America Opposes Britain's Power Grab - Taxation

 

[Part of the 90 Day Study: Our Lives, Our Fortunes & Our Sacred Honor – 

Exploring the Declaration of Independence]

90-Day Study Essay Schedule 2021 – Constituting America

DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE: Grievance Number 10.   “He has erected a multitude of New Offices and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance”.

Grievance Ten in the Declaration of Independence focuses on the most visible aspect of “taxation without representation”, which was foundational to the American Revolution.

England was deep in debt after prevailing in the first worldwide war of the modern era.  The Seven Years War (1756-1763) engaged all European countries, big and small, in a struggle for territorial and political dominance of the European Continent.  It rapidly spread to battling over control of colonies and trade routes throughout Africa, Asia, the Americas, and the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans. 

What was known as the “French and Indian War” in North America was just a small part of this larger world war.

After the British victory, British Prime Minister, Lord Grenville (1763-1765), desperately sought ways to pay off the crippling war debt.  Grenville choose to ignore the fact that American colonists paid, fought, and died to defeat France in North America.  Instead, he promoted the concept that the beneficiaries of the war (American colonists) should pay for it. He also asserted that American colonists should pay for retaining twenty battalions of British soldiers that remained to pacify the people conquered in the former French territories.

Grenville’s first step was to enforce existing customs duties.  Many British Customs officials managed collections through intermediaries while remaining in England.  Grenville forced them to relocate to America as part of his general crack down on smuggling, lax enforcement, and spotty revenue collection. Expanded numbers of Customs Officers became more aggressive in using search warrants, called "writs of assistance", to track down smuggled goods. Warehouses were seized and ships were captured to bolster Royal revenue collection.  Royal Customs officials became a permanent and pervasive presence in Colonial seaports along the Atlantic coast.

Benjamin Franklin cautioned that “what England gained from taxes would be lost in trade”.   A post-War economic recession proved him prophetic.

The shortfall in Customs revenue led to the Stamp Act of 1765, the first internal tax levied directly on American colonists by the British Parliament. Prior to the Stamp Act taxes were only levied by local government through their elected officials.  Now a government, 3,500 miles away, was asserting control, without the knowledge, approval, or oversight of the colonists.

The Stamp Act imposed a tax on all paper documents in the colonies.  This included legal documents, playing cards, newspapers, and land titles. Stamps had to be purchased with British sterling, rather than local paper currency, causing additional economic hardship. Proof of payment required affixing a Royal Stamp on documents, thus the name.

The February 1765 Parliament debate on the Stamp Tax reveals the growing chasm between King George III and his proponents versus the American Colonists:

Prime Minister Grenville:

"and now will these Americans, children planted by our care, nourished up by our indulgence until they are grown to a degree of strength and opulence, and protected by our arms, will they grudge to contribute their mite to relieve us from heavy weight of the burden which we lie under?"

 

Colonel Isaac Barré [Member of Parliament and friend of Benjamin Franklin] responded:

“They planted by your care? No! Your oppression planted ‘em in America. They fled from your tyranny to a then uncultivated and unhospitable country where they exposed themselves to almost all the hardships to which human nature is liable…

 

“They nourished by your indulgence? They grew by your neglect of ‘em. As soon as you began to care about ‘em, that care was exercised in sending persons to rule over 'em, in one department and another, who were perhaps the deputies of deputies to some member of this house, sent to spy out their liberty, to misrepresent their actions and to prey upon 'em; men whose behavior on many occasions has caused the blood of those sons of liberty to recoil within them....

 

“They protected by your arms? They have nobly taken up arms in your defense, have exerted a valor amidst their constant and laborious industry for the defense of a country whose frontier while drenched in blood, its interior parts have yielded all its little savings to your emolument .... The people I believe are as truly loyal as any subjects the King has, but a people jealous of their liberties, and who will vindicate them if ever they should be violated."

 

Barré’s reference to the “sons of liberty” became the moniker for the Boston Patriots for years to come.

 

Parliament passed the Stamp Act on March 22, 1765.  Hundreds of Royal commissioned “Stamp Agents” arrived in major towns across the American colonies.  They were met with riots and attacks.  In October 1765, representatives from nine of the colonies met at the City Hall in New York City to coordinate opposition, a forerunner to the Continental Congresses. In the face of mounting opposition, and concerns for the safety of Royal Tax officials, the Parliament repealed the Stamp Act on February 22, 1766.

 

While seeming to address colonial concerns, Parliament linked repealing the Stamp Act to passage of the Declaratory Act.  This Act affirmed Parliament’s authority to pass any colonial legislation it saw fit, without input, notice, or representation. The Declaratory Act galvanized colonial concerns about “taxation without representation”, first raised with the Stamp Act.

 

Charles Townshend (August 1766-September 1767) became Prime Minister and developed additional imperatives for taxing the Colonies.  It was no longer just about paying war debt, it was about consolidating Imperial power. 

