Why did the British Tax the colonies? 

The French and Indian War was costly for the British, and George III looked to the colonies to help cover the expenses of their defense from the French. The colonies had always been taxed, though their taxes had been paid in the form of import and export duties and never as direct taxes on the colonists. This changed with the Stamp Act.

The Stamp Act was a tax the British Parliament placed on the colonies in 1765, taxing various printed materials including newspapers, magazines, and even playing cards. The colonists did not like the tax because they felt they should not have to pay for a war from which they did not benefit. The British won the French and Indian War, but the Proclamation of 1763 meant the colonists were, despite the victory, denied the ability to expand their settlements westward. 

After the French and Indian War, parts of the British Army remain in the colonies as a show of force and as tax enforcers for Parliament. The presence of the military in the streets of Boston, Philadelphia, and New York created distrust between the colonies and Parliament.

Additionally, the colonists disliked the Stamp Act because it was a direct tax and they had no representation in Parliament. The act was protested throughout the colonies. In Virginia, Partick Henry took to the floor of the House of Burgesses to state that George III needed to recognize the rights of all citizens and that there should be “no taxation without representation.” This was the first time that famous phrase was used—to protest George III’s actions.

In 1765, representatives from 9 of the 13 colonies met for what became known as the Stamp Act Congress, as it was a direct response to Parliament’s Stamp Act.  Its proceedings produced the Declaration of Rights and Grievances, which outlined their claim that they had the same rights as Englishmen and Parliament had no right to create laws for the colonists because the colonists had no representation within Parliament. They further stated that only their colonial government could legally impose taxes on the colonies because it was the only government body in which the colonists had representation. As a form of protest, colonists also began to boycott all British goods, leading to a drop in trade. 

As the British Parliament was faced with a growing colonial protest and pressure from London merchants who lost revenue because of the protests, the Stamp Act was repealed by Parliament in 1766. Immediately after its repeal, however, Parliament passed the Declaratory Act, which asserted that Parliament “had hath, and of right ought to have, full power and authority to make laws and statutes of sufficient force and validity to bind the colonies and people of America … in all cases whatsoever”. This new act attempted to undermine the colonial claim from the Stamp Act Congress that Parliament did not have the right to enforce taxes on the colonies since the colonies did not have direct representation within Parliament.

George III, despite these setbacks, needed to raise money to pay for the expenses of the French and Indian War, so Parliament passed the Townshend Act in 1767; this act taxed various goods including glass, lead, paint, paper, and tea. These were not direct taxes on the colonists; they were new duties merchants had to pay when imported goods into the colonies. 

The Townshend Act also allowed British offices to search a private home, without a warrant from a judge, for smuggled goods.  As more goods were being taxed, smuggling became a big business in the colonies to avoid British taxes,  allowing merchants to make more money.  However, the efforts to catch the smugglers also increased. 

These actions by British government agents in colonies represented a loss of freedom for the colonists. With the ability to search a residence anytime, colonists felt a loss of privacy and presumed innocence. Colonists publish essays outlining their grievances. For example, in Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania, John Dickinson argued that the duties being enforced on goods in the colonies were in effect, a tax, and the British Parliament did not have the authority to tax the colonists without the consent of their colonial governments. Like Patrick Henry and the Stamp Act Congress, Dickinson argued that no taxation should exist without representation.

In 1770, the continual protest against the Townshend Act caused many in Parliament to call for their total repeal. However, the British Prime Minister, Lord North, believed Parliament continued to enforce a small tax on tea to bolster the Declaratory Act, which claimed that Parliament had the right to tax the colonies without their consent. Unsurprisingly, the tea tax was unpopular with the colonists, who felt the tax was imposed on them and also continued to believe that only their colonial legislatures had the right to tax them.

As a result of the continued British taxation, colonists began moving beyond just using words to protest British taxes.