Quotes about Colonial Authority

We need not say that we are strongly opposed to Home Rule. We shall fight to the last drop of our blood any attempt to transfer the seat of authority in this country from British hands to so-called high caste Hindus who have ill-treated us in the past and would do so again but for the protection of British laws.

They were the “untouchables”. Under English rule and law, they had more opportunity, equality and protection than ever before. They opposed the idea of home rule and passing rule to an Indian parliament and ministers as ol the upper castes would dominate and control the government and would discriminate against them as they had always done before English rule. What they worried about came of to pass, but the Congress Party which dominated much of Indian politics was opposed to the Caste system and went out of their way to make it illegal and to institute affirmative action. However, regardless of the law, the Cast System still exists, and the discrimination is a current problem for India and the untouchables.

Zebulon Pike

Your former Fathers the Spaniards have now no further Authority over you.

Bhagat Singh

There is tension all over the country. The party in Bengal has done substantial work. They have eliminated a few officers. The Englishmen are terrified. As a result, they have started sending their families to Britain. After some time, they will realise that they cannot exercise authority over India.

London Times

Unless we are prepared to retire from South Africa immediately and unconditionally—unthinkable of course—we must restore our authority where it has been defied.

John Adams

Where is the man to be found at this day, when we see … bishops with indifference. Who will believe that the apprehension of Episcopy contributed 50 years ago, as much as any other cause to arouse the attention, not only of the inquiring mind, but of the common people, and urge them to close thinking on the constitutional authority of Parliament over the colonies.

The clergy of the colonies were split on the American Revolution, but those clergy who supported the revolution made a huge contribution to the individual American’s intellectual view of the legitimacy of Parliament’s making laws governing the American Colonies. The anti-British clerics called for action while other forces of colonial America urged caution.

Linda Colley

The pre-war empire had been sufficiently informal and sufficiently cheap for Parliament to claim authority over it without having to concern itself too much about what this authority entailed. The post-war empire necessitated a much greater investment in administrative machinery and military force. This build-up of control had to be paid for, either by British taxpayers or by their colonists.

Gordon S. Wood

In every colonial punishment the authorities were determined to expose the offender to scorn … persons with a brand on their forehead or a piece of ear missing were forever exposed to the contempt of their fellows

Charles I

Great number of My Subjects have been and are every year transported to those parts of America … and there settle themselves … amongst which numbers there so many idle and refractory humours whose only or principal end is to live as much as they can without the reach of authority.

The King was concerned that colonists to America were motivated by a desire to escape his authority. He was right.

Mahatma Gandhi

The collectors of revenue and the policeman are the only symbols by which millions in India's villages know British rule.

Colonial Authority Quotes