By extending the duties of the average Briton to the United States—including the duty to pay taxes—the whole unit would be better off. The British believed sovereignty was the sole cause of order in politics and society, that to deny sovereignty, to reduce or split it, was to invite anarchy and bloodshed.
This meant that they could not govern themselves and make their own laws. They had to pay high taxes to the king. They felt that they were paying taxes to a government where they had no representation. They were also angry because the colonists were forced to let British soldiers sleep and eat in their homes.
