WORLD HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -The protests were based on a legal principle that the colonial legislatures only had the power to tax residents who had representatives in those legislatures. And even though some colonies had official agents to Parliament, like Benjamin Franklin, no colonies had sitting representatives in the British Parliament.

Detailed explanation-2: -They had to pay high taxes to the king. They felt that they were paying taxes to a government where they had no representation. They were also angry because the colonists were forced to let British soldiers sleep and eat in their homes.

Detailed explanation-3: -The Act resulted in violent protests in America and the colonists argued that there should be “No Taxation without Representation” and that it went against the British constitution to be forced to pay a tax to which they had not agreed through representation in Parliament.

Detailed explanation-4: -In short, many colonists believed that as they were not represented in the distant British parliament, any taxes it imposed on the colonists (such as the Stamp Act and the Townshend Acts) were unconstitutional, and were a denial of the colonists’ rights as Englishmen.

Detailed explanation-5: -Parliament did not understand the “taxation without representation” argument because all of Britain’s other colonies paid taxes and did not get any Parliamentary representation; as such, the wondered why the American colonies should have been treated any differently.