1.In The Parliamentary Debate, What Were The Primary Arguments

Many colonists were angered because of high taxes England chose to enforce on them. These taxes were a result of the British participation and victory in the French and Indian war. However, what made the colonists even more angry was the fact that they were being taxed without representation in England’s Parliament. The colonists thought that, in order to be taxed by the British, they should have representation in it. They saw it as unfair to be taxed by a government they had no say in. As Patrick Henry said in his speech made to the Virginia House of Burgesses, “We can under law be taxed only by our own representatives...The Stamp Act is against the law. We must not obey it…” (Doc. 1). Since many colonists thought this taxation broke the law, some of them chose to protest by going to the House of Burgesses, boycotting imports, or simply not paying it in response. This response is justified; if

Exasperated Americans saw that they had no sort of representation in England. No person of leadership was asked to sit in Parliament and voice any colonial concerns. The colonies did not have any sort of representation within the British Parliament. Without representation, the colonies were being taxed without any sort of consideration for the people. The Patriotic slogan for this particular upset was “No Taxation Without Representation”. Samual Adams used this phrase to gain more followers and to build a force against Britain. Adams was ready for a war, he wanted separation from England before others even thought

Many Englishmen held their own opinions of these, including Soame Jenyns, a member of Parliament from 1741-1780. Jenyns wrote a pamphlet entitled The Objections to the Taxation of our American Colonies by the Legislature of Great Britain, briefly consider?d. The excerpt in the text argues for Parliament?s right to tax the colonies and discusses briefly the theory of virtual representation. He begins by censuring those questioning the jurisdiction of Parliament:

What made the taxations so unfair in the eyes of the colonists, was the fact that they had no representation in the parliament and no one was looking after their interests when the laws were being passed in England. The colonists felt left out, their own country was treating them as if they were foreigners and using them to improve the economy of mainland Britain at the expense of their own. Rebellions continued and independence talks began. "No taxation without representation!" Was a common phrase that echoed around the colonies.

King George took a stance with the government to improve their economic status to gain more power, harming his own people in the long run. He imposed and put resistance in his set of laws but the colonists objected his sudden orders due to the unjust taxation on random products. The Sugar Act, Declaratory Act, Tea Act, Townshend act, and Intolerable Act repress the colonist’s freedom. These acts guaranteed the rights of Parliament and taxed many important items such as tea, sugar and wine. “No Taxation without representation,” (a term the patriots adapted to their revolutionary movement) refers to a situation that involves the government imposing taxes, in this case the British, on a particular group of citizens (American colonists.) The colonies in America were forced to pay a large amount of money without having representation in the British Parliament. This whole situation backfired on the Parliament with rebellions and violent acts such as the Boston Tea Party and the Boston

They used the slogan “No taxation without representation,” to show that they were very against paying for tax on Stamps for any document, especially those that had not needed a stamp prior to the act. This was their slogan for the reason of having no representation in the British Parliament at all. They justified the fact that there was no need for British military in the Colonies, as there were no longer foreign enemies in the nation. The Stamp Act placed tax on court documents, publications, and land, so the Colonists could find no way around it, except for rebellion. (Document 3)

“We can under law be taxed only by our own representatives.” Patrick Henry was trying to say that it is unlawful for us to be taxed when they had no representatives in parliament. The American people agreed with these beliefs. The common belief

The Stamp Act was one of the first attempts by the British to collect taxes from the colonists in 1765. The colonists were vehemently opposed to it and boycotted, rioted, and intimated stamp distributors. These acts were performed largely by a group known as the Sons of Liberty who were present in each colony and were able to intimidate each colony’s stamp distributor to stop selling the required stamps. Finally, “crowd politics” played a crucial role in this early opposition to the Stamp Act because the large crowds were able to overcome potential obstacles such as law men and voice their opinion as a whole to the chosen party. What is known as the Stamp Act was a law passed by British Parliament in 1765.

To begin with, Tensions rose when Britain enforced taxes to the colonies without representation. Parliament first enacted the stamp act in order to raise revenue. The Colonists believed that parliament only had power to impose taxes on trade, not for the sole reason of paying debt, John Dickinson wrote in document 2. This is important because

In March 22,1765 a crisis was brewing in the British's thirteen colonies over in North America. Britain passed the Stamp Act! A tax originally made so that Britain could pay off its debt from the French & Indian war was now being a catalyst for discussion and debate over Britain's right to tax the colonist. The Stamp Act was a necessity if Britain wanted to pay for the French & Indian war debt quickly as well as efficiently. The Stamp Act also provided the British with a good and reasonable way for Britain to tax its colonist.

The argument that was in the Stamp Act was that the colonist believed that they were entitled to the same rights as the citizens that were actually in Britain at that time. The colonist didn’t want to be taxed without representation. Since they were too far away to be represented, they wanted to just be taxed through their local representatives.

Consequently, the British Parliament imposed taxation on the colonists in the 1760’s. The colonists resented this intrusion, for they felt they were not truly represented in the British government. Taxation without representation became the rallying cry of the colonists.

We, the Colonists, refuse taxation without representation. We have no voice in parliament as it’s too far away. Decisions should not be made without these colonies when the people who make these decisions have not experienced living there. They do not know our lifestyle so they should not be able to make decisions regarding it. We could never have a voice in parliament either, as an entire ocean separates us.

“The Revenue Act of 1764 did not bring in enough money to help pay the cost of defending the colonies. The British looked for additional sources of taxation. Prime Minister Grenville supported the imposition of a stamp tax. Colonial representatives tried to convince Grenville that the tax was a bad idea. Grenville insisted in having the new taxes imposed and presented to the parliament. The parliament approved the tax in February 1765. The colonies responded with outrage. It was considered a “shocking act”.(2)

The colonial leaders (Patrick Henry, Samuel Adams and members of the Continental Congress all opposed taxation by the British. They believed that they had no representation