The Concept of Taxation without Representation

The original concept began back in the mid 1700s, between 1763 and 1776, when the British colonies began to bellyache about not having representation in the British Parliament. They believed that taxes imposed on them without a representative to speak on their behalf in the Parliament was illegal and unconstitutional.

The English Bill of rights declared that there was to be no taxation without the consent of Parliament.
But since the colonies had no representative in the Parliament, their claim that the import and export taxes being levied on them were illegal. They claimed that it violated their rights as Englishmen. Several people were involved in trying to get this problem realized and addressed, including James Otis, Reverend Jonathan Mayhew, Pitt the Elder, and Joseph Galloway.

During the time of this problem, they soon began to realize that having a representative in the British Parliament was not even logical, since they would have to send the representative to London, wait until new laws were passed, and have him return with the results. The travel time alone made it not worth the effort. So the Americans decided they wanted their own Parliament in the new country to determine what their taxes should be.

“No taxation without representation” actually became a solid concept in 1776 when John Hancock signed as the President of the Continental Congress. Other signers signed several months after he did.

No Taxation with representation is a very important part of the Declaration of Independence. This is the very document that started our country out as an independent country, independent of Britain.