Taxation without Representation

The end of the war was marked with big problems for the British Government – Britain had an immense war debt and needed more money to support the growing empire. New British King George III and his ministers were determined to take this money from the colonies. Beginning from 1764, British Parliament passed a number of acts which restricted colonial trade and levied new duties on imported goods.

The first was the Sugar Act of 1764, it forbade the importation of foreign rum and levied duties on wines, silks, coffee and some other luxury items. It was followed by the Currency Act, which outlawed colonial paper money. Both documents hampered developing American economy, gave way to smuggling, and threatened commerce.

Colonial governments tried to protest against the Acts, but as they were disunited, their separate petitions to the British Government had no effect.

Next step made by the British Government was the Stamp Act requiring tax stamps on most printed materials. It affected all people who did any kind of business and, more important, it broke with colonial tradition of self-imposed taxation.

The Stamp Act arose hostility in all layers of society, but the biggest resistance was shown by leading merchants, journalists, lawyers and clergymen. Very soon the resistance grew to a secret intercolonial association, "the Sons of Liberty" aiming to protest the Stamp Act.

In the fall and winter of 1765 and 1766, the Stamp Act was protested on three separate fronts – by the Sons of Liberty, who held mass meetings, by the colonial legislatures, who petitioned Parliament to repeal "taxation without representation" and, finally, American merchants organized nonimportation associations to put economic pressure on British exporters.

Due to mass resistance in colonies and in London (British exporters were also affected by the crisis), Parliament repealed the Stamp Act in March 1766. But the issue of "taxation without representation" had already become central in the life of the colonies. The colonies viewed the British Parliament as having no right to pass laws for the colonies because colonies were not represented in Parliament, and no colonial legislature had the right to pass laws for England.

In 1767, colonists were struck by a new series of taxes on trade goods like paper, glass, and tea imposed according to the Townshend Acts (by the name of British Head of Ministry). These acts aimed to support colonial governors, officers and the British army in America. New customs provoked further growth of violence in colonies, as colonial imports from England dropped dramatically, especially in New York, New England, and Pennsylvania. Many colonists had to dress in homespun clothing and look for substitutes for tea. They used homemade paper and their houses went unpainted.

Bostonians especially hated the new tax, so two British regiments were dispatched there to protect customs officers. Presence of British soldiers provoked Bostonians' patience – guards checked all travelers and their goods, and paraded over the city streets to show British power. On March 5, 1770, the resistance grew into violence – a crowd of Bostonians began to snowball British sentries, who, in their turn, opened fire on the crowd. In the accident, later called the "Boston Massacre", four Bostonians were killed and some wounded. It was widely discussed as an example of British tyranny in colonies.

Fierce colonial opposition made in 1770 British Parliament repealed all the Townshend duties except a duty on tea, and the campaign against England was losing its force.