Political Quotes

“``Taxation without representation is tyranny,'' bellowed James Otis in the days and weeks and years leading up to the American Revolution. This became the rallying cry of American patriots: No taxation without representation. The American Patriots thought that a distant Parliament in England where they had no representation had no right to tax them. This was the rallying cry: ``No taxation without representation.'' Our Founding Fathers believed so strongly in this, they embodied it in our Constitution. Our Constitution doesn't allow any one man or woman to raise taxes. It must be the body of Congress. Now, this wasn't new. This was part of maybe a thousand-year tradition from Magna Carta on. In Magna Carta, it is stated: No taxation without the common counsel of the realm. Even at that time they were chafing at one man, the King, determining the taxes for the land. One hundred years before our Revolutionary War, in the English Civil War, there was a debate over parliamentary supremacy versus supremacy of the King. They did not want to pay taxes that weren't approved by the Parliament. In 1683, the New York Charter on Liberties, the beginning charter for the colony of New York stated: No taxation without representation. And after this English Civil War, the English Bill of Rights embodied: No taxation without the consent of Parliament. This principle was longstanding. It was nonnegotiable. This was what sparked the Revolution.…”