Unit 3 Essay Debate Over Taxation And Representation

During the early 18th century, Britain began to assert its presence in its American colonies, but with pressing domestic issues at home, only minimal attention was initially paid to the colonies. Britain’s interest in her colonies and the potential for conquest and resources grew during the Seven Years War, but the interest was primarily for further conquest west of her colonies not in the interest of fighting for the protection of the colonies. This war left Britain with an enormous debt of almost four hundred thousand pounds, so Parliament instituted new taxation on the colonies to compensate for the debt; one of these taxes was the Stamp Act. Imposed in January 1765, it demanded that all formal documents have an official stamp on them; an

In the same year, another important policy Stamp Act was promulgated. “Law passed by parliament in 1765 to raise revenue in America by requiring taxed, stamped paper for legal documents, publication, and playing cards”(Goldfield, P124). Pleasant hours fly past; this law aroused public discontent. Colonists fought against this policy. For example, a group of people planned to intimidate Andrew Oliver to make him quit office in August 1765. (Goldfield, P125). And they also required British government to repeal Stamp Act. Finally, in 1776, parliament ended the Stamp Act, but it approved the Declaratory Act at the same day (Goldfield, p126). This was a statement saying the colonies should serve Britain, and that Britain government could promulgate any law (Goldfield, p126).Although, British repeal Stamp Act, they didn’t stop demanding taxes. In 1767, Parliament promulgated some new taxes policies called the Townshend Duty Act, which stipulated that British

Every time there is a war, money must be raised to maintain it. However, unlike the king, taxes were made without proper reason and proof made it harder for colonists to understand why the king's actions were justified. During the Stamp Act of 1765, Britian declared that all documents (newspapers, books, court documents, etc.) must be stamp and that a stamp purchase must be required to help finance the stationing of British troops throughout North America.1 American colonists were not recognized in the House of Commons, and claimed that Britain had no reason to impose taxes solely based on making profit on regulating trade.2 The colonists' allegiance was still to Britain, but they later decide to boycott the act due to the invalid response made by Parliament. The Townshead Acts of 1767 allowed exports to be taxed and a creation of a board of customs commissioners to prevent any further smuggling of goods.3 This act was later repealed a

During the 7 Years War, the British were spending a lot of money to support their military, and they looked to fix this by adding more taxes for the colonists to pay. The colonists were already angry about their taxation situation, already dealing with the Sugar Act of 1764 and the Quartering Act of 1765. Then, Prime Minister George Grenville proposed the Stamp Tax in 1765 in order to raise revenue to support the military in their battle against the French. The Stamp Act mandated the use of stamped paper or the affixing of stamps certifying payment of tax. The majority of Americans became extremely agitated with this act as well as many others before and after the Stamp Act because they felt that their individual rights were being infringed

After the stamp act was repealed, the Declaratory Act of 1766 was put into action, which was Britain’s attempt to save face. It essentially said that Parliament had the power to impose laws in the colonies in any case. Part of this act was the Townshend acts that came a year later; the acts introduced taxes on paper, tea, etc. that were imported to the colonies. Americans viewed this as abuse of power and they took in fewer imports as a result.

The imposition of taxes on the American Colonies by the British Government in the 1760s set in motion a series of action and reaction that led to a break between the components of the British Empire. Americans responded with much anger and public resistance to the Stamp Act in 1763. Much of this resistance was expressed in the colonies of Massachusetts and Virginia. In Massachusetts, the mobs not only threatened violence, but damaged and at times destroyed the property of officials who were involved in the Stamp Act’s implementation. Virginia on the other hand took legislative action denouncing the imposition of taxes on the Colonies by Parliament. It was Virginia’s example that was followed nine of her sister colonies when their legislatures made similar resolutions. These actions also lled to the formation of the Stamp Act Congress in October 1765 (Middlekauff, 2005). This Stamp Act Congress sent an appeal to Parliament and the King requesting the repeal of the Stamp Act with the justification that the costs associated with the act would prevent the colonies from purchasing British goods (Brown & Carp, 2014).

England 's introduction of the intolerable acts upon American colonists created a ripple effect which they did not anticipate, which completely changed the views of many colonists. These colonists went on to become the voices that fueled the American Revolutionary War and spread the messages of liberty, freedom, and a new way of life. Some voices stood out more so than the rest, their names became etched in our history books their thoughts and beliefs paving the way for the Revolution. One such colonist is James Otis wrote a series of patriotic pamphlets outlining his views on the colonies state of affairs , one of those pamphlets is The Rights of British Colonies Asserted and Proved written in 1763. In The Rights of British Colonies Asserted and Proved James Otis outlines his perspectives on government 's rights and the rights of the people , these perspectives revolutionized colonial opinions and made famous the quote” no taxation without representation.”

The French and Indian War ended in 1763, and although England won, it left them in enormous debt. The solution was the Stamp Act, a tax on all paper goods. Enacted in 1765, the Stamp Act upset nearly every English colonist in America. This was one of the first times colonists resisted England and this renegation acted as a precursor to the revolution ahead. England was surprised because they didn't consider the Stamp Act as anything people wouldn't agree with and felt that the colonists were responsible for paying in return from the protection England provided them during the war.

