South African Investment Essay Example for Free

South African Investment Essay In the late 1970’s and early 1980’s, Caltex (an affiliate oil refinery of Texaco and SoCal) started their operations in South Africa. In this paper, I will identify and explain the benefits and the negatives as to why Caltex should build there plant in South Africa. I will also discuss how I would vote on three of the resolutions made by the stockholder’s as well as discuss how the managers of Texaco and SoCal should have responded. Finally, I will address the management responsibilities as it relates to this case. Utilitarian benefits of building the Caltex plant in 1977 When Texaco and SoCal decided to build there refinery plant, Caltex, in South Africa in 1977, there was much to consider. First of all, the South Africa was ruled by government upheld apartheid legislation. According to the textbook, Business Ethics: Concepts and Cases, the apartheid system, â€Å"deprived the entire Black population of all political and civil rights: They could not vote, could not hold political office, could not unionize, and had no right to freedom of assembly,† (Velasquez, p. 8). Despite this obstacle, Caltex was built and began operations. Caltex believed that by opening operations in South Africa they could provide the people with some economic opportunities that they could not have if they did not. According to the case study, â€Å"the managements of both Texaco and SoCal argued that Caltex was committed to improving the economic working conditions of its black employees and their continued pre sence in South Africa did not constitute and ‘endorsement’ of South Africa’s ‘policies’,† (para. 5). By declaring that there presence in South Africa was in no way evident in support with the government policies, Caltex gave the impression of a utilitarianism approach. According to the textbook, utilitarianism is â€Å"a general term for any view that holds that actions and policies should be evaluated on the basis of the benefits and costs they will impose on society,† (Velasquez, p. 61). Caltex upheld the belief that the benefits they provide to its employees outweigh the fact that they are conducting business in an oppressed nation. In my opinion, I think that that the benefits outweighed the negatives. Even though the South African government was morally wrong for oppressing the majority of its citizens, Caltex brought an opportunity to the region that had the promise of not only economic promise for the organization, but also the opportunity to show the people of South Africa what it is like to be equal and not discriminated. Also, there presence no doubt brought on political change and opened the eyes to the other nations of the world as to the oppression present in South Africa. If I were a stockholder in Texaco or Standard Oil Despite of all the benefits and the promises that Caltex could have provided to the people in South Africa, the shareholders still encouraged management to withdraw their operations from South Africa. As a result, the stockholders proposed three resolutions to which they would vote on and decide the future of Caltex’s operations in South Africa. The first resolution (A) was asking Caltex to terminate its operations in South Africa. The second (B) asked Caltex not to sell to the military or police of South Africa. The last resolution (C) asked Caltex to implement the Tutu principles. I believe that as a shareholder invested in my company, I would want to portray us as a responsible organization that will work with the host country to find a common ground rather than be charged with a serious crime. C. FAVOR. Tutu’s principles are something that I would definitely be in favor for. According to the case study, Bishop Tutu’s principles â€Å"outlined several conditions of the investment which would enable Caltex and other U. S. companies to make such a ‘positive contribution to improving economic and social opportunities’,† (para. 4). These principles would be exactly what I would like my company to portray because they contribute to human rights and equal opportunities to all races. Manager’s responses In regards to the resolutions proposed by the stockholders, I believe the manager’s responses should be as follows: A. The manager’s should have also not been in favor of this resolution. In this case, the manage ment needs to consider that the utilitarian benefits do actually outweigh the negatives and oppression the South African government has over its citizens. B. The manager’s responses to this resolution should be weighed very carefully. Even though they may not agree with the practices of the government and may think they are an aid to unwanted practices, they still need to consider there reputation and the consequences that can result from not being cooperative. In my opinion, the manager’s should have responded by communicating the need to work with the government to their stakeholders as well as find some type of resolution with the government. C. The management should embrace the Tutu principles. If the management is really dedicated to the ideals and principles of their institution then they should know that these principles are about the people and their well-being. They should make any adjustments necessary to make sure the principles are upheld. Management responsibilities (i. e. , duties) In my opinion, I believe the management of a company does have the responsibility beyond ensuring a high return for its stockholders. In this case, the responsibility of the management is to make sure that the principles and business ethics that they have developed as an organization is upheld at all costs. Just because the stockholders wanted to see their company disassociate themselves from a country that they did not see as ideal, it is still imperative that the management stick to there own ideals and principles regardless of where they are. On the other hand, I do not believe that the management of a company should look primarily to the law and to the rate of return on its investment as the ultimate criteria for deciding what investments it should make. Companies should always consider the economical and social circumstances in the region to which they decide to invest their company. Conclusion This paper outlined why I believe the utilitarian benefits outweighed the negative circumstances for the building of Caltex in South Africa. I have also provided my own views as to what I would do if I were a stockholder in the company as well as what the manager’s should have done in response to the resolutions. Finally, I gave my point of view as to what the manager’s responsibilities are when dealing with stockholders and investments. Caltex was in a difficult place as they had to deal with their stockholders and the government of South Africa in order to conduct their business, but the most important thing they had was the opportunity to show the oppressed people of South Africa what it was like to be an equal member of an institution.

