Otis History - The American Revolution: When the Mother Country Comes Calling

By Peter Cameron

March 2026

In 1763, with the signing of the Treaty of Paris, the Seven Years War–better known in America as the French and Indian War–ended. France surrendered Canada and all territories east of the Mississippi River to the British. That war effort had been horribly expensive, doubling the national debt of England. Over 65% of their national budget was now dedicated to interest payments on war loans. The British people were already overtaxed. Now Parliament looked to the colonies as a new source of money. After 156 years of ignoring the colonies in America, England now took a sharply focused interest.

In 1764, Parliament passed the Sugar Act. This was a revision of a 1733 tax; the revised act increased the tax on sugar and molasses, ingredients in making rum, that were imported to North America. This was Parliament's first effort to raise revenue from the colonies and attack the British national debt.

Along with the Sugar Act, Parliament passed the Currency Act in 1764. This prohibited the colonies from printing their own currency. It stabilized the British pound but seriously hurt the colonial economy because of the shortage of British currency in the colonies. Additionally, it created a trade imbalance because the colonies couldn’t pay for British imports.

In March 1765, the British Parliament, in order to subsidize British troops in the colonies, passed the Stamp Act. This imposed a tax on all printed material including newspapers, legal documents and playing cards. Nothing made from paper was exempt. Paper itself was already expensive, and the added tax negatively impacted every facet of the population.

The colonists saw these three acts as a violation of their rights. They were accustomed to being taxed exclusively by their elected colonial legislatures, not Parliament in far off England. The colonists had no representatives in Parliament to represent their interests and felt this amounted to taxation without representation. They were angry and responded with boycotts, protests and riots. Most importantly, this anger began to bind the colonies together in opposition to what colonists considered English tyranny.

In 1765, Parliament passed the Quartering Act making the colonists responsible for the cost of housing and supplying the increasing number of British troops in the colonies. Many colonies refused to comply with the act, feeling it was intrusive and that they did not need British troops.

In March 1766, Parliament repealed the Stamp Act after pushbacks from the colonies. In its place, they passed the Declaratory Act. In the face of massive colonial dissent, it stated that Parliament had absolute authority passing laws that controlled the colonies. This was a warning to the colonies that they were subservient to English control.

In 1767, the Townshend Acts were passed when Parliament saw noncompliance with the the Quartering Act. This suspended New York's Assembly and revoked its charter. It also imposed a new tax on lead, glass, paint and tea imported into the colonies. Then in 1773, a new Tea Act gave the East India Tea Company a legal monopoly to import tea to the colonies–while increasing taxes on it. When this caused unrest, particularly in Boston, the British transferred 10,000 troops from Nova Scotia to “police” the city.

These acts caused the colonists to react with petitions, boycotts and riots. The British simply kept ratcheting up the taxes. It was a war of wills between the two. Something had to give. OO

Next month: “The Colonies React.”

Peter Cameron is an Otis, MA resident and a retired policeman. He is a graduate of Central Connecticut State University with a B.S. in History with a concentration in U.S. Colonial History.