Kevin Iskandar

History 7A
Professor Daehwan Lee

Document Interpretation 3: Taxation without Representation

The document titled James Otis, The Rights of the British Colonies Asserted and Proved
informs the reader about James Otis belief that human rights can be acquired through the
existence of God. This historical document is written by Otis himself in 1764.

In his document, he states that God is omnipotent, omniscient, infinitely good and gracious
Creator of the universe. In addition, Otis strongly believes that the government system is
established to help achieve the greater good for the people based on natural law. James Otis can
be regarded as one of the most influential person in US history since he is an advocate of
equality and peace. Otis defends the Americans against the brutal and oppressive British
colonists. According to Brands chapter 5, the British agree that the Parliament must have
ultimate authority and the Americans are not represented at all.

Even though some contemporaries of Otis may misinterpret the document as a clear expression
of the rights of British citizens in both Britain and the colonies, I personally feel like it is some
sort of radical challenge to the authority of parliament and the king. This is because it can be
seen throughout the document that Otis has been building up anger and resentment towards the
parliament and the injustice British kings for a long period of time. In the document, Otis
mentions that every prince had been a tyrant and it would not prove a right to tyrannize. This
explains why Otis is strongly opposing the idea of tyranny since he believes that God the
omnipotent has set us free.
According to Brands page 480, the goal is to preserve these God given rightslife, property,
and liberty. An example that demonstrates the unfair behavior is the Navigation Acts. The
British has a huge amount of debt that needs to be settled. Hence, the British parliament tries to
reduce colonial trade and force American colonies to pay higher amount of tax. The British
parliament is in total control. As a result, this makes the Americans, including James Otis to be
furious which eventually catalyzes the revolution. In Brands textbook page 110, it states that
James Otis, a fiery orator from Massachusetts, exclaimed the legislation deprived Americans of
the right of assessing their own taxes. Otis believe that the role of government is to provide the
people a sense of enjoyment, liberty, and property. In the document, Otis mentions civil
government is of God and for the good of the whole. This is completely opposite on what
Otis has hoped for, which in reality, the British parliament clearly portrays a power abuse.

Based on what I have analyzed, I personally believe that this document expresses James Otis
challenge towards the king and parliament. Otis blames King George III and the parliament for
violating the Americans rights. King George demonstrates abuse of power through a very injustice
behavior towards the American colonies. According to one of the John Green videos, the law of
nature states that God has created us equal and have the rights to be free, no matter what the skin
color is. Another injustice behaviors are the Americans are not represented in the parliament and
forced to pay higher amount of taxes. These can be used as strong evidence of violations of
Americans rights that are cause by King George and the parliament.