American Revolution Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

American Revolution - Essay Example Albeit the British introduced slavery in America, the people who were enslaved in America were not its citizens but rather Africans who were brought into the country through slave trade. Thus, the intention to enslave was not the main driver of the circumstances that led to the events in 1775. Instead, it was the attempts of the British to impose series of high and unjust taxes that led to the events of 1763 to 1775 that formally begun with the shot at Lexington. (Countryman, 2003). It was further fueled by the British attempt to tighten control over the colonies particularly in their respond to the Boston Tea Party incident that led to a clash that resulted to the death of five individuals. These deaths fueled the dormant resentment of the colonies that instead of quelling a rebellion, it broke out into a full scale War of Independence that freed American from the clutches of British colonizers. It is important to understand that before 1763, the British Empire was also embroiled in another costly war which was the French and Indian War of which the British thought that it was reasonable to impose a tax on its thirteen American colonies to help finance and defray the cost of the war. The Americans however saw it to be unjust and excessive. They viewed it as â€Å"Taxation without representation† or a tax imposed and enforced just to raise revenue at the expense of American taxpayers. These â€Å"taxation without representation† was composed of series of Acts which begun with the Stamp Act which was passed by the British Parliament in 1765 to impose stamp duties in the thirteen American colonies occupied by the British empire to compel America to share the burden of cost of the French and Indian War. This measure was heavily petitioned by colonial leaders for the Parliament and King George III to repeal it. This was later repealed but another tax measure followed which is the Townshend Acts which was passed by the British Parliament in January of 1967. This law included Revenue Act of 1767, the Indemnity Act and New York Restraining Act which was again imposed to raise revenue to finance the war and to assert British sovereignty over its colony by taxing them. This law so unpopular that it was met with resistance in Boston prompting the British troops to garrison it led to clash with the mob on on March  5, 1770 where five colonists perished that fueled the impending revolution. There was also another tax measure that was imposed on the American colonies which probably precipitated the War of Independence. This tax measure was called the Tea Act, the precursor of the famous Boston Tea Party, which gave the British company British East India Company to have a virtual monopoly on all teas that were exported to the American colonies (Yale Law Schol, 2008). This revenue measure was so unpopular that businessmen cancelled orders. The Massachusetts governor however was bent in imposing it and forced Boston harbor to receive the tea cargoes and to force payment for such goods. Finally, in the evening of December 16, 1773, sixty men disguised as American Indians boarded the ships that carried tea and threw all the shipment of tea into the waters. We know this event now as the Boston Tea Party which was one of the key events that led to the War of Independence. The method of protest was justifiable from the point of view of the Americans because they are undermining the very goods that are subject of their complaints.

Implementation of the Final Solution Research Paper

Implementation of the Final Solution - Research Paper Example The uniqueness of the Holocaust lies in its motivation - in the fact that for Nazi regime the removal of the Jews was a sine qua non of the survival of mankind, a matter of global, if not cosmic, importance, and not an ordinary political matter.2 The Final Solution and the Holocaust were unique genocides of the Jewish people, unique for its magnitude and the "rationality" of their processes. To achieve its goals of Jews' elimination, the Final Solution "rationally" targeted nation's most vulnerable and vital members - women and children. On 20 January 1942, Chaired by Reinhard Heydrich, the Wannsee Conference played host to nine high-ranking officials, five senior SS chiefs, and local party bureaucrats from across the Third Reich. Serving as the chief dignitary and ranking member of the SS, Heydrich explained that "in view of the extreme importance of the subject, a consensus of opinion is reached regarding the "'Final Solution.'"3 From the historical perspective, there is an ongoing historical debate as to when the decision was made for the "Final Solution." Many historians argue that when Hitler made his "prophecy" speech of January 30th, 1939, he had already decided on the "Final Solution." Christian Gerlach has argued for a different timeframe, however, suggesting the decision was made by Hitler on December 12, 1941, when he addressed a meeting of the Nazi Party and of regional party leaders.4 In addition, Gerlach argued that Hitler had not decided on what the true "Final Solution" was until the euphoria of vict ory swept over the German leadership in the summer of 1942 in the wake of the anticipated victory over Russia. Historians on the Holocaust largely agree that the policies and strategies of the Final Solution has been prepared and practically tested some time before the year 1942. They took the form of deportations, ghettos, and euthanasia programs. Although the deportations and the ghettos can be called murderous solutions in their own right, they were not the Final Solution. The ghettos themselves were just temporary holding pens until a more "permanent solution" was developed. The development of the "permanent solution" started with the Einsatzgruppen. The Einsatzgruppen were squads composed primarily of German SS and police personnel. Under the command of the German Security Police (Sicherheitspolizei or Sipo) and Security Service (Sicherheitsdienst or SD) officers, the Einsatzgruppen had among their primary objectives the elimination of those considered to be racial or political enemies found the occupied zones, Soviet Union territories particularly. These victims included Jews, Roma (Gyp sies), and officials of the Soviet state and the Soviet Communist party. The Einsatzgruppen also murdered thousands of residents of institutions for the mentally and physically disabled. Many scholars believe that the systematic killing of Jews in the occupied Soviet Union by Einsatzgruppen and Order Police (Ordnungspolizei) battalions was the first step of the "Final Solution," the Nazi program to murder all European Jews. However, some scholars such as Dina Port contend that the Final