The Valley Girl in Buffy the Vampire Slayer :: TV Television Show Essays

The stereotypical valley girl would have to be one of my longstanding favourite characters in both television and film. With the valley girl known for often being the quintessential popularity queen, it may not seem so obvious to include the Buffy we know today as part of the valley girl hall of fame. But one only has to go back to the 1992 film, Buffy the Vampire Slayer to observe the full extent of Buffy’s bleach blonde valley girl roots. To place Buffy within the larger category of the valley girl, first one must have an understanding of what exactly this means. Undoubtedly, the valley girl is a product of the eighties, or at least a character that was crystallised and labelled during this period, and she has been a significant presence in teen films and television ever since. It has come to my attention that there has been a definite change, or evolution over the last two decades, of the living, breathing barbie doll otherwise known as the valley girl. And, it seems, this evolution of the valley girl within teen film and television can be traced through the character of Buffy Summers, starting from her first appearance on the big screen in 1992. For my purposes, the term â€Å"valley girl† is useful in reference to a limited spectrum of popular teen girls in film and television, who, despite originating in name from the location of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles, [1] are not strictly limited or restricted to being natives of this particular site. Often alarmingly oblivious to many basic concepts of social etiquette, the valley girl is the ultra-feminine, two-dimensional character identified by an abundance of material possessions and surface features that are highly prized by herself and her peers. Some of the basic, essential signifiers of the valley girl can be extracted from examination of valley girls over time who have manipulated the following: 1) POPULARITY: which is often directly linked to the valley girl also being a cheerleader (often team captain, of course) and/or prom queen. Although, sometimes basic popularity is pure and simple enough. 2) CASH SUPPLY: generous funds, namely daddy’s credit card, often help with gaining or retaining popular status, and is especially important for it’s contribution to the following, 3) THE WARDROBE: often filled with the latest fashion trends and designer labels. The valley girl must be well-versed in knowing what is now, retro, and the dreaded zone of â€Å"five minutes ago.

