Chapter 2350: Anti-tax movement (Ⅱ) (plus more)

Sir Fogel's fleet went smoothly and arrived at Leiden a week ago. There were crowds of people on the pier that day, almost all of them mobilized by the "Freedom Sons Association" to protest.
In the face of thousands of protesters, Sir Fogel showed doubly arrogance, refused to talk to the people, and ordered a heavily armed private guard to disperse the protesters, almost leading to conflict.
On the second day of his tenure, Sir Fogel announced the dissolution of the Leiden City Council, monopolizing the power, and appointing his cronies from the empire to serve as "land surveyors" and "taxation commissioners", determined to impose land taxes forcibly and further Intensified the antipathy of all classes of the colony towards him.
Under the organization of the "Son of Liberty", Alfheim launched a vigorous "tax resistance movement". The momentum was huge and the participation of all sectors of society was extensive. It was comparable to the anti-tax movement that broke out in the Far East.
Literati, scholars and social activists in Alfheim also expressed their opinions on the tax resistance movement through newspapers and pamphlets. Most of them stood on the side of supporters of tax resistance and severely criticized the burden and tyranny imposed by the imperial government on the colonial people. .
Among all these political theories, the most brilliant essay was written by Alexander Jefferson, the current principal of Leiden College.
In this pamphlet entitled "Summary of the Rights of the Ashen Empire's Overseas Colonies", Mr. Jefferson creatively proposed the "Free Migration Theory", which laid a theoretical basis for the anti-tax movement.
"The vast majority of immigrants who moved to the New World from the old world came here at their own expense. They did not receive the financial support of their home country's royal family, nor did they rely on the official military power of their home country. In fact, it has completely drawn a line from the mother country separated by oceans."
Based on these facts, Mr. Jefferson drew a more radical inference:
"From the moment a colony was born, it was no longer subordinate to the mother country's government. There should only be one relationship between the colony and the mother country, that is, the reciprocal diplomatic relationship between countries. Of course, the imperial government has no right to be in this area. On free land, tax free colonists!"
...
In addition to the "free emigration theory", Jefferson also put forward two radical to almost unreasonable thesis in the "Overview of the Rights of the Empire's Overseas Colonies".
The first is Jefferson's contemptuous attitude towards Emperor Charles IV, the contemporary monarch of the Holy Ashen Empire, towards the "monarchy" regime that has been passed down since ancient times.
In the New World, the conflict between the colony and the suzerain has a long history, and the colonists have never stopped complaining about the suzerain.
Among all these complaints, including those of the "radicals" who advocate colonial independence, the focus of criticism is the wrong policy adopted by the sovereign state towards the colony, such as apportioning various exorbitant taxes, such as preventing the colonists from expanding westward and robbing the Assa people. Land, and then criticized the incompetence of the cabinet bureaucrats who made these policies.
It is not difficult to see from this that most colonists tend to think: His Majesty the Emperor is holy, and the evil ministers are responsible for blinding the holy!
It is precisely based on this mentality that whenever a colonist thinks he has been treated unfairly by the authorities of his home country, he often writes a "petition" with the support of the local parliament and tries to submit it to His Majesty the Emperor, asking the benevolent and wise Emperor to replace it. Colonial subjects uphold justice, revoke unfair government orders, and punish those barbaric nobles and mediocre ministers.
It was not until Jefferson published the "Overview of the Rights of the Empire's Overseas Colonies," that for the first time this layer of self-deception was torn off, and he bluntly pointed out that "the monarch is an accomplice in the violation of the rights of the colonial people with the bureaucracy"!
In this pamphlet, Jefferson severely rebuked the imperial monarch Charles IV for his disregard of the colonial people, and listed the following crimes committed by the emperor himself:
"Refuse to listen to the petitions of people whose rights have been violated!"
"Send troops to the colonial cities to suppress legal protest demonstrations!"
"It is forbidden for the colonial people to cross the Vimur River westward and carry out normal immigration activities!"
"For the sake of safeguarding the sovereign state, acquiesce in the ugly slave trade in the colonies!"
Not only that, but in this pamphlet, Jefferson bluntly put forward a "Republican" manifesto that made all the progressive youths in the colonies who were deeply influenced by the Enlightenment immersed in their blood:
"We rise up against a mediocre monarch, not to usher in a wise monarch to replace him."
"The monarch comes and goes, but the'throne' has always stood there. The latter is the source of all evil!"
"We oppose the monarch. It has nothing to do with being stupid or wise, but the fundamental and noble motive is to overthrow the throne and completely liberate the free people from the shackles of royal power!"
"We no longer need a monarch. In this free land, we will never tolerate the existence of any privileged class above the rights of ordinary citizens!"
...
·Historical materials: Free migration theory ("Jefferson" (U.S.) Joseph J. Ellis)
Throughout the fall and winter of 1775, Jefferson did an in-depth study of Richard Hakluyt's Voyages (Voyages). The purpose is to prove the statement that the earliest immigrants from the United Kingdom came to the United States at their own expense, "without the financial support of the United Kingdom and the use of British (official) power."
More importantly, he believes that they have completely drawn a line from Britain.
If it is true, this revision of history is the most revolutionary result, because it shows that independence from Britain is not the future vision he and other Continental Congress delegates are thinking about, but a real occurrence in the past.
·Today in History: A Summary of the Rights of the British American ("Jefferson's Biography" (United States) Joseph J. Ellis)
In 1774, he (Jefferson) volunteered to draft a series of instructions for the Virginia delegation to the Continental Congress. Because he did not want to debate publicly in the Virginia State Assembly, he wrote it down.
But his friend found a publisher in Williamsburg to publish the manuscript, and then spread it among publishers and newspaper editors. The entire colony read the pamphlet titled "ASummary View of the Rights of British America" ​​(ASummary View of the Rights of British America).
The target audience of the pamphlet was lawmakers in Virginia, but they did not adopt his suggestion, but instructed the delegation to adopt a moderate attitude towards Britain.
Jefferson's views were quite radical, which earned him a political reputation outside of Virginia.
In fact, if these views in the "Summary of British American Rights" are accepted, it would be enough for Jefferson to become the vanguard of the American revolutionary movement.
The style of "Summary of British American Rights" is concise, clear, and infectious, and it has strongly predicted some of the ideas in the later "Declaration of Independence".
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