Heimler's History: Taxation Without Representation

Context

• Unit 3 of AP U.S. History Curriculum
• Focus on events leading to the American Revolution
• Last video covered French and Indian War

Post-French and Indian War

• War was expensive; British sought financial support from American colonies
• Colonists gained land east of the Appalachians
• British expected colonists to pay taxes

Salutary Neglect

• Britain's loose control over colonies
• Colonists enjoyed self-governance and smuggling
• Changed post-war due to financial needs

Grenville's Three-Pronged Plan

1. Stricter enforcement of Navigation Acts
   • Colonists previously engaged in smuggling
2. Quartering Act of 1765
   • Soldiers stationed to enforce laws
   • Colonists to provide food and housing
3. New Taxes and Currency Restrictions
   • Sugar Act: Taxes on luxury items
   • Stamp Act of 1765: Taxes on paper items
   • Currency Act: Prohibited colonial currency

Economic and Social Tensions

• Rising taxes amidst declining wages and unemployment
• "No taxation without representation" due to lack of colonial representatives in Parliament
• Enlightenment influence: John Locke, Rousseau, Voltaire, Kant

Colonial Response

• British Argument: Virtual representation
• Colonial Argument: Need for local representation
• Organized Resistance:
  • Sons of Liberty, Daughters of Liberty, Vox Populi
  • Stamp Act Congress (1765): Petition against Stamp Act

Legislative Repeals and Further Acts

• Repeal of Stamp Act and Sugar Act (1766) but passing of Declaratory Act
• Townshend Acts (1767): Taxes on paper, tea, glass
• Boycotts and protests, especially by women

Escalations Leading to Conflict

• Boston Massacre (1770): British soldiers fired on colonists, leading to deaths
• Boston Tea Party (1773): Protest against Tea Act, dumping tea into harbor

British Retaliation

• Coercive Acts (1774): Closed Boston Harbor, enforced Quartering Act
• Known as the Intolerable Acts
• Led to colonial arming and formation of militias

Conclusion

• Increasing tension between British and colonies
• Next steps to be discussed in following videos