As long as the French were nearby in Canada, the colonists needed the protection of the British army and navy. After the French were gone -- following their defeat in the French and Indian War -- the colonists felt they no longer needed British military protection.
The British government demanded that the colonists pay higher and higher taxes. One reason was that the government wanted to show the colonists that it was in control. Another reason was that Britain was having money problems. Foreign wars had left the country with big debts. The British thought the colonists should help pay some of these debts, especially those resulting from the French and Indian War.
The American colonists might have agreed, but they wanted to have a say in the decision. They wanted the right to vote about their own taxes, like the people living in Britain. But no colonists were permitted to serve in the British Parliament. So they protested that they were being taxed without being represented.
In seventeen sixty-four, the British Parliament approved the Sugar Act. This legislation set taxes on sugar, coffee, some wines and other products imported to America in large amounts. It increased the taxes on European products sent to the colonies through Britain. The British government also approved new measures aimed at enforcing all trade laws. And it decided to restrict the production of paper money in the colonies.
The American colonists opposed all these new laws. Yet they could not agree about how to resist. Colonial assemblies approved protests against the laws, but the protests were all different and had no real effect. Business groups attempted to organize boycotts of goods. But these were not very successful...until the British government approved another tax in seventeen sixty-five: a tax on stamps.
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2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25