What are some main points on british parliament?

Question

things dealing with "no taxation without representation"

Answer 1

If talking about no taxation without representation, I am assuming you are talking about Parliament as it existed in the 1760s and 1770s in connection with the American colonies.

After the Act of Union of 1702 (sometime around there, might be off a couple of years), three parts of the British Empire (Wales, England, and Scotland) elected representatives to the House of Commons or had their peerage sit in the House of Lords. The colonies (including Ireland and the Americas) did not have direct representation in either House.

A key fact of this time period is that the right to vote for the House of Commons was very limited. Furthermore, the districts (shires and boroughs) dated back several hundred years without boundary revisions. In other words, nothing resembling one man, one vote.

From the point of view of the British, this system created virtual representation (think of it as a representative sampling) of the British people in the House of Commons. Since many people in Britain did not have a vote for the House of Commons, the fact that the colonials also did not have a vote was no big deal to many in the British Parliament. They were the representatives of the entire nation with the authority to make decisions regarding the entire nation.

The colonials (having a somewhat broader eligible voting group for colonial assemblies) did not see things the same way. They had a voice in their local assemblies but had no voice in the British Parliament (since only eligible residents of the individual boroughs and shires had voting rights for the British Parliament). They saw "virtual representation" as meaningless except in reference to the areas which sent representatives. None of the members of parliament answered to them or came from their area, so what right did this distant parliament have to pass laws governing the colones.

This philosophical debate sets the practical background. Parliament, having committed troops in the Seven Years (French and Indian Wars) to protect the colonies, felt that the colonies should help pay for the troops and passes various tax proposals between 1763 and 1775 to raise revenues from the colonies. The colonies, having no vote on these taxes, objected to taxation without representation.