How does the notion of colonialism as a sacred trust enter into your consideration?

When viewing colonialism as a sacred trust, it is important to look at this from the viewpoint of the colonists who lived in the colonies established by the colonial power. The people living in the lands that were being colonized would have been very naïve if they thought that the colonial powers had their best interests in mind. The colonizing countries always set up colonies to benefit the colonizing country. This was done for various...

When viewing colonialism as a sacred trust, it is important to look at this from the viewpoint of the colonists who lived in the colonies established by the colonial power. The people living in the lands that were being colonized would have been very naïve if they thought that the colonial powers had their best interests in mind. The colonizing countries always set up colonies to benefit the colonizing country. This was done for various reasons including economic gain, increasing military power, and enhancing their status as a world power. It would have been nice if the people in the colonies benefited from colonialism. However, that was not the main motivation why the colonial powers established colonies.

When the colonies became more expensive to run, the colonial powers tried to shift some of the cost of running the colonies onto the colonists living in the colonies. In the British colonies in North America, the British passed several tax laws to raise money to help run the colonies. This angered the colonists and was a reason for the American Revolution. From the colonists’ viewpoint, the colonists couldn’t ever view colonialism as a sacred trust because the needs of the colonizing country always were more important than the needs of the colonies.