Taxation, Representation and the Logic of Escalation

The American crisis grew through a cycle of tax, protest and punishment. The Stamp Act of 1765 taxed printed paper; colonial crowds, boycotts and the Stamp Act Congress forced its repeal in 1766, but Parliament simultaneously passed the Declaratory Act asserting its power to legislate for the colonies 'in all cases whatsoever'. British officials argued that colonists were 'virtually' represented in Parliament, as many Britons who could not vote were.

Colonists replied that representation required actual votes. The Townshend duties (1767), the Boston Massacre (1770), the Tea Act and the Boston Tea Party (1773), and the punishing Coercive Acts (1774) each raised the stakes. Comparing this escalation with France shows a difference: the American dispute was about who had authority to tax, while the French crisis was about a bankrupt state's inability to tax privileged groups at all.