Why did colonists oppose writs of assistance?
(1 point)
Responses
They thought it limited their access to land.
They thought it violated their rights.
They thought it unfairly taxed goods and services they produced.
They thought it gave Native Americans an advantage over trade.
The correct response is: They thought it violated their rights.
The colonists opposed writs of assistance because they thought it violated their rights.
The correct answer is: They thought it violated their rights.
Now, let me explain how to arrive at this answer.
To understand why the colonists opposed writs of assistance, we first need to know what writs of assistance were. Writs of assistance were legal documents that granted British customs officers the authority to search any location, including private homes, in order to enforce trade regulations. These writs allowed officers to search for smuggled goods without having to provide any specific evidence of wrongdoing.
With this information in mind, we can eliminate options 1, 3, and 4 as they do not directly relate to the issue of writs of assistance.
Option 4, "They thought it gave Native Americans an advantage over trade," is unrelated to the issue of writs of assistance. Therefore, we can eliminate this option.
That leaves us with option 2, "They thought it violated their rights." This is the correct answer because the colonists opposed writs of assistance as they believed it violated their rights to be secure in their own homes and not be subjected to unreasonable searches. These writs granted British customs officers unchecked power, which the colonists saw as a violation of their individual liberties.
So, the correct answer is: They thought it violated their rights.