ency, attaining in
their own assemblies a high degree of political sophistication, and chiseling with great success at the
remnants of imperial authority . . . of the governors.
Britain's national debt mounted to 133 million pounds by 1762. After William Pitt resigned as Prime Minister in October 1761, a succession of Prime Ministers in the 1760s sought to raise additional revenues from the colonies through increased customs duties and new taxes and to enforce more strictly the trade and navigation laws. Additional defense burdens flowed from the need to quell Pontiac's Indian uprising of 1763-1764. Christie noted, "to the politic
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