<P> The English Parliament had controlled colonial trade and taxed imports and exports since 1660 . By the 1760s , the Americans were being deprived of a historic right . The English Bill of Rights 1689 had forbidden the imposition of taxes without the consent of Parliament . Since the colonists had no representation in Parliament , the taxes violated the guaranteed Rights of Englishmen . Parliament initially contended that the colonists had virtual representation , but the idea `` found little support on either side of the Atlantic '' . John Dunmore Lang wrote in 1852 , `` The person who first suggested the idea ( of Parliamentary representation for the colonies ) appears to have been Oldmixon , an American annalist of the era of Queen Anne or George I. It was afterwards put forward with approbation by the celebrated Dr. Adam Smith , and advocated for a time , but afterwards rejected and strongly opposed , by Dr. Benjamin Franklin . '' </P>
where did the idea of taxation and representatives come from
The English Bill of Rights 1689