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Debate Over Taxation And Representation In The Colonies

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Debate Over Taxation and Representation In the beginning the relationship between the colonies and Britain was amicable. The colonies governed themselves but still remained loyal to Britain. They had a working system of the colonies providing goods to trade with Britain and only Britain while Britain provided protection from other nations interested in colonizing the Americas. This changed after the French and Indian War. The French and Indian war was between Britain and France over land acquisition in North America. Britain came out the victor which meant an expansion of the empire but also a massive amount of debt. With this debt needing to be paid the Britain turned to the solution of taxing the colonists. This switch in government created …show more content…

The right to legal representation in Parliament. As result of self- governing there was no need for colonial representative in Parliament but with the changes being enforced without this legal representation the colonists felt there would be no accuracy in the taxes they would be made to pay. According to the “The Rights of the British Colonies Asserted and Proved” by James Otis the 2nd right states “The supreme national legislative cannot altered justly ‘till the commonwealth is dissolved, nor a subordinate legislative taken away without forfeiture or other god cause.” Otis goes on to say “No representation of the Colonies in parliament alone,… It would be impossible for the parliament to judge so well, of their abilities to bear taxes, impositions on trade, and other duties and burthens, or of the local laws that might be really needful, as a legislative here.” In “The Resolution of the Stamp Act Congress October 1765” by John Dickenson he discusses the fact that the taxes are far too much for the colonists to pay and it would affect their way of life including business with Britain in section XI “That the restrictions imposed by several late Acts of Parliament, on the trade of these colonies, will render them unable to purchase the manufactures of Great- Britain.” In section IX he even states that the taxes “will be extremely burthensome and grievous; and from the scarcity of the specie, the payment of them absolutely impracticable.” However, Soame Jenyns rebuttles this argument in “The Objections to the Taxation of our American Colonies by the Legislature of Great Britain, briefly consider’d” by saying having no legal representation is simply an excuse and other towns also have lack representation in Parliament. The hesitation of the colonists to pay the taxes also led him to question their loyalty to Britain “The towns of Manchester and Birmingham sending no representatives to parliament,

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