 

Raising taxes, and trade-based duties and fees, would provide enough money for the British Crown to “reimagine” colonial administration by directly paying Colonial Governors, Judges, and other senior officials.  American-based officials would now owe their livelihood directly to King George III instead of the colonists and colonial assemblies.  By “liberating” royal officials from their financial dependence on American legislatures, Townshend hoped to eliminate the most tangible obstacle preventing regular enforcement of parliamentary laws and royal directives.

 

Higher revenue from the American colonies were also to provide enough funds for Townsend to reduce the British Land Tax, consolidating his Party’s support in future elections.

The “Townshend Acts” created new taxes on numerous consumer goods.  The Acts authorized and funded the hiring of the much referenced, “multitude of New Offices and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.”  Legions of Royal tax collectors and Customs Officers arrived from England to establish new or expanded operations in every major colonial trading center. 

Townshend died before his initiatives swept through the colonies.  Widespread opposition and protests led to the repeal most taxes in April 1770.  The controversial tax on tea remained.

The Tea Tax, and the “swarms of Officers”, remained daily reminders of oppression by unaccountable Royal officials.  Arthur Lee, serving as an observer for Massachusetts before the British Parliament, mused whether any Member of Parliament actually, "know us, or we him? No! Is he bound in duty and interest to preserve our liberty and property? No! Is he acquainted with our circumstances, situation, wants, etc.? No! What then are we to expect from him? Nothing but taxes without end!"

The ever expanding and intrusive presence of tax collectors and customs officers merited several mentions in the “Petition to the King” as part of the documents issued by the First Continental Congress in 1774, and became Grievance Ten in the Declaration of Independence in 1776.

America Opposes Britain’s Power Grab – Immigration

 

[Part of the 90 Day Study: Our Lives, Our Fortunes & Our Sacred Honor – 

Exploring the Declaration of Independence]

90-Day Study Essay Schedule 2021 – Constituting America

DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE: Grievance Number 7.  "He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands."

In December 1773, King George III (reigned 1760-1820) suspended the “Plantation” or “Immigration” Act of 1740.  His intent was to strike at the heart of the economic engine fueling economic independence among the American colonies.  His other goal was to extinguish momentum for independent thought and religious expression.  These actions formed the basis for Grievance Seven in the Declaration of Independence.

George II (reigned 1727-1760) was the last foreign-born King of England.  He supported expansive and permissive immigration to the American Colonies.  In his world view, expanding population among the colonies generated demand for British goods.  Skilled immigrants would increase the productivity and profitability of colonial agriculture, bringing healthy returns among Royal Charter holders and their investors.

Just as important, the attraction of America as a land of opportunity and tolerance served as a “safety valve” for removing “free thinking” or “noncomformist” Protestants, and restive Scots and Irish, from the “home country” through legally approved immigration.  Church of England supporters and Royalists were more than happy to be rid of them after nearly 200 years of strife.

England also benefited from helping oppressed minorities, such as the Huguenots (French Protestants), leave Europe.  It allowed England to gain the “moral high ground” in the geopolitical power struggles of the time. Bringing Scandinavian and German peoples to America forged important alliances while enriching the economic and cultural mix of the Colonies.

On June 1, 1740, the “Plantation” or “Immigration” Act of 1740 went into effect to streamline immigration and naturalization.  It allowed any Protestant alien residing in any of their American colonies for seven years, without being absent from that colony for more than two months, to be deemed "his Majesty’s natural-born subjects of this Kingdom."  Over the course of several years, individual Colonies began to directly administer immigration and citizenship.  Many colonies, led by Pennsylvania, expanded coverage to include Catholics and Jews.

Benjamin Franklin was an eloquent supporter of immigration:

“Strangers are welcome because there is room enough for them all, and therefore the old Inhabitants are not jealous of them; the Laws protect them sufficiently so that they have no need of the Patronage of great Men; and everyone will enjoy securely the Profits of his Industry…

"These new settlers to America create a growing demand for our merchandise, to the greater employment of our manufacturers...

 Multitudes of poor People from England, Ireland, Scotland and Germany, have by this means in a few Years become wealthy Farmers.  They create a continual demand for more Artisans of all the necessary and useful kinds, to supply those cultivators of the earth with houses, and with furniture & utensils of the grosser sorts which cannot so well be brought from Europe. Tolerably good Workmen in any of those mechanic arts, are sure to find employ, and to be well paid for their work, there being no restraints preventing strangers from exercising any art they understand, nor any permission necessary.”

 These free-wheeling immigration and citizenship policies came to an abrupt end when George III became King.

 The King’s Advisors raised concerns that non-English immigrants had little connection or loyalty to the “Mother Country” or its ruler.  In this world view, the expanding and diversifying colonial population was creating an independent challenge to the economic and political power of England.

 King George sent secret agents to America to assess the condition and “state-of-mind” of the colonists. “A large influx of liberty-loving German emigrants was observed, and the King was advised to discourage these immigrations”.

