No taxation without representation
No taxation without representation (German for example: " No taxation without [elected political] representation ") was a slogan and a reason for the American War of Independence . In the years before and during the American independence movement criticized advocates of independence the most is that the Thirteen Colonies were required taxes to the British Crown to pay, but without the Parliament of Great Britain to be represented by their own elected representatives. The later independence movement derived this claim from the Bill of Rights passed by the British Parliament in 1689 , which finally elevated this principle to an elementary component of English constitutionalism.
origin
The term was first used by Jonathan Mayhew in a sermon at the Old West Church in Boston . The modified form of "Taxation without representation is tyranny" (dt. Taxation without representation is tyranny ) is James Otis Jr. attributed. A connection between him and the testimony during his lifetime has not been proven. The first attributions are found for the first time in 1820, around 40 years after his death.
The British government stated that the colonists were practically represented by their own interests. The expression "no taxation without representation" was an old English principle meaning that only parliament is able to collect taxes. Initially, "representation" was based on real estate, but by 1700 this view shifted to comprehensive "practical representation" of all British subjects.
The theory of practical representation was attacked in England by Charles Pratt, Earl of Camden and William Pitt , Earl of Chatham. It was also rejected extensively in the colonies because they with the republican ideal "consent of the governed" (dt. Consent of the governed was not compatible). The colonists were of the opinion that no one could be represented who was not allowed to participate in the election of representatives. Political representation is only possible through an assembly of men who are directly elected by the persons to be represented.
The colonists ignored the simple fact that England was several months by ship from the colonies. To put it mildly, it is doubtful whether there would have been any MPs who would have spent several years in England just to be part of Parliament.
Washington (DC)
Since November 2000 the expression "Taxation without Representation" appears on the license plates of the federal capital Washington, DC , which is to protest against the lack of political representation of the city in the Congress of the United States. An attempt to include the slogan in the city's flag has not yet been successful.
Other meanings
The British Prime Minister John Major used during the celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the United Nations a form of expression with reversed order in a criticism against the United States that was withheld at the time billions in overdue UN dues.
The term is also often used in the United States by other groups, such as delinquents and minors, who are required to pay taxes but are not allowed to vote themselves.
In Germany, too, it sometimes serves as an argument in favor of not tying the right to vote to nationality, but instead granting it in return for the economic contribution through taxes.
literature
- William S. Carpenter, "Taxation Without Representation" in Dictionary of American History, Volume 7. 1976.
- Edmund S. Morgan : Inventing the People: The Rise of Popular Sovereignty in England and America. 1988, ISBN 0-393-02505-5 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ cf. Leyland, Peter: The Constitution of the United Kingdom - A Contextual Analysis , Portland: Hart Publishing 2007, p. 20.
- ↑ cf. David Hackett Fischer: Albion's Seed: Four Britisch Folkways in America , Oxford University Press, 1989, p. 30, quoted from Bill Bryson : Made in America: an Informal History of the English Language in the United States , Black Swan, 1998, ISBN 0-552-99805-2 , p. 38.
- ↑ Wikimedia Commons: Washington, DC License Plate
- ^ Sewell Chan: Message Gets Rolling; DC Government Enlists Residents' Vehicles In Campaign for Congressional Representation . In: The Washington Post , November 5, 2000, p. C01. Retrieved August 6, 2008.
- ↑ http://www.globalpolicy.org/finance/chronol/fin1995.htm