The initial relationship between the North American colonies and Great Britain was positive, each side benefiting from the other. England's hold of these colonies was a major asset to them financially and had major positive affects on their economy. As was it the same from the other end, as Edmund S. Morgan agrees that the colonists felt they had advantages as being part of the British Empire. The policy under which England governed the colonies, known as salutary neglect, was very loose; the only regulations being the Navigation Acts. These were placed on the colonies but were not harshly enforced. However, as the competition for world power began to increase between imperial countries, England felt it would be further beneficial if they strengthened their control of the colonies, who in turn, would lose freedoms. Due to the actions taken by England from the mid-1750's to the eve of the Revolution, the Americans drastically shifted their view of their mother government.
The increasing firmness of Great Britain's control over the colonies prompted the first of the colonists" revolutionary thoughts. Parliament passed the Proclamation of 1763, which created boundaries of where the colonists could settle. This new sense of control upset the Americans, but not enough for any major action. Next, in 1764, the Sugar Act was passed, which tightened the sugar and molasses market to British agents. It also put duties on foreign imports to raise revenues. The colonial reaction was the first experiments with boycotts of the import. According to Thomas Draper, the colonists initially wanted to return to the way things were prior to 1763, because that had worked in their favor. The following year, the Stamp Act was passed, and was met with extreme opposition. It affected almost every colonist in everyday life, and limited not only their political rights, but their legal rights as well. The colonists reacted in various and numerous forms from mild petitions and boycotts to violence.