are of the national debt that had doubled since 1754(Blum 95). England passed many Acts that were ill conceived and had long term effects onthe relationship between England and the colonies. The most controversial ofthese were direct taxes. The last time Parliament had tried a direct tax was asrecent as 1765, when Lord Grenville enacted the Stamp Act which forced thecolonists to pay for stamps on printed documents, the Stamp Act(Higginbotham34). The Americans had felt the taxes of Lord Grenville were "a deliberate aim todisinherit the colonists by denying them the rights of the English(Blum 96)." Thefirst of these acts were the Townshend Acts. The Townshend Acts were passedin 1767 and placed new taxes on paper, paints, tea, lead and, glass. The newtaxes would be used to pay for British officials in the American service. Theseacts infuriated the colonists because they believed that Parliament had the rightto put taxes on the trade of the colonies but could not place taxes directly on thecolonists to raise revenue(America Online). The spokesperson of the colonies, John Dickinson, wrote in his "Letters of aPennsylvania Farmer," on the issue of direct taxes. He distinguished betweentaxes that were imposed to regulate trade and those that were intended solely toraise revenue. If the tax was used to promote commerce it was justifiable, but ifthe tax was used only to gain revenue it was not viewed as a legitimatetax(America Online). The colonists believed that this new tax was not legitimateand therefore there was strong opposition to it throughout the colonies. By 1766 England backed off in their efforts to tax their colonies. Following a yearof opposition from the colonists England revoked the Stamp Act and the firstQuartering Act, but they still passed the Declaratory Act (History Place). In 1766the Declaratory Act was passed. It was passed the same day that the Stamp Actwas repealed. The Declaratory Act gave the English government total po...
