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[[File:thomas paine.jpg|thumbnail|250px|left|Thomas Paine]]
Colonial Americans enjoyed relative independence from England until 1763, which marked the cessation of the Seven Years’ War. Prior to that time, the British government had paid little attention to the domestic affairs conducted by their American colonists. The war was costly; however, and England deemed it appropriate that American colonies contribute to the war debt and the costs associated with stationing British troops on American soil. The British government assessed taxes on the colonies yet denied colonists the right to Parliamentary representation in the House of Commons. As a result, Americans saw themselves as being subordinates to the Crown rather than as equal members of the British Empire, thus prompting the colonists to rebel against their mother country in the name of liberty. Parliament’s actions fostered a sense of rebellion amongst the inhabitants of America, while Thomas Paine unleashed a patriotic fervor throughout the colonies that solidified a nation.
Englishmen and Americans alike were filled with British pride following the successful conclusion of the Seven Years’ War. Americans, who were separated both geographically and governmentally from England, felt a renewed sense of kinship with their British brethren. This attitude began to change when King George III issued the Proclamation of 1763, which prohibited colonial expansion west of the Appalachian Mountains. Not accustomed to Crown intervention pertaining to domestic affairs, agitation began to stir amongst rebellious colonists.
==== Taxes ====When Parliament passed the Sugar Act of 1764, the British pride felt by Americans quickly began to wane.<ref>Eric Foner, ''[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0393920291/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0393920291&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=830d9faf1c14899644e25151f167242f Give Me Liberty! An American History]'', 2nd ed., vol. 1 (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2009), 171.</ref>Although this act did decrease the taxes paid by colonists on imported molasses, the long -established practice of smuggling goods in and out of the country, which violated the Navigation Acts of 1651, was no longer feasible.<ref>Foner, 83.</ref>The Sugar Act, along with the simultaneously enacted Revenue Act, was detrimental to coastal merchants. The Revenue Act mandated that wools, hides, and other items that were not previously subjected to the Navigation Acts, were required to pass through England rather than being shipped directly from America to their destinations. This was another yet attempt by King George to attain money from the colonies in order to reduce England’s war debt. American citizens, already feeling the pangs of post -war recession, were feeling their economic security threatened.
The disenchantment with Britain, which was slowly simmering, reached a fevered pitch in 1765 with the passage of the Stamp Act; the first direct tax Parliament had levied on the colonies. Whereas all other duties had been paid through trade regulations, this law constituted direct governmental intervention upon a people who had no representation in Parliament. Colonists were of the mind to be dutiful English citizens when they were treated as such. The Stamp Act, which required a stamp purchased through British authorities to be affixed to all printed materials, threatened both the finances and liberties of colonists.<ref>Foner, 171.</ref>While providing the first major split between England and America, the Stamp Act concurrently began to unite the colonies as a nation.
