The Rockingham government had come to power …
Years: 1766 - 1766
The Rockingham government had come to power and Parliament is debating whether to repeal the stamp tax or to send an army to enforce it.
Benjamin Franklin testifies in Parliament in 1766 that Americans already contribute heavily to the defense of the Empire.
He says that local governments had raised, outfitted, and paid twenty-five thousand soldiers to fight France—as many as Britain itself had sent—and spent many millions from American treasuries doing so in the French and Indian War alone.
London has to deal with fifteen hundred politically well-connected British Army soldiers.
The decision is to keep them on active duty with full pay, but they have to be stationed somewhere.
Stationing a standing army in Great Britain during peacetime is politically unacceptable, so the decision is made to station them in America and have the Americans pay them.
The soldiers have no military mission; they are not there to defend the colonies because there is no threat to the colonies.
Benjamin Franklin explains that further taxes to pay for theses troops are unjust and might bring about a rebellion.
Parliament agrees and repeals the tax (February 21, 1766), but insists in the Declaratory Act of March 1766 that they retain full power to make laws for the colonies "in all cases whatsoever".
The repeal nonetheless causes widespread celebrations in the colonies.
Benjamin Franklin testifies in Parliament in 1766 that Americans already contribute heavily to the defense of the Empire.
He says that local governments had raised, outfitted, and paid twenty-five thousand soldiers to fight France—as many as Britain itself had sent—and spent many millions from American treasuries doing so in the French and Indian War alone.
London has to deal with fifteen hundred politically well-connected British Army soldiers.
The decision is to keep them on active duty with full pay, but they have to be stationed somewhere.
Stationing a standing army in Great Britain during peacetime is politically unacceptable, so the decision is made to station them in America and have the Americans pay them.
The soldiers have no military mission; they are not there to defend the colonies because there is no threat to the colonies.
Benjamin Franklin explains that further taxes to pay for theses troops are unjust and might bring about a rebellion.
Parliament agrees and repeals the tax (February 21, 1766), but insists in the Declaratory Act of March 1766 that they retain full power to make laws for the colonies "in all cases whatsoever".
The repeal nonetheless causes widespread celebrations in the colonies.
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Years: 1766 - 1766
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