MY PERSPECTIVE, Gary Damron

We've seen how the seeds of revolution were planted in the American colonies, when disappointment, economic loss, and resentment followed the British Proclamation of 1763. England at that time was dealing with a debt of nearly £130 million, plus the annual cost of maintaining 10,000 troops along the frontier. Responsibility for the budget fell to George Grenville, first lord of the treasury, and disagreements over taxes contributed to the strife.

Grenville decided that tariffs, which before had been used to control trade, could become a money-making enterprise. In 1764, the Revenue Act (known as the Sugar Act), was passed. It imposed a duty on sugar and molasses used to make rum. Also included were textiles, wines, coffees, and indigo. Wording in its preamble that it was "a revenue ... raised ... in America for defraying the expense of defending, protecting, and securing the same" was a mistake.

George III had come to the throne in 1761 as a popular young king. But his decision to be more involved in government created instability in Parliament and in the colonies. William Pitt the Elder, who was successfully directing the French and Indian War, became the first casualty when the king replaced him that first year.

New enforcement rules were implemented, such as peacetime use of British naval vessels in American waters, to control West Indies trade. Each ship had to produce paperwork proving where cargo originated. Samuel Adams became heavily involved in protesting the Sugar Act. He criticized it as "taxation without representation" and he wrote official reports opposing the act. He drafted instructions for Boston's representatives to fight it, and helped organize early resistance.

Grenville passed several additional measures, including the Currency Act of 1764, which prohibited colonies from issuing paper money as legal tender, and required that all duties be paid in silver or gold. The Quartering Act of 1765 infringed on property rights, as it required that soldiers be housed in Americans' private homes if necessary. Or they were based in public buildings, which existed in large numbers only in the cities. Many of the soldiers ended up in Boston or New York City, far away from the problems they were to control.

Also passed in 1765, the Stamp Act required a government stamp on all paper products, including books, newspapers, pamphlets, and legal documents. Violators would be tried, not with a jury, but by admiralty courts. This new measure was a direct tax, as opposed to one regulating commerce. While earlier enactments affected consumers and merchants, the Stamp Act would impact educated lawyers and publishers, those who could most successfully challenge Britain and organize resistance.

Arguments against the Sugar Act had been mostly economic, but passage of the Stamp Act caused colonists to begin viewing the issue in terms of rights. They felt they had not given up their basic rights as Englishmen, simply by migrating to America. England argued that colonists were represented virtually in Parliament; however, colonial provincial legislatures directly represented the people in day-to-day issues and taxations.

Grenville also argued there was no difference in external taxes (port duties) and internal taxes. Assemblies in all thirteen colonies objected, asserting that each assembly should decide how or whether to tax revenues. Parliament refused to read the petitions. The position of Grenville and Parliament was that the House of Commons represented the good of all British people everywhere - those who voted and who did not, and those who lived in England or in the colonies. At the same time, Parliamentary supremacy, where the king, Lords, and Commons acted together, was viewed in England as fulfilling the principle of shared government. In America, the majority men were allowed to vote, so colonists began to see that virtual representation made no sense.

In May, Patrick Henry introduced the Virginia Resolves in the House of Burgesses asserting that Virginians possessed the same liberties, privileges, and immunities as natural born Englishmen in the mother land. Not all passed, but they all were published and read widely in newspapers. One failed resolution was that Virginians were not bound to obey tax laws not approved by their provincial assembly. Another denounced supporters of unapproved taxes as public enemies.

In October, the Stamp Act Congress convened in New York, with nine colonies represented. They drafted a set of resolutions, written largely by Pennsylvania delegate John Dickinson. Similar to the Virginia Resolves, the Stamp Act Congress condemned recent duties enacted by Parliament as "extremely burdensome and grievous"; it also affirmed the right of trial by jury, and sent petitions to the King and both houses of Parliament.

In Boston, an effigy of the appointed stamp distributor appeared, hanging from a tree. That evening, a crowd destroyed the collections office and burned the effigy. The next day, Andrew Oliver promised to give up his position, which in effect nullified the Stamp Act in Massachusetts, and served as a blueprint for other colonies. Grenville was forced from office by the king, more out of anger than any issue. His replacement, the Marquis of Rockingham, worked with Parliament to repeal the Stamp Act. The irony was that the act was never implemented and no tax was ever collected, yet the divisive issue of "taxation without representation" had been crucially raised.

Parliament then passed the Declaratory Act, which boldly asserted their absolute authority to make laws binding "in all cases whatsoever". What began as a dispute over specific taxes evolved into a fundamental conflict over rights, representation, and colonial self-government. Proud British subjects in a new land, separated from England by an ocean of differences, were rapidly becoming defiant Americans on a long path to independence.