Mob Action In Colonial America

1. The claim that “Mother countries exist for the benefit of their colonies” has some reasonable claims. A colony provides a great amount of wealth to the mother country, through trade and tax. The further growth of a colony only multiplies the amount of benefit the mother country receives. If a colony is given the ability and the assistance from the mother country to trade and manufacture on its own then the increased growth only helps to bring in more for the mother country. If England decided to allow the colonies to trade with other countries and manufacture their own goods the immediate consequence would hurt the mother country. However, overall, putting the colony ahead of the mother country would allow the colonies to boom. The approach
I believe it is justifiable for people to take mob action against lawful measures if they deem it to be harmful or illegal. If something is lawful it does not mean that is it right and it could very well infringe on someone’s natural rights. However, if a group feels their rights are being harmed, it is not justifiable for them to take mob action against those that do not agree with them. Mob action should only be used on those perpetrating the harmful or illegal nature, not those that merely agree with the perpetrators. In the New York Tories case, the Sons of Liberty were justified to mob action in defense of their property rights, but their actions against the Tories were unjust because they were taking the Tories rights of life when the Tories were not the perpetrators of the harmful or illegal
If mob action fails in its pursuits than the action will most likely not be justifiable. The proposition of “He who strikes a king must strike to kill” shows that revolution and mob action require success to be justifiable. Acting against a greater power, like the King of England, requires that the outcome will be in your favor. Not defeating the Mother Country means that nothing has changed and the actions unjust. Therefore, the proposition holds true that an action against the King and the Mother Country must be absolute in nature. The proposition of Rebellion is a great crime- unless it succeeds” is not entirely true in terms of the American Revolution. In is true that if they succeed it is not a crime and if they fail it is a crime, but describing it as a great crime is not justifiable. If the colonies failed the British would still have to govern the people. They could not throw every man in jail or put troops in every house. The revolution happens in a place where the Mother Country is vastly outnumbered. Therefore, the removal of the perpetrators is unrealistic and could never happen. Some would be punished, but most would return to their lives without any major