4 - 1763 to 1792: Empire divided

Summary

By comparison to the previous chapters, this chapter and the next each cover the relatively short periods of twenty-nine and twenty-eight years, respectively. Each chapter is centred on a major war. This chapter is centred on the American War of Independence (1775–83, alternatively known as the American Revolutionary War) and is structured under three headings. The first heading considers developments in direct taxation during the disquiet and pivotal events leading to the war. The Seven Years War had been the most expensive ever for Britain and had resulted in the greatest increase in the national debt. There was a perception that the American colonies had benefited disproportionately from this war at the expense of the British national debt. This was particularly so considering the substantial compensation paid by Britain to the colonies for war expenditure, which enabled many of them to discharge large portions, if not the entire amount, of their own debts.

Under the burden of this debt Grenville, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, perceiving the prosperity of the colonies, proposed to levy a light tax to assist in easing the burden in Britain. But for the Americans, taxation by the British Parliament raised fundamental constitutional issues. They had no representation in the British Parliament and, therefore, maintained that to seek to tax them was unconstitutional; no taxation without representation. It will be recalled that direct taxation in both Wales and Scotland followed the granting of representation in the English Parliament (see pp. 51 and 195, respectively).