It does depend a little on what time frame you are
specifically referring to, as the disagreements and tension between the colonists and
Mother England was greater in the years immediately preceding the
Revolution.
Jefferson's long list of charges against the
King in the Declaration of Independence shed some light into what grievances the
colonists had in terms of what they believed to be their
rights.
1) The colonists believed their local governments
should be given more authority to settle local issues, rather than being run from 3000
miles away and overruled at the King's discretion
2) They
believed they should be tried in the colonies for crimes they were accused of, as
opposed to in England in front of the King's courts.
3)
They believed they should not be taxed when they had no representative vote in
Parliament to oppose such taxes
4) They also believed that
they should be free from military occupation by British troops according to the
Quartering Act, especially since they were not at war, and colonial towns were not
threatened when they were (The French and Indian War was fought on the frontier and the
open seas). It was a practice, they noted grimly, that did not take place in
England.
No comments:
Post a Comment