s, a right given to them by God, a right that neither King George III nor any other civil authority can take away (Hall 222-223).
A number of events led up to the writing of the Declaration of Independence. Even before the end of the French and Indian War, there had been indications of dissensions within the colonies. The British in 1759 had disallowed measures passed by the popular assemblies and had taken other actions that affirmed British control and reduced the effectiveness of colonial bodies. When Parliament placed taxes on American trade as a method of regulation for the first time in their history, the result was explosive. There was a whole series of taxes, of which the Stamp Act was only one of the most onerous. The Quartering Act was one of the most bitterly opposed, for it was a form of indirect taxation that required American assemblies to provide British troops with temporary housing and an assortment of provisions when they passed through the colonies. This placed a burden on merchants and farmers who had to provide these goods. In effect, they were paying a tax in the form of provisions, a tax unequally distributed and falling only on those who happened to be where the troops billeted (Zinn 59-66).
The cry became "taxation without representation." The colonists raised fundamental issues concerning the limits of parliamentary power. They also raise issues of sovereignty and of their own right to make decisions rather than a sovereign who was thousands of miles away. Americans saw the stream of British tax regulations as posing the gravest threat to their freedom as individuals. The British were making it legal to take a man's property without his consent. Tensions in the colonies mounted, and the Americans were partially successful as the British removed all duties. The colonists were delighted with this change of heart, but there was still dissension in Boston where Samuel Adams and his followers sa...