<P> In the colonial era, Americans insisted on their rights as Englishmen to have their own legislature raise all taxes . Tax loads in practice were very light and far lower than in England . Beginning in 1765, the British Parliament asserted its supreme authority to lay taxes, and a series of American protests began that led directly to the American Revolution . The first wave of protests attacked the Stamp Act of 1765, and marked the first time that Americans met together from each of the 13 colonies and planned a common front against British taxation . The Boston Tea Party of 1773 dumped British tea into Boston Harbor because it contained a hidden tax that Americans refused to pay . The British responded by trying to crush traditional liberties in Massachusetts, leading to the American revolution starting in 1775 . </P> <P> The idea of independence steadily became more widespread, after being first proposed and advocated by a number of public figures and commentators throughout the Colonies . One of the most prominent voices on behalf of independence was Thomas Paine in his pamphlet Common Sense published in 1776 . Another group which called for independence was the Sons of Liberty, which had been founded in 1765 in Boston by Samuel Adams and which was now becoming even more strident and numerous . </P> <P> The Parliament attempted a series of taxes and punishments which met more and more resistance: First Quartering Act (1765); Declaratory Act (1766); Townshend Revenue Act (1767); and Tea Act (1773). In response to the Boston Tea Party, Parliament passed the Intolerable Acts: Second Quartering Act (1774); Quebec Act (1774); Massachusetts Government Act (1774); Administration of Justice Act (1774); Boston Port Act (1774); Prohibitory Act (1775). By this point, the 13 colonies had organized themselves into the Continental Congress and began setting up shadow governments and drilling their militia in preparation for war . </P> <P> In the British colonies, the three forms of government were provincial (royal colony), proprietary, and charter . These governments were all subordinate to the King of England, with no explicit relationship with the British (Parliament of Great Britain Parliament)). Beginning late in the 17th century, the administration of all British colonies was overseen by the Board of Trade in London . Each colony had a paid colonial agent in London to represent its interests . </P>

By the eighteenth century the english colonies in north america