The British government maintains that Parliament`s power to legislate for the colonies is unlimited. This was expressly stated in the Act of Declaration of 1766. [12] The British also argued that although the colonists were not really represented in Parliament, they were still virtually represented. [14] The American view, shaped by the political philosophy of the Whigs, was that Parliament`s authority over the colonies was limited. [15] Although the colonies initially recognized Parliament`s right to legislate for the entire empire – for example, in commercial matters – they argued that parliamentary taxation was a violation of the principle of taxation by consent, since consent could only be given by the settlers` own representatives. In addition, the Americans argued that the colonies were not within the jurisdiction of Parliament and that the colonists owed allegiance only to the crown. In fact, the Americans argued that their colonial legislators were equal in parliament, not subordinate. [16] These irreconcilable interpretations of the British Constitution became the central theme of the American Revolution. [17] American settlers were angered by the Stamp Act and acted quickly to resist it. Because of the distance of the colonies from London, the epicenter of British politics, a direct appeal to Parliament was almost impossible. Instead, the settlers clearly expressed their resistance by simply refusing to pay the tax. The executive branch consisted of an advisory council to the governor, which ranged in size from ten to thirty members. [21] [23] In the royal colonies, the crown appointed a mixture of reserved spaces (holders of paid government offices) and members of the upper class within colonial society.

Council members tended to represent the interests of businessmen, creditors and landowners in general. [24] While avocados were important in the thirteen colonies, merchants were important in the northern colonies and planters were more engaged in the southern provinces. [ref. needed] Members served “at will” and not for life or for fixed terms. [25] When there was an absent governor or a break between governors, the council acted as a government. [26] This 1774 print shows Boston settlers pouring tea down the throat of a Loyalist official whom they tarred and feathered. Tax commissioners were often threatened with tar and feathers when attempting to enforce the Stamp Act of 1765, which imposed a tax on all official papers and documents in the American colonies. The consequences of the stamp law affected constitutional guarantees and the First Amendment. (Printed by Philip Dawe via Wikimedia Commons, public domain) After news of the successful passage of the Stamp Act reached the colonies, the Virginia House of Burgesses passed resolutions denying the British Parliament the power to tax the colonies. In Boston, settlers revolted and destroyed the stamp dealer`s house.

News of these protests inspired similar activities and protests in other colonies, and so the Stamp Act served as a common cause to unite the 13 colonies in opposition to the British Parliament. In October 1765, delegates from 9 colonies met to petition the British government denying Parliament the power to tax the colonies. An American boycott of British goods, coupled with a recession, also prompted British merchants to push for the repeal of the law for pragmatic economic reasons. Under pressure from American settlers and British merchants, the British government decided that it was easier to repeal the Stamp Act than to enforce it. Monetary law. This law prohibited the American colonies from issuing their own currency, which angered many American colonists. On March 22, 1765, the British Parliament passed the Stamp Act to pay British troops stationed in the colonies during the Seven Years` War. The law required settlers to pay a tax, represented by a stamp, on various forms of paper, documents, and playing cards. It was a direct tax imposed by the British government without the consent of colonial legislators and payable in hard-to-obtain pounds sterling instead of colonial currency.

In addition, those accused of violating the Stamp Act could be prosecuted in vice-admiralty courts, which had no jury and could be detained anywhere in the British Empire. With the passage of the Stamp Act, the settlers` murmur eventually became an articulate response to what they saw as an attempt by the mother country to undermine their economic strength and independence. They raised the issue of taxation without representation and formed companies in the colonies to rally against the British government and nobles who wanted to exploit the colonies as a source of income and raw materials. In October of that year, nine of the 13 colonies sent representatives to the Stamp Act Congress, where the colonists drafted the “Bill of Rights and Complaints,” a document that railed against the autocratic policies of the mercantilist British Empire. The Quebec Act, under consideration since 1773, removed all territory and the fur trade between the Ohio and Mississippi rivers from eventual colonial jurisdiction and assigned it to the province of Quebec. By introducing French civil law and Roman Catholic religion to the coveted region, Britain behaved generously towards the settlers of Quebec, but raised the specter of the papacy before the mainly Protestant colonies of southern Canada. Until 1774, opinion among the settlers was mixed. Some Bostonians felt the time had come to ease tensions and sent a written offer to London to pay for the destroyed tea. Others called for a colony-wide boycott. However, many colonial merchants were reluctant to participate in a boycott that was difficult to enforce. Despite these disagreements, most colonists agreed that a meeting to discuss an appropriate collective response to the British action was a good idea. Colonial legislators sent representatives to Philadelphia, and the first Continental Congress met in September 1774.

The Continental Congress approved the charter on October 20. These articles listed colonial grievances and called for a locally imposed boycott in all settlements, which was to take effect on December 1. The delegates also wrote a petition to King George III outlining their grievances, although they had doubted until then that the crisis would be resolved peacefully. Under the law, obligations, licenses, certificates, and other official documents were included, as well as more mundane items such as ordinary parchment and playing cards. Parliament held that the American colonies would have to compensate for the sums necessary for their maintenance. He intended to use the extra taxpayers` money to cover the war costs incurred in Britain`s battles with France and Spain.