ew England's royal governor, Andros, was based in Boston and not Long Island fueled local resentment that can be indirectly linked with what evolved into revolutionary sentiment: One consequence of collapsing Long Island into New England was that the popular assembly was dissolved (Becker 132).
Becker repeatedly returns to the fact that economic development in the greater New York City area was its most striking feature. He explains that the population of the island in 1674 was 7,000, which grew to 25,000 by 1700; by 1695 New York City alone had a population of 5,000 (Becker 132). The entire area was actively engaged in foreign trade, both legal and illegal. The protection of the prerogatives of an active and healthy economy became a major theme of political and social discourse throughout the Revolutionary period. That is why the attempts of the English crown to realize from its colonies economic benefits that could help England repair damage to its own economy growing out of the French and Indian War (Seven Years' War in Europe, 1756-1763) were so deeply felt in New York in general and Long Island in particular.
In American history, revolutionary rumblings can be traced to the Grenville Acts, which were put through Parliament beginning with the accession of George Grenville to Prime Minister in 1763. Parliament levied a series of taxes on the American colonies. Parliament seems to have considered these acts perfectly ordinary, a matter of administrative course to be pursued in the wake of the British v
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