Ques- ‘No taxation without representation. Comment on the slogan of American revolutionaries.

Ans:- The slogan of American revolutionaries put a question mark on the basic relationship between the metropolitan state and the colony. It rejected the mercantilist idea that colonies existed for the benefit of the metropolitan state.

           Imposing new taxes like the stamp act and the sugar act on American colonies by the British government irritated American leaders so much so that they gathered at New York and organized Stamp Act Congress to oppose tax measures. They put forward the argument that as no American representative was sitting in the British parliament so parliament was not authorized to impose an internal tax on American colonies.

Surprisingly American leaders learnt this slogan from the British themselves. In 17th century Britain, there was a long conflict between parliament and monarchy on this issue and finally, parliament claimed to control the taxation system based on its representative nature. Apart from that, Americans put such a demand at the time when the people in the larger part of Europe itself remained unrepresented. Lastly, this slogan worked as an inspiration for the colonial liberation movement in other parts of the world as well. Even moderate leaders of the Indian National Congress were impressed with the slogan.

                So, this famous slogan of American revolutionary proved a death-knell to colonialism in long run.