Many scholars believe that the French and Indian War was the turning point that led to a downhill spiral of the relationship between the American Colonies and Great Britain. After this war, the British were more strict on the colonies in many ways. Due to the firmness and unfair laws, many colonists grew upset and demanded that they have the rights of Englishmen. The British believed in a different form of representation, known as virtual representation, which was when someone from England represented the colonies in Parliament. But, the colonists believed in actual representation, which was when someone from the colonies would represent them in Parliament. The colonists insisted that what the British were doing was taxation without representation. I believe that these very different views on actual and virtual representation, played a crucial role in the commencement of the Revolutionary War, giving birth to America as a democracy. Most colonists came from Great Britain but there were also large amounts that came from all over Europe, which then led to a wide variety of hostility toward one another. Many of the governments that they were …show more content…
Although each colony had many different ideas, they were brought together by the idea of actual representation, saying that England needed to give them the rights of regular Englishmen. The British government said they had the rights because they favored virtual representation. After realizing they had no voice in England, the colonists eventually decided to declare independence and start a democracy. I am in favor of actual representation because it allows for active representation rather than passive. By this I mean that the one who is representing a specific area or party gets to actually experience what is going on, rather than just being reported back to by other