European monarchs who wanted to enrich their countries by exporting more than they imported practiced the economic policy known as "mercantilism", since this meant that they wanted to be regarded as "merchants".
The American colonists, who had no representation in Parliament, saw the Acts as an abuse of power. The British sent troops to America to enforce the unpopular new laws, further heightening tensions between Great Britain and the American colonies in the run-up to the American Revolutionary War.
