For a long time he struggled in vain, but at last succeeded, and found in Lord North a Prime Minister (S534) who bowed to the royal will, and endeavored to carry out George III’s favorite policy of “governing for, but never by, the people.”  That policy finally called forth Mr. Dunning’s famous resolution in the House of Commons (1780).  It boldly declared the King’s influence “had increased, was increasing, and ought to be diminished.”  But his Majesty’s measures had other consequences, which were more far-reaching and disastrous than any one in the House of Commons then imagined.

549.  Taxation of the American Colonies.

The wars of the two preceding reigns had largely increased the National Debt (S503), and the Government resolved to compel the American colonies to share in a more direct degree than they had yet done the constantly increasing burden of taxation.  England then, like all other European countries, regarded her colonies in a totally different way from that in which she considers the colonies she now holds.

It was an open question at that time whether colonial legislative rights existed save as a matter of concession or favor on the part of the Home Government.  It is true that the Government had found it expedient to grant or recognize such rights, but it had seldom defined them clearly, and in many important respects no one knew just what the settlers of Virginia or Massachusetts might or might not lawfully do.[1]

[1] Story’s “Constitution of the United States.”

The mother country, however, was perfectly clear on three points: 

1.  That the American colonies were convenient receptacles for the surplus population, good or bad, of the British Islands. 2.  That they were valuable as sources of revenue and profit, politically and commercially. 3.  That, finally, they furnished excellent opportunities for the King’s friends to get office and make fortunes.

Such had long been the feeling about India, and such too was the feeling, modified by difference of circumstances, about America.

Politically the English colonists in America enjoyed a large measure of liberty.  So far as local legislation was concerned, they were in most cases preactically self-governing and independent.  So, too, their personal rights were carefully safeguarded.  On the other hand, the commercial policy of England toward her colonies, though severely restrictive, was far less so than that of Spain or France toward theirs.  The Navigation Laws (S459) compelled the Americans to confine their trade to England alone, or to such foreign ports as she directed.  If they sent a hogshead of tobacco or a barrel of salt fish to another country by any but an English or a colonial built bessel, they were legally liable to forfeith their goods.  On the other hand, they enjoyed the complete monopoly of the English tobacco market, and in certain cases they received bounties on some of their products.  Furthermore, the Navigation Laws had not been rigidly enforced for a long time, and the New England colonists generally treated them as a dead letter.