central government. In addition, Thomas Jefferson warned the continuation of the Confederation will eventually cause chaos and rebellions between states if there is no strong central government to control the affairs of the states.[Jefferson, Papers, XII, 356](Document F) But, learning from this lesson, the founding fathers were able to create the Constitution that both allowed a strong central government and state’s sovereignty.(Document

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