Under the Kingdom of Great Britain, the American colonies experienced a number of situations which would guide them in creating a constitution. The British Parliament believed that it had the right to impose taxes on the colonists. While it did have virtual representation over the entire empire, the colonists believed Parliament had no such right as the colonists had no direct representation in Parliament . By the 1720s, all but two of the colonies had a locally elected legislature and a British appointed governor. These two branches of government would often clash, with the legislatures imposing "power of the purse" to control the British governor. Thus, Americans viewed their legislative branch as a guardian of liberty, while the executive branches was deemed tyrannical.There were several examples of royal actions that upset the Americans. For example, taxes on the importation of products including lead, paint, tea and spirits were imposed. In addition Parliament required a duty to be paid on court documents and other legal documents, along with playing cards, pamphlets and books. The variety of taxes imposed led to American disdain for the British system of government.
After the Boston Tea Party, Great Britain's leadership passed acts that outlawed the Massachusetts legislature. The Parliament also provided for special courts in which British judges, rather than American juries, would try colonists. The Quartering Act and the Intolerable Acts required Americans provide room and board for British soldiers. Americans especially feared British actions in Canada, where civil law was once suspended in favor of British military rule.
American distaste for British government would lead to revolution. Americans formed their own institutions with political ideas gleaned from the British radicals of the early 18th century. England had passed beyond those ideas by 1776, with the resulting conflict leading to the first American attempts at a national government.
Parliament
Lionel Nathan de Rothschild (1808–1879) being introduced in the House of Commons, the lower house of Parliament, on 26 July 1858.