The 100 plus years that England had allowed the colonists to function somewhat independently came to an end with the French and Indian War. The British looked around after the War ended and noticed that the colonists had not been following the rules established for colonies. The problem was that during these 100 years the colonies were supposed to be somewhat self-sufficient, especially economically. Each colony taxed themselves to pay for their own expenditures. On paper, the British government had checks on colonial self-rule, but with the distance between England and the New World, these checks were almost impossible to enforce. Royal Governors listened more to the colonists than Parliament, because the local legislatures were raising all the money and paying for their administrations. Without realizing it, the colonists had basically become independent and after the War when the British Government tried to reign in some of this independent power, the colonists resisted.
Historically Speaking 