Analyzing the effectiveness and drawbacks of current Land

Most of the prevailing laws or bills regarding land acquisition, resettlement, compensation, ululation seem inadequate and sources of lot of discordance. This research proposal seeks to analyze the impact of such acts and the reasons of protest and agitations by the affected people. It also aims to find out alternative solutions for such critical issues. In this research study the stakeholders are identified along with their stakes and various literature are analyzed to suggest a methodology for further research and to propose a common ground for amicable discussion and understanding of individual interests.Keywords Land acquisition, rehabilitation, resettlement, consent, compensation, voluntary acquisition, eminent domain, replacement value, public purpose, land valuation, market pricing 4 page Problem Description The 2011 Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill , though well- intentioned, was seriously flawed. It attached an arbitrary mark-up to the historical mar ket price to determine compensation amounts.This will guarantee neither social justice nor the efficient use of resources. The Bill also place d unnecessary & strict conditions on land acquisition, like restrictions on the use of multi-cropped land and insistence on public purpose, all of which would hinder the pace of development thou promoting the interests of farmers. Many such flaws are tried to be addressed in ?The right to fair compensation and transparency in land acquisition, rehabilitation and resettlement act, 20131.While the process of industrialization is facing many problems that en De to be solved, the problem of land for industry and urban development is the most critical one. The fact is that people depend on land not only as title holders but also as landless laborers and share croppers, for natural resources and cultural inputs, for preservation of artisans and age old technologies, for community and family congregation. Often land is taken away without adequate co mpensation or without adequate opportunities for affected people to grow and resettle with dignity.This is inhuman and leads to all kind of contentious issues that have surfaced within the people move into cities, a trend that cannot be stopped, there has to be proper town planning and proper growth of our urban centre?a process that will increase the importance of land. 5 Page Problem Structuring Definitional Issues The experts felt that the bill does not clearly define what constitutes ‘rural' and ‘ urban' areas. This omission is bound to lead to litigation. It is essential to plug this loophole. The law still does not define or elaborate ?public purposes and again gives the State a free hand on this.Without defining the term ?urgency it makes special provisions for compensation if land is acquired under the ?urgency† provision. Also terms like ?eminent domain] (vests sovereign ownership of all land and natural resources embodied in the state, felicitating compul sory takings), ?replacement value], ?willing/unwilling seller] are ambiguous. Consent Consent' to sell?both in government and private and public-partnership projects APP)?is among the most contentious issues in land acquisition. What percentage of landowners consent is required?Should it be required from all land users (e. G. Those dependent on land like agricultural workers, wage laborers, artisans and landless peasants) or only from the land losers? Compensation The current scheme of compensation that the bill has laid down is two times the market price for urban areas and four times the market price for rural areas. These figures were arrived at without any rationale, from a ?top down approach. Affected people have no say on any aspect of the transaction?whether they want to give up he land or what would be a fair price.Institutional Support To understand the position of stakeholders and their needs in order to device a fair solutions, a three-tier institutional structure was moo ted: one for suggesting proposals, one for dialogue and another for decision-making. First one would include think-tanks or academic research organizations which use data, analyses it and make recommendations. Second one would bring 6 Page stakeholders together to deliberate on their respective positions. Finally, the last institution would be given the authority, constitutionally or organizationally, to take final decisions.Transparency would facilitate better evaluation, selection and determination of the market price for land as well as sharing of incremental gain from land development with affected people. Process efficiency implies clarity in legislation which would result in less litigation and realistic deadlines for all parties involved. On viability, there is a need to reach a common ground between the acquirer's right to profit and compensation rights. The experts held that companies acquiring land for public- private partnerships should be given limited control rights. St akeholder map Farmers / Residents Politicians MediaShare croppers Fisherman/ boatman Agricultural laborers Land acquisition for industrial/ developmental/ mining projects Tribal Environmental activists Industrialists Local population Citizens Government 71 page Specific stakeholder and Stake identification Stakeholders Farmers, Residents Stakes Lose the most, as they gives away their land, and don't get future benefits; farmers lose their