(01.06 MC)

Use the passage to answer the following question:

"I can see no reason to doubt but the imposition of taxes, whether on trade, or on land, or houses, or ships, on real or personal, fixed ort floating property, in the colonies is absolutely irreconcilable with the rights of the colonists as British subjects and as men. I say men, for in a state of nature no man can take my property from me without my consent: if he does, he deprives me of my liberty and makes me a slave."
—James Otis, 1763

Who is the main audience Otis is writing to in this excerpt?

Group of answer choices

The British aristocracy charged with governing the colonies

The members of the Constitutional Convention

Those colonists who might still feel loyal to the crown

Those colonists already joined in the fight for freedom

1 answer

The main audience Otis is writing to in this excerpt is:

Those colonists who might still feel loyal to the crown.

Otis is addressing the rights of colonists and making a case against taxation without representation, which would resonate with colonists who were still loyal to Britain but might be persuaded to reconsider their stance due to the arguments he presents about personal property and liberty.