Founding Documents:

The Declaration of Independence: The original 13 colonies and Great Britain had been at war for over a year before the Declaration of Independence came to be. Britain had enacted multiple acts of taxation with the goal of increasing revenue from the colonies; these included the famous Stamp Act of 1765 and the Townshend Acts. Britain considered these legitimate means of the colonies paying their share to be a part of the British empire. However, the colonies had a different perspective. They had no representation in British Parliament, and due to that, colonists felt they had no right to levy taxes. This stemmed from a broader disagreement between the colonies and the British empire about