Taxation Without Represintation

Parliamentary Taxation prompted rebellion in the colonies because England was deciding what taxes the colonies will pay to them, without talking to the colonies and knowing what the colonies made or how much they could afford. Restriction of civil liberties was a problem because England would not allow the colonies to appoint a governor for themselves out of the colony citizens. British Military measures became a problem because they started enforcing English law on the colonies by using the military. Things like breaking up political rallies, large gatherings of people, protesters, and enforcing curfews. The more the military got involved, the more the colonies revolted. of these are important issues or “rights” the British were denying the new colonists. The New Americans felt that they should be able to have many more freedoms and not be under the totalitarian regime of the British government.

For this reason they felt that they should create their own government. Things such as the Boston Tea Party were a direct result of “taxation without representation” Basically the British government wanted to call all the shots without any say of the colonists. The colonist had no political representation in British Parliament. The legacy of colonial religious and political ideas is the most important, because without those ideas, the colonists wouldn’t have looked at the world, and interpreted English actions, as they did. That “legacy” should mean the Enlightenment, which was an intellectual movement that emphasized human equality and natural rights. Everything that the colonists acted on and thought of was based on these ideas. So, I’d say it’s the most important factor.

Second would be Parliamentary taxation. It was taxes, after all, that practically started everything: The Sugar Act, the Stamp Act, the Townsend Acts, the Tea Act, etc. So much of what the colonists protested was about taxes. So, that should be next.

Third would be the restriction of civil liberties. Of course, such liberties were only really restricted close to the time when the Revolutionary War began. This really wasn’t a factor until the Intolerable Acts were passed in 1774.

The last one is English military measures. It’s last because there weren’t any English military measures until a large number of English troops came to the colonies in 1774. It was such measures that started the war, and that was in 1775. But, after all, it’s not the presence of the troops that caused the rebellion, but the reasons for the troops being there. The British colonies in America from the time they were established up until around 1763 had a policy of Salutary Neglect.

Salutary Neglect meant that the British would not interfere with the colonies national or even international affairs. This benefitted the colonies, they got to experience some forms of democracy, and they also were able to experience independence in a way though they took it for granted. The British after the Seven Years War, which was fought on American soil, for the Americans protection, decided that the colonies should be required to pay for it in taxes. Britain was in debt, and their economy was in a recession, so the well off colonies tax money would have helped them considerably. The tax would only be the beginning to a long line of British policies further upsetting the colonial people.