The passing of a series of laws regulating trade and tax, most notably the Sugar Act (1764), the Stamp Act (1765), and the Tea Act (1773) increased tension between Great Britain and its colonies in the period 1763-1776. Near the end of the French and Indian War, Great Britain was in desperate need of money to pay for their war debts. The British Parliament believed that they had a right to tax their colonies. Their legislations placed duties on certain imports that had never been taxed before. By the end of 1764, tensions heightened between colonists and imperial officials as they were disagreeing more and more about how the colonies should be taxed and governed. These feelings of dissatisfaction would soon swell into rebellion, leading to the American Revolution.

By 1765 when Parliament passed the Stamp Acts, the colonies were already governing themselves so a certain extent and smuggling goods to avoid the British taxes. The colonists were being taxed extensively so that Britain could pay back their debts from the Seven-Years War, which was not fair for the colonists to be paying for, seeing as the colonies had absolutely no involvement in the Seven-Years war.

Beginning in 1764, Great Britain began passing acts to exert greater control over the American colonies. The Sugar Act was passed to increase duties on foreign sugar imported from the West Indies. A Currency Act was also passed to ban the colonies from issuing paper bills or bills of credit because of the belief that the colonial currency had devalued the British money. Further, in order to continue to support the British soldiers left in America after the war, Great Britain passed the Quartering Act in 1765. This ordered colonists to house and feed British soldiers if there was not enough room for them in the colonist’s homes. An important piece of legislation that really upset the colonists was the Stamp Act passed in 1765. This required stamps to be purchased or included on many different items and documents such as playing cards, legal papers, newspapers, and more. This was the first direct tax that Britain had imposed on the colonists. Events began to escalate with passage of the Townshend Acts in 1767. These taxes were created to help colonial officials become independent of the colonists by providing them with a source of income. This act led to clashes between British troops and colonists, causing the infamous Boston Massacre. These unjust requests and increasing tensions all led up to the colonist’s declaration as well as the Revolutionary War.

Soon the Quartering Act was passed, directing the colonies to provide quarters for British soldiers. Americans found this oppressive because it meant that soldiers were placed in colonial homes. In 1764 Parliament passed the Stamp Act, putting a duty on most printed materials. This was a normal tax for the British as it had been going on in Britain for a long time, and it made sense that the rest of their empire would pay the same tax. This placed a burden on merchants and the colonial elite who did most legal transactions and read the newspapers. Also passed in the same year was the Declaratory Act, which stated that the colonies were subject to the will of Parliament. This made a lot of sense to the British, as Parliament was their ruling body, but, to the colonies who had become used to their own government during the years of salutory neglect, this was a direct threat to their way of life.

Up until the end of the French and Indian War (1754–63), few colonial Americans questioned this system, nor did they challenge Parliament's right to legislate measures that had an impact on the colonies, especially when it came to issues of trade regulation or foreign policy (Campbell, Claire). The causes of the war were primarily economic, as a result, England needed to recuperate from the huge dent put in England’s treasury along with doubling their national debt. In order to do so, the British Parliament, Led by Charles Townshend, passed customs duties in 1767, called the Townshend Duties, to raise revenue from the North American colonies. This measure triggered a new wave of conflict between the colonies and Great Britain. Townshend Acts

The lumber produced by New England, the grains produced by middle colonies and the tobacco and indigo produced by the South were all significant figures in strengthening their economy because of their high value. As a result, the British felt the need to capitalize on it, as they needed reparations for the money that was spent to defend them in the French and Indian war of 1754-1763. To do this, they enacted taxes upon the colonies, among which were the Stamp Act in 1765 and the Declaratory Act in 1766. The Stamp Act was a direct tax on all paper products, which greatly angered the colonists. Resolutions were created to bring the idea that the people of the colonies had the sole right to decide what their taxes should be, not the British. “That the taxation of the people by themselves, or by persons chosen by themselves to represent them, who can only know what taxes the people are able to bear…”(Virginia Resolves on the Stamp Act-Patrick Henry). This resolution established the idea of ‘no taxation without representation’, as the colonies felt that is their right to have a voice in taxes, which started the concept of self-stability. After many protests and boycotts, Parliament was pressured by the merchants to take back the tax which resulted in a success for the people, as they soon

     There was another by-product of the war for Britain; her national debt more than doubled during the course of the conflict. At a time when Britain was starting to bend beneath the weight of the debt, it was only a matter of time before parliament looked to the colonies to help shoulder some of the price incurred in their defense. The Sugar and Stamp Acts were the first of many measures to tax the colonists. The Townshend Duties and the Tea Act would follow. While these measures outraged the colonists because of their monetary implications, it was the constitutional implications brought on by the Acts that were most offensive to the colonists. Until after the Seven Years War, the colonists had been left to essentially tax themselves. Now the colonists had a rallying cry, as they deplored the idea of no taxation without representation. In 1765 the Stamp Act Congress was held, and in a bid of utter defiance the representatives agreed that the colonial legislative assemblies alone had the right to tax the colonies. Parliament repealed the Stamp Act, but only after agreeing to pass the Declaratory Act, which informed the colonies that Britain did in fact have the right to legislate for the