American Revolution: Patriots = terrorists?

Boston Tea Party of 1774

In Social Studies class, we are now learning about the American Revolution. Today, we discussed about the Boston Tea Party that happened in December 1774. To protest against the taxation on tea, the patriots, or supporters of American independence, sneaked onto British ships and threw all the tea into the cold water of Boston Harbor. Were the patriots terrorists? From this questions asked in class, we discussed and made some connections to the modern world on the topic.

Terrorism, accord to the dictionary, refers to “the use of violence and intimidation in the pursuit of political aims.” In my opinions, toward the British government of the colonial times, the patriots were terrorists threatening the English rule on their colonies. This was revealed through the Boston Massacre three years before the Boston Tea Party. Accord to historical records, in 1770, the patriots armed themselves with clubs and other weapons to protest against the British army. I considered the act violence. Even in the Boston Tea Party, the patriots hurt those folks who tried to gain the tea. By reading, I can see that the patriots are angry people who can do anything for their political aim—gain independence from Great Britain, and this was an illegal act under the British rule. That is why to the British government, the patriots are terrorists.

The “terrorism” of the patriots reminded me of the Southern Thailand Insurgency. In some provinces of Southern Thailand, insurgent groups against Thai government performed many cases of violent terrorist acts, and that resulted in many deaths. The terrorism threated the Thai government and local public safety. The purpose of those insurgent groups is to change the political systems; they’re aiming for their political objectives. From connecting the term from what we learn in social studies to current events, I discovered that political protests happened all the times in history, because a government system is impossible to satisfy all people. Since some people are angry about the political situation, revolutions were launched, often through violence. In this case, the American Revolution we learnt about is a good example of insurgency, or “rising in active revolt.”