basic earning activity With not enough land on their own, they need others' land for cultivation Termed as unskilled labor, their livelihood is at stake with decreased agricultural land, more so as they are mainly landless laborsTheir whole livelihood and culture exist around the region they live, as they are mostly dependent on the natural resources; more ever they normally do not have title to land, thus losing out all the benefits Without land, they can't build new plant, also without mining they have to depend upon foreign industrialists Respon sible for both growth & development with restrained inflation and preservation of environmental balance, ecology & citizens' rights Face maximum brunt of degraded environment, inflation, land scarcity Local population/ Directly impacted by industrial waste and effluence, restricted movement wrought land, absence of grazing ground/water body, increased land price Environment Worried with increased industrial waste & pollution and adverse effect on activist nature & biodiversity due to mass land acquisition for mining/industry Main source of information dissipation since internal and local information is seldom spread by industry or Gobo. Cross the county A major influence in creating public opinion on this issue, plus their vote banks can be determined by how they handle such cases 8 | Page Displaced people BOOT graph Pollution Amount Land price Industrial growth Biodiversity Job for agricultural labor Time Literature review Maturities Ghats and Apparatchiks Gosh, in an article (Octo ber, 2011) have analyzed the land laws and current situations and in their opinion the use of market price for voluntary transactions as a proxy for owners' value in forced acquisitions is measured by experts but rather a subjective quantity – it is whatever the owner deems it to be. They proposed an alternative approach allowing farmers to determine their land price, chose compensation in either cash or land and reallocate the remaining land in most efficient manner. It involves a land auction covering not only the project site but also the surrounding agricultural land.The advantages they put forward is that it is less coercive, it gives strong incentive to bid truthfully, it allows farmers to incorporate their own estimates of future land price inflation into their bids, thereby minimizing the chance of losing out compared to the neighborhood farmers. It also provides an option to leave the land remain as agricultural one incase acquisition effort fails. 9 | Page Vanish Ku mar in his June, 2011 article in PEP, has highlighted the violence in land acquisition by the government and UP government policy on this matter. According to him all episodes of agitation and demands are politicized and farmers find homeless entrapped in a situation where leaders encourage and support their agitations but do very little to tackle the problems. He considered State's role as a ?venture capitalist].He cited the UP policy as best among existing in the country. It introduced a process of negotiations in Greater Oneida with the local farmers leading to signing of a deed. The new policy makes land acquisition more profitable for the farmer defining the State as a mere facilitator. He provided scope for improvement, especially as small farmers and agricultural laborers have very little to gain in this hole procedure, but mentioned the fact that political parties have no intention to make consensus effort on this issue. Ashcan Inhaling and Edit Was (August, 2011)) mentioned the fact that often land-titles are unclear and identifying parties eligible for compensation is rendered difficult.All across the world, the state is gifted with the power to acquire land for public purpose by providing compensation to the landholders. This power directly vested in the constitution (in US, Australia and China) or, is specified in enacted legislation (in Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore). However the terms like _ public repose' are ambiguous. Countries like France, Japan, China, Mexico and India explicitly enumerate situations and projects under which land can be acquired or appropriated by the state for public use, whereas Malaysia, Brazil, US, UK and Singapore provide a more generic definition. Also the valuation and acquisition methods differ across the nations. In valuation, net income from land, original use, market value all such aspects are taken into consideration.Countries like Philippines where legal systems are not robust, land market is not well develo ped, or active reliable information in unavailable, 101 page ?replacement value (amount it would cost to replace the asset with a similar asset) technique. It is not easy to discern a set of international best practices with respect frameworks and philosophies laid down in the statutes should be treated as guidelines, incorporating flexibility into the land acquisition processes. Also they mentioned about the delaying in payment of the solarium to affected parties, which leads to dissatisfaction and consequent protests. They proposed negotiation in valuation, compensation, partnering, pool together (land pooling though farmers) many such methods.They cited the Pun example where 123 farmers pooled gather 400 acres of farmland along with a private limited company to build Magistrate city. Here the farmers continue to own the land, own shares in the company and collect dividends on these shares as well as rents