From the 17th to 18th century, the imperial relationship between Great Britain and her colonies changed drastically. Britain had allowed the colonies to settle in North America under the impression of a mercantilist system. After the seven years war, Great Britain had tried to impose higher taxes on goods and materials in order to cover the massive debt that the war had incurred. These taxes stirred up revolts among the colonies, creating rebel groups like the Sons and Daughters of liberty. George Grenville, the British Secretary of the Treasury, showed his dismay and outrage in a letter to Parliament at how the colonists responded to these tax acts, himself justifying the taxes as necessary protection money. Grenville is completely justified in his statement; Great Britain has every right to increase taxes on the colonies based on past events.
The original settlers who had come to the US had come for economic reasons. Some had come for religious purposes, because they were being persecuted back in Britain, but the majority of the original settlers had come to make a better life for themselves, economically. Britain had originally set up a mercantilist system with the colonies. Under this system, the colonies were only allowed to import and export goods to and from Britain. Initially, the British government did not care so much about the colonies and the potential profit that could have been drawn from them. Before colonizing in North America, Great Britain had colonies all over the world. It was just another colony to add on to their list. Although they did focus a good portion of their overseas expansion on the colonies, Britain would not have been crippled economically if things didn’t work out. Initial inconsistency in governing and upholding the mercantilist system was due mainly to the fact that Britain didn’t think that the colonies were important enough.
Over time, Britain was beginning to see that the North American colonies could potentially...