Imperial Policy after 1763 - Essay Example

According to Bailyn (3), the condition aggravated suddenly in 1763 after the signing of the Treaty of Paris that demolished existing threats to colonies by dissolving the Indian and French wars and introduction of new British policies by George Grenville that sought to tighten British political authority over its colonies for economic gains.

Reasons for challenging the British parliament authority

Policies by George Grenville ministry introduced levies on the sugar and molasses industry. The changes concern rum makers and England colonial merchants (Bailyn 3). A similar policy, the Stamp Act, enacted in 1765 demanded direct revenue contributions to the English parliament (Bailyn 4). This resulted in an outcry spearheaded by Northern merchants, newspaper publishers and lawyers affected directly.  Although these individuals were loyal and proud of their British heritage, they opposed the parliament due to the violation of citizens’ rights. According to Bailyn (4), they argued that the parliament had no right to tax Englishmen that were not represented in the supreme legislation. The colonialists did not have any representatives in the supreme legislation. Therefore, the colonialists were merely flexing their rights. The colonials agreed that the parliament should be an overall legislature over the entire empire of British but can only tax those Englishmen it represents in the parliament.