from the tenants in the city (Magma, 2008). In an Editorial ? , Economic & Political Weekly] (PEP, August, 2011), the editor cited farmer agitation and state atrocities regarding land acquisition in Maharajah's. Farmers here had given land for Pun-Iambi express highway and similar projects in past, but they have grown steadily distrustful of the government's intentions due to unfulfilled promises.The state government's mishandling of the Naval farmers' agitation and the subsequent police firing causing death of three farmers was exceptionally inept. In Naval, they fear that they will no longer get water from the Pain dam which irrigates their land. Greater the fear about water meant for agriculture being diverted to industry or urban areas is also root-cause of their protests against the Sophia power project in Martial, which requires large amount of water from the Upper Ward dam. Going by the past record of most governments, people have a reason to be distrustful. Voluntarily surrender land for rejects provide no tangible benefits to them. A credible alte rnative to protect their livelihood and a proper compensation plan must be at place. 1 Page Augusta Marti (December, 2010) attempted to solve a key economic problem regarding land acquisition deals using some mathematical models incorporating the logic of an ?annuity or a ?royalty]. It has to do with the claim of the landowner over the future value of land once it is sold and put to alternative use. It also addressed to the adaptation of the so-called â€Å"Harlan† model that relies on predetermined annual payments to the farmers. His argument is that the government will tax a portion of the increased value from the buyer and redistribute it to the landowner acting as a legal taxing authority and not as a negotiator. In this case though the seller will forfeit his property right to the buyer, but will have a rightful claim on the capital gain tax.He also proposed to make this _claim paper' as traceable in market. He suggested for using a part of the taxation infrastructure at the central level for evaluating capital-gains on land and creating accounts exclusively for this purpose taking the buyer, the seller, the government and the option trader into confederacy to ensure that funds raised do not go towards other kinds of fiscal replenishments. Also one can track the transactions between the seller and the option trader. This option as a traceable instrument can satisfy the poor farmers without binding the buyers of land. Stowage Karakas (October, 2011) has seen the market exchange process acting as the main domain of mediating social relationships.He deciphered three interrelated problems with this political/policy position: absence of market for a particular land, non-availability of quantitative standard or reference to measure against Just and fair imposition, consent is not always a natural will as it has political significance beyond liberalism. According to him state must stay away from creating political condition to receive individual consent, rather it should accept the limitations of law and policy in resolving certain contentious issues, and remain open to contingency, by conferring priority to the democratic values of disagreement, dissent and 121 page plurality of modes of existence, only then it will learn to withdraw from prior commitment to any particular rationality and ideology. Ram Sings (May, 2012) has focused on laws that govern the acquisition and transfer f agricultural land for other purposes.He cited the history of eminent domain in India as unmitigated abuses of the law, which remains archaic and ambiguous. Also the callous approach taken by land acquisition collectors (LAG) to determine compensation is a point of discordant. In current situation lot of institutional hurdles like change-in-land-use (CLUB) clearance from the state government, other regulatory clearances from local authorities are there that thwart voluntary transactions. He argued that this is the reason the project developers are better- off bribing the powers that get them to acquire the needed land. He also mentioned poor land records and high transaction cost of individual land transfer.He suggested collective bargaining with the owners or their representatives, cost of compensation be paid by the entity benefiting from the acquisition, initial compensation itself should be determined in light of all of the relevant information, such as type of land, its future value, records of the sale deeds etc. He also argued for the reduction of compulsory acquisition. Colic Gonzales (August, 2010) has indicated the states' prerogative in becoming an estate agent of the companies for acquiring land for them. He analyzed land acts and the outcomes in chronological phases. According to him the Judiciary appears to have misread the mood in the country, providing _ public interest' the widest possible scope. Instead of mass protest, superior Judiciary remained unmoved, stuck to their notions of development unresponsive to the di stress of farmers, tenants and agricultural laborers.According to him, the way forward for Judiciary is to hold that irrespective of the contribution by government, all acquisitions for companies must follow Part VII of the Land Acquisition Act (ALA), which is 131 page acquisition for a company. This is understandable since State governments have come under total corporate control that their first priority is to spend