No taxation without representation was the ringing slogan of the American War of Independence and captured the very core issue involved in the historic event.
It basically connoted the people’s right to representation and their struggle to get it enforced.
Britain had been treating the American colonies to serve her own needs. Britain had imposed severe economic restrictions upon the colonies. The Navigation Acts ensured that the colonies could trade only in British shops and with Britain acting as the source country to source imports and to organize exports. Further, the colonies could not produce the agricultural products that competed with those produced in England.
The British moreover had imposed a government on the colonies in which the colonies had little say. The governors were appointed by the British government. Though the colonies had their assemblies in which their people were represented, the assemblies lacked any effective authority.
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In the eighteenth century, the colonies witnessed remarkable material progress and attained self sufficiency. They felt self assured in their capacity to govern themselves. In this environment, the British sought to impose new taxes on the colonies and put some restriction on them. A series of Acts like the Molasses Act of 1733, the Sugar Act of 1764 were passed imposing duties on colonies’ imports.
Agitation had been brewing for a while which burst into open when the British passed the stamp Act in 1765. The colonists fiercely agitated against this and organized protests and the Act had to be repeated. Next came the towhead duties which led to further round of protests among colonists and further strained the relationship with Britain.
After the duties on tea were retained, the needed spark was provided for the colonies to break out in open rebellion when the chests carrying tea were drowned off the coast of Boston. The rationale advanced was that the British Parliament had no right to tax them as they were not represented there. Ultimately the open war started, which the colonies won under leadership of George Washington.
The American War imprinted the rule that without self determination, there cannot be lasting rule.