These contrasting views are what sparked the tensions between the colonies, and this was the main view of the colonists during this period two decades prior to the war: Does the British parliament have the right to tax us, to raise revenue, for their war debts, while overshadowing the fact that they are slowly taking away our natural rights and liberties?.
The answer would soon come with the way the English parliament dealt with the colonies. .
The view of the colonists towards the English crown prior to the revolutionary period was positive. The colonists were fully aware of their English descent and were very proud. They knew that they were a part of the most powerful nation in the world at the time. Taxes and acts came and went within these times. Colonists obviously objected to them, but they knew that as English subjects, it was essential to pay the taxes to raise revenue for the crown. The taxes and acts within the colonies seemed to have started in the 1620's with the passing of the Navigation acts. This act passed by parliament was to promote the English market and commerce against any form of foreign competition. The duties within these colonies called for not exceptionally large amounts of revenue to be collected, so the colonists did not mind this act. In 1764, Greenville passed his Sugar act, which signaled new imperial control over the colonies by the British parliament. Also known as the Molasses act, the parliament passed this act to impose restrictions on sugar and molasses entering the colonies. These acts were passed to ensure profitable commerce and also to increase the revenue. This act, similar to the Navigation act, was that it was an external tax, which did not directly affect the colonists. The colonists, for the most part, before the Proclamation act of 1763, were pleased with the parliament and had no reason for revolt. They felt that they had the right to tax, but within months that is all about to change.