large sums of state funds to assist corporations in the acquisition of lands using the Act. Cantata Lair-Duty, Radii Krishna, Ensnare Mad (February, 2012) in an article in owned companies for resource extraction in Shorthand and sighted that cosmetic changes in mineral governance laws are inadequate to protect the interests of the poor.Granting of mining blocks to private companies for ?captive] coal mining has thoroughly neglected the rights of the tribal. The state equates coal with national placement, energy security and hence strategic sovereignty to avoid the mora l quandary. By virtue of Coal Bearing Areas (Acquisition and Development) Act (CUBA), coal mining generally supersedes the community rights. Thus states change to ?broker states from the old developmental state. Coercion by both company representatives and state agencies is a characteristic of land acquisition in Shorthand. Apart from changes in land-use pattern and the creation of wastelands, mining causes large number of physical and occupational displacement, a fact that state seldom document correctly or address.Environment impact assessment (EIA) remains a toothless safeguard, not documenting possible impacts on local water availability nor assessing the ground-level impact of air pollution on surrounding communities and vegetation. The procedure never takes into account the tribal history, identity and livelihood entwined with the land. It has pushed many tribes into the verge of extinction. According to the authors, only a convoluted logic can equate coal mining by private co mpanies with public purpose or national interest. They asked for a new mineral extractive paradigm, one that does not inflict deep mounds on nature and people. They also asked for the consultation with gram Kasbah and consent of tribal communities for any mining project, 141 Page with the view of optimizing the level of royalties and consequent benefits to impacted communities.OSHA Rampant (November, 2011) has observed that by beginning with the premise that acquisition is inevitable and priority for industrialization, arbitration and infrastructure development, the LARK Bill 2011 has neglected the interest of the land losers. She raised question about state's legitimacy in facilitating the land rangers the way it does. She questions state's relationship with the land, whether it is a landlord, an owner, a trustee, a holder of land, a manager or what? She argued for the _affected families' who are dependent on forests or water bodies and which includes gatherers of forest produce, h unters, fisheries and boatmen and (those whose) livelihood is affected due to acquisition of land. Infant families who got land under any government scheme are also included.She also cited the effect of diluting ‘The Forest Rights Act 2006†² which helps in land acquisition through change of public repose -where acquisition is based on one purpose but it is used for another purpose. Another bill, _ The Land Titling Bill 2011' shifts the onus of keeping the records updated, even loss of acknowledgement of title to the land or interest in the land from the state to the individual. According to the author this bill is an attempt at communications of land, making it traceable in the land market. Michael Levine (March, 2011) has highlighted the controversies over Sees and large private mining projects in eastern India. According to him, the proposed amendments to the Land

The Road to the American Revolution

In 1818, Founding Father John Adams famously recalled the American Revolution as having started as a belief â€Å"in the hearts and minds of the people† that eventually â€Å"burst out in open violence, hostility, and fury.† Since the reign of Queen Elizabeth I in the l6th century, England had been trying to establish a colony in the â€Å"New World† of North America. In 1607, the Virginia Company of London succeeded with the settling of Jamestown, Virginia. England’s King James I had decreed at the time that the Jamestown colonists would forever enjoy the same rights and freedoms as if they had been â€Å"abiding and born within England.† Future kings, however, would not be so accommodating. During the late 1760s, the once-strong bonds between the American colonies and Britain began to loosen. By 1775, ever-growing abuses of power exerted by British King George III would drive the American colonists to armed revolt against their native country. Indeed, the long road of America from its first exploration and settlement to organized revolt seeking independence from England was blocked by seemingly insurmountable obstacles and stained with the blood of citizen-patriots. This feature series, â€Å"The Road to the American Revolution,† traces the events, causes, and people of that unprecedented journey. A ‘New World’ Discovered America’s long, bumpy road to independence starts in August of 1492 when Queen Isabella I of Spain funded the first New World voyage of Christopher Columbus to discover a westward trading passage to the Indies. On October 12, 1492, Columbus stepped off the deck of his ship, the Pinta, onto the shores of the present-day Bahamas. On his second voyage in 1493, Columbus established the Spanish colony of La Navidad as the first European settlement in the Americas. While La Navidad was located on the Island of Hispaniola, and Columbus never actually explored North America, the period of exploration after Columbus would lead to the start of the second leg of America’s journey to independence. The Early Settlement of America To the mighty kingdoms of Europe, establishing colonies in the newly-discovered Americas seemed a natural way to grow their wealth and influence. With Spain having done so at La Navidad, its arch-rival England quickly followed suit. By 1650, England had established a growing presence along what would become the American Atlantic coast. The first English colony was founded in Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607. Hoping to escape religious persecution, the Pilgrims signed their Mayflower Compact in 1620 and proceeded to establish the Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts.   