The colonist in 1773 had endured several attempts to tax them by their mother country, but the tax on tea was the breaking point. Britain had been defending the colonist with their Navy, and incurring a lot of debt in the process. The mother country decided to try recouping some of the debt by devising ways of taxing the colonist.
             After the end of the French and Indian War, Britain emerged with a large empire, but they also had a very large debt to go along with the empire. About half of the debt was incurred defending the colonist in America, so Britain decided that the colonist should have to help pay for their protection. British Prime Minister George Grenville secured from parliament a law to raise tax revenues from the colonists; the first in a series of laws passed was the Sugar Act of 1764. This act increased the duty on foreign sugar imported from the West Indies. After some protest by the colonist the duties were lowered, and the problems died down. Resentment arose again with the implementation of another act called the Quartering Act of 1765, this required the colonist to provide food and lodging for British troops.
             In the same year another act was implemented it was called the Stamp Act; the revenue from this act was to be used to support the military. The Stamp Act called for the stamps to be affixed to all legal documents to certify that the tax had been paid. Stamps were required on trade items, legal documents, playing cards, newspapers, diplomas, marriage licenses, and several other documents. Grenville thought this to be fair he was only asking the colonist to help pay for their protection. The colonist took this as a strike at their liberty. Both the Sugar and Stamp acts provided trials for offenders in courts without juries. This went against the belief of the colonist they thought this was a conspiracy to strip them of their liberties. The loud voice heard from the colonist was summed up with ...