Chapter 1: Taxation without representation

The founding of the United States of America is born out of the Seven Year’s Wars (1763-1774) fought between England and France for global supremacy. It ends with the French surrendering their claims in North America and the British in control over the continent.

While the British savor their victory, it comes at a very high cost to their national treasury. To refill the coffers, its 25 year old monarch, King George III, and his Prime Minister, Lord Grenville, decide to increase taxes on their American colonies, to pay their “fair share” of war. This begins in 1763 with a Proclamation Act and continues over the next decade up to the “Intolerable Acts” of 1774.

New Taxes Imposed By The Crown On The Colonies: 1763-1774

After 150 years of loyalty and harmony with the Crown, the colonists are initially bewildered by the fact that these new taxes seem punitive in nature and are imposed absent any discussions within their own state assemblies. But confusion turns to anger and protest by the time the Stamp Act is imposed in 1765. Petitions sent to Britain that same year are met by the Declaratory Act, asserting that the Crown has the absolute right to tax the colonists in any way it chooses.

In response, a group of Bostonians calling themselves the “Sons of Liberty” is formed under the banner of “no taxation without representation.” Tensions are elevated in 1767 when Chancellor of the Exchequer, Charles Townshend, adds new taxes on a series of staple goods, and then follows that with the 1768 Quartering Act whereby the colonies are forced to pay housing costs for locally stationed British troops.

Violence follows. On March 5, 1770 British troops in Boston fire into a mob of protesters, killing five and wounding six others. A trial of eight soldiers is held, with six acquitted and two given light sentences for manslaughter. But publicity about this “Boston Massacre” circulates throughout the colonies and quickly prompts the formation of more insurrectionist cells.

The final straw comes with the Tea Act of 1773. It requires the colonists to purchase only taxed tea from the financially struggling British East Indies Company rather than cheaper options previously available. Protests erupt in several colonies, culminating on December 16, 1773 with the “Boston Tea Party” where “Sons of Liberty” don tribal dress, board English merchant ships, and toss 342 chests of tea into the harbor waters.

The Crown reacts quickly with a series of “Intolerable Acts,” punishments which include closure of the Boston ports and a demand that the colony pay L15,000 in restitution for the destroyed tea. When word of this spreads throughout the colonies, the call goes out for representatives to gather in Philadelphia to craft a unified plan to deal with the British abuses.

In July 1774, Thomas Jefferson, a thirty-four year old member of the Virginia House of Burgesses, publishes a pamphlet titled A Summary View of the Rights of British America. It argues that the colonists have been unfairly deprived of the right enjoyed by other English citizens to have their voices heard in Parliament. Echoing Enlightenment philosophers such as Locke, Rousseau, Hume and others, Jefferson calls for the formation of a new government run by, and accountable to, the people not a monarch. His call is quickly seconded by others.

Two months later, 56 delegates from twelve of the colonies gather in Philadelphia for the “First Continental Congress.” It agrees to send a message to London threatening a boycott of all British imports across the colonies as of December 1774 unless the Crown repeals the Intolerable Acts. The response comes back in the appointment of a new Governor of Massachusetts, General Thomas Gage, who has lived in America for two decades and who attempts over the next year to implement a peaceful resolution.