The Original 13 British Colonies With the invaluable assistance of local Native Americans, English colonists not only survived but thrived in both Massachusetts and Virginia. Having been taught to grow them by the Indians, uniquely New World grains like corn fed the colonists, while tobacco provided the Virginias with a valuable cash crop.   By 1770, more than 2 million people, including a growing number of enslaved Africans, lived and worked in the three early American British colonial regions. While each of the 13 colonies that were to become the original 13 U.S. States had individual governments, it was the New England colonies that would become the breeding ground for a growing dissatisfaction with the British government that would ultimately lead to revolution. Dissent Turns to Revolution While each of the 13 now thriving American colonies was allowed a limited degree of self-government, the individual colonists’ ties to Great Britain remained strong. Colonial businesses depended on British trading companies. Prominent young colonists attended British colleges and some future signers of the American Declaration of Independence served the British government as appointed colonial officials. However, by the middle 1700s, those ties to the Crown would be strained by tensions between the British government and its American colonists that would turn into the root causes of the American Revolution. In 1754, with the French and Indian War looming, Britain ordered its 13 American colonies to organize under a single, centralized government. While the resulting Albany Plan of Union was never implemented, it planted the first seeds of independence in the minds of Americans.   Seeking to pay for the costs of the French and Indian War, the British government began imposing several taxes, like the Currency Act of 1764 and the Stamp Act of 1765 on the American colonists. Having never been allowed to elect their own representatives to the British Parliament, many colonists raised the call, â€Å"No taxation without representation.† Many colonists refused to buy the heavily-taxed British goods, like tea. On  December 16, 1773, a band of colonists dressed like Native Americans dumped several crates of tea from a British ship docked in Boston Harbor into the sea as a symbol of their unhappiness with the taxes. Pulled off by members of the secretive Sons of Liberty, the Boston Tea Party stirred the anger of the colonists with British rule. Hoping to teach the colonists a lesson, Britain enacted the Intolerable Acts of 1774 to punish the colonists for the Boston Tea Party. The laws closed Boston Harbor, allowed British soldiers to be more physically â€Å"forceful† when dealing with dissenting colonists and outlawed town meetings in Massachusetts. For many colonists, it was the last straw. The American Revolution Begins In February 1775, Abigail Adams, wife of John Adams wrote to a friend: â€Å"The die is cast †¦ it seems to me the Sword is now our only, yet dreadful, alternative.† Abigail’s lament proved to be prophetic. In 1774, a number of colonies, operating under provisional governments, formed armed militias made up of â€Å"minutemen.† As British troops under General Thomas Gage seized the militia’s stores of munitions and gunpowder, Patriot spies, like Paul Revere, reported on British troop positions and movements. In December 1774, patriots seized British gunpowder and arms stored at Fort William and Mary at New Castle, New Hampshire. In February 1775, the British Parliament declared the Massachusetts colony to be in a state of rebellion and authorized General Gage to use force to restore order. On April 14, 1775, General Gage was ordered to disarm and arrest colonial rebel leaders. As British troops marched from Boston toward Concord on the night of April 18, 1775, a group of patriot spies including Paul Revere and William Dawes rode from Boston to Lexington alarming the Minutemen to assemble. The next day, the Battles of Lexington and Concord between British regulars and the New England minutemen in Lexington sparked the Revolutionary War. On April 19, 1775, thousands of American Minutemen continued to attack British troops who had retreated to Boston. Learning of this Siege of Boston, the second Continental Congress authorized the creation of the Continental Army, appointing General George Washington as its first commander. With the long-feared revolution a reality, America’s founding fathers, assembled at the American Continental Congress, drafted a formal statement of the colonists’ expectation and demands to be sent to King George III. On July 4, 1776, the Continental Congress adopted those now-cherished demands as the Declaration of Independence. â€Å"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.†