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Sarah Reeves

Kenneth W. Christensen

English Composition I

February 1, 2010

The Price of Independence

I feel that Thomas Jefferson believed that the end justified the means, where the independence of the colonies was concerned. As long as the end result was a better life for the people, and I believe it was, then Thomas Jefferson and the men who wrote the Declaration of Independence did what they believed to be best. The means are the consequences of the Declaration of Independence and the end is the independence from Great Britain.

King George III was the type of ruler that Machiavelli warned the people about: what makes him hated above all else is being rapacious and a usurper of the property and the women of his subjects; he must refrain from this (Machiavelli 50). The king was taking money and women and land from his people and they were not going to stand for it anymore. These are the things that the king was accused of; these are the reasons that Thomas Jefferson was asked to write the Declaration of Independence. Those men assembled to write a document that would free the colonists from their cruel ruler.

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It is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security (Jefferson 81). I dont know that there is a better example of where the end justifies the means. The men who gathered to write this Declaration were able to look past the immediate future and see that the future generations would benefit from the independence even more than their current generation. They saw that the ruler they were following was not a good leader, that he was the kind of ruler that Machiavelli did not like. He taxed the people, made them house troops in peacetime, limited trade with other parts of the world, and undermined any sort of justice system that was in place. They believed that the lives lost in pursuit of that freedom would not be lost in vain, that the lives would not be wasted. They believed that a price could not be put on freedom, which I believe is true. The fact that those men were able to see how their independence from Great Britain would benefit the futures of the people is truly amazing. They were able to make that all-important decision and end the tyranny they were living under, which is something Machiavelli warned would happen if a ruler abused his power. And well-organized states and wise princes have, with great diligence, taken care not to anger the nobles and to satisfy the common people and keep them contented; for this is one of the most important concerns that a prince has (Machiavelli 55). If the king had taken the time to listen to what his people had to say and what they wanted, and maybe taken those things into consideration, then the Declaration of Independence would not have needed to be written.

The men who made up that original Congress felt that the suffering and hardships felt by the general population would be less detrimental than to continue to live under British rule. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our

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Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends (Jefferson 83). They knew it was necessary for the future of the colonies that they separate totally and completely from Great Britain. The king was only going to continue to abuse his power and use it against the people of the colonies. Again, the ends justify the means. If they did not separate from Great Britain, they would be forced to live under the rule of the King, which was not acceptable to them. Maybe if the king had paid some attention to what Machiavelli said about being a good and respected leader, the men of that first Congress would not have felt the need to write that declaration. If the king had been a better king and person, things would have been different. The end justifies the means. I dont think there is a better statement to sum up the Declaration of Independence or to show how Machiavelli was justified in his thinking. The men who wrote that all-important piece of literature believed it to be true. Machiavelli believed it to be true. Machiavelli was able to explain this from a rulers point of view and the men who wrote the Declaration of Independence were able to explain the peoples point of view. As long as the end is to be a result that is noble and in the best interest of all involved, then the end justifies the means.