32 a short history of the united states
Another problem arising from the cessation of hostilities between
the British and French involved expense. The national debt in England
stood at £ 147 million, and the Prime Minister, George Grenville, was
determined to reduce it. One of his worst headaches was administering
this expanded empire. It proved so costly that Parliament abandoned
the policy of “salutary neglect” and passed a series of laws levying duties
on English imports into America, with part of the revenue to go to-
ward paying the salaries of royal offi cials in the colonies. The fi rst bill
was the Sugar Act, passed in 1764 , which established duties on foreign
sugar, textiles, coffee, indigo, rum, wine, and several other items. It
was the first law approved by Parliament intended specifically to raise
money in the colonies. Grenville expected this act to yield at least
£ 45 , 000 annually if properly enforced. The Sugar Act was not simply a
customs duty but a program that threatened to disrupt American trade
and the livelihood of thousands.
This act was followed the next year by the Quartering Act, which
required the colonies to provide lodging for troops stationed in their
communities to protect them. The Stamp Act, which came a few days
later, added a tax stamp to be placed on newspapers, legal documents,
contracts, playing cards, marriage licenses, land deeds, and a host of
other items that involved paper. It was the first direct tax levied by Par-
liament on the colonies. These acts—the Sugar, Quartering, and Stamp
Acts—created quite an uproar in the colonies—the legal class was par-
ticularly hard hit by the Stamp Act—and James Otis in Massachusetts
proposed that a general meeting of delegates from each of the colonies
meet to take action against the Stamp Act. The proposal won a favor-
able response from the various colonies, and delegates chosen by their
constituents met in October 1765 in New York City to protest the de-
spised legislation. All but four colonies were represented at this Con-
gress; in a “Declaration of Rights and Grievances,” written chiefl y by
John Dickinson of Pennsylvania, the delegates insisted that only their
own duly elected legislatures had the right to tax them. Parliament in
no way represented them, they insisted, and was prohibited from im-
posing taxes on them. Taxation without representation, they declared,
was nothing less than tyranny. In London, Benjamin Franklin, an
agent for Pennsylvania, warned Parliament that any attempt to enforce
the Stamp Act with troops might lead to rebellion.