Why did James Otis say to taxation without representation?

Answer 1

James Otis (February 5, 1725 - May 23, 1783) was a member of the Massachusetts Legislature and one of the foremost voices of the American Revolution. His precise phrase was "[t]axation without representation is tyranny."

The roots of this phrase arise from various attempts by Parliament, in the name of the British Crown, to impose taxes (such as the hugely unpopular Stamp Act and, later, Tea Tax) on the American Colonies, to help meet the costs of the American Indian War and other military conflicts, both in North America and elsewhere. These efforts at taxation marked a sharp departure from the prior policy of "salutary neglect," which permitted the Colonies to generally manage their own affairs, without interference from London, including on the issue of taxation.

Many colonialists, and especially the educated classes, bristled at the imposition of these new taxes and the other attempts by Parliament to extract greater wealth out of the Colonies in order to help pay for the large debts incurred in battling the French. They especially objected to the fact that unlike British subjects in Britain, they were being taxed without representation in Parliament, which they regarded as a manifest violation of "the rights of Englishmen."

Many colonialists thus came to see London's efforts at taxation as tyranny, and proof that Parliament regarded the American Colonies no differently than Great Britain's other imperial holdings, despite that fact that American Colonies were largely peopled by the descendants of British subjects, all of whom before the Revolutionary War regarded themselves as British.

Following the imposition of the tea tax, a group of disaffected colonialists, dressed as American Indians, raided ships of the British East India Company docked in Boston Harbor, Massachusetts, and threw the crates of tea stowed below decks overboard, in what would come to be known as the Boston Tea Party. It marked one of the major stepping stones to the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and the break away of the Colonies from Great Britain.

Answer 2

because the british were taxing America for no reason. there was no representation

Answer 3

He said "Taxation without representation is tyranny."