 Based upon these reports and recommendations, George III began to delay and obstruct new migration from England and other parts of Europe. In his Royal Proclamation of 1763, he prevented settlement west of the Appalachians, hoping to limit further agricultural growth. This angered those wanting to settle in the west, and ignited opposition from those with significant investments in western real estate.

 King George, and his Prime Minister, Lord North, took additional actions to end immigration, naturalization, and expansion of the Colonial economy.  In December 1773, they forbid Colonial naturalization of aliens, under any conditions.  A ban on royal land grants was finalized in February 1774.

 England’s far reaching assault on colonial naturalization laws and suspending the “Plantation Act” was considered intolerable, and therefore, was included in the grievances listed in the Declaration of Independence. 

Fourteen years later, the “Plantation Act of 1740" would be the model for the “Naturalization Act of 1790”, the first immigration policy of the new nation.

America Opposes Britain’s Power Grab – Right to Assembly

 

[Part of the 90 Day Study: Our Lives, Our Fortunes & Our Sacred Honor – 

Exploring the Declaration of Independence]

90-Day Study Essay Schedule 2021 – Constituting America

Declaration of Independence: Grievance Number 4. “He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.”

Public meetings and public records have been fundamental to representative government since its inception.  They are the basis for resolving differences, forging agreements, and holding public officials accountable.  They are integral to a free society.

It is not surprising that the British Crown’s assault on these fundamentals is among the top Grievances listed in the Declaration of Independence.

The escalating protests over onerous and draconian British Colonial policies and taxes crested with the “Boston Tea Party” on December 16, 1773.  Sons of Liberty activists dumped over a million dollars (in 21^st Century value) of tea into Boston Harbor.

Lord North, the British Prime Minister (1770-1790), retaliated with harsh measures to suppress dissent and disrupt the culture of self-government, which he viewed as the root cause of the chaos. 

On May 2, 1774, North declared Massachusetts was "in a distempered state of disturbance and opposition to the laws of the mother country."

On May 20, 1774, Parliament passed the Massachusetts Government Act, which nullified the Massachusetts Charter of 1691. Under the Act, Royal Governor Thomas Gage dissolved the Massachusetts provincial assembly.  He then required them to meet in Salem, citing Boston as “unsafe”.  

The move to Salem had the intended effect of forcing Massachusetts’ legislators to travel and find food and lodging in a small town of 1,600 instead of among the 16,000 population of Boston.  The infrastructure for supporting legislative operations were nonexistent (stenographers, printers, legal offices, media, and messengers).  

Worse, there was no provision for moving any of the colony’s official records to Salem.  Any research or reference entailed a day’s travel each way from Salem to Boston and back again.  It achieved the British goal of “fatiguing them [legislators] into compliance with his measures”.

Similar actions were taken against the elected assemblies in Virginia and North Carolina.   North Carolina’s legislature was forced from their colonial capital of Brunswick to meet in New Bern.  In Virginia, Royal Governor, Lord Dunmore, dissolved the House of Burgesses and refused to call them back into session.  In defiance of the Governor, the colonial representatives reconvened at the Raleigh Tavern in Williamsburg.  Patrick Henry’s famous “Give me liberty, or give me death!” speech was presented during another banned session held at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Richmond (March 23, 1775).

The dislocation and dissolution of these Colonial Legislatures led to the same disruption and “discomfort” experienced by Massachusetts’ elected representatives. The goal of punishing opposition and suppressing dissent was achieved by forcing elected officials into “places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records”.  It certainly interfered with the colony's public business and prevented officials from "access to information necessary to conduct it". Eventually, all Colonial Governors dissolved their legislatures.  

The British Parliament also moved to eradicate local town meetings because, “a great abuse has been made of the power of calling them, and the inhabitants have, contrary to the design of their institution, been used to treat upon matters of the most general concerns, and to pass dangerous and unwarrantable resolves.”  Ongoing local meetings were replaced by annual meetings only called with the Colonial Governor’s permission, or not at all.

A series of five punitive acts were passed by Parliament intended to restrict public discourse and punish opponents.  It was England’s hope the “Intolerable Acts” would intimidate rebellious Colonists into submission. The “Acts” ignited a firestorm of outrage throughout Colonial America.  More importantly, it generated a unity of purpose and inspired a willingness for collective action among leaders in the previously fragmented American colonies.

The First Continental Congress met in the Carpenters Hall in Philadelphia from September 5-October 26, 1774. All colonies, except Georgia, were represented.  They issued the “Declaration of Rights and Grievances” which established a philosophy of government, and list of contentious issues, that would be echoed in the Declaration of Independence less than two years later.

The delegates created the “Continental Association”, which invoked non-importation, non-consumption of British goods, and non-exportation of American goods to England until the “Intolerable Acts” were rescinded.

King George and Lord North responded with a major show of force in Boston.  As British troops became increasingly visible on the city’s streets, Governor Gage created a network of informants to identify and arrest dissidents. 

Alerted to weapons being stockpiled in Lexington, Gage launched the fateful sortie that led to the “shot heard around the world”.