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The American Revolution
12
A Question of Representation
The 13 colonies had developed separately, and their colonial governments
differed in certain details. The basic structure, though, consisted of a
governor, a governor’s council, and an assembly.
In most colonies, the governor was appointed directly by the Crown.
Governors, in turn, usually appointed members of the council. Councils
advised the governor and performed various other functions. They tended
to be closely allied with the governor.
In all 13 colonies, voters elected representatives to the colonial assembly
(though the right to vote was generally limited to white men age 21 or
over who owned a certain amount of property). The assembly had sole
authority to levy taxes in the colony. This reflected an idea of enormous
importance in the development of English government. A ruler, it was
held, didn’t have the right simply to impose taxes on his subjects. The
people had to grant him permission to tax. And the way they did so was
through their elected representatives.
In Great Britain, it was firmly established that no new taxes could be
levied without parliamentary approval. Members of the House of Com-
mons, the lower chamber of Parliament, were elected. Parliamentary
approval of taxation was viewed as a cornerstone of English
liberty
. If
a king had unchecked power to tax, he could easily deprive his subjects
of their property.
Great Britain had never attempted to impose a direct tax on the 13
colonies. Yet that’s clearly what the Stamp Act was. The act had been
passed by Parliament rather than dictated by the king. But colonists
Some British officials argued that the American colonies enjoyed
virtual representation
in Parliament. According to this idea,
every member of Parliament represented every British subject
in the empire, not just the people from the member’s district.