American colonists were not represented fairly in Parliament, and believed that if the colonists were treated fairly like those who lived in Great Britain, then it would benefit the mother-country greatly. Otis questioned the rights of freemen, as the colonists property were sometimes deprived from them without their consent. He also constructed 6 rules that had been described the rights of the colonies and of Parliament in the following: the power of the legislature should belong to the community; the national legislative cannot be altered justly until the commonwealth is dissolved; no legislative can make itself arbitrary; the legislative cannot take total control and can only dispense justice by the known settled rules and by judges; the legislative cannot take away mens property without his consent in person or through a representative; and finally, the legislative cannot transfer the power of making laws to any other hands. .
The Stamp Act required all legal and commercial documents to carry an official stamp showing that tax had been paid. Unlike the Sugar Act that mainly affected merchants, the Stamp Act was a tax within the colonies and it fell directly on all colonists. In 1765, Jared Ingersoll was sent to Great Britain to do whatever he could to oppose the Stamp Act, and in his report to Thomas Fitch, Ingersoll argued that the colonists fled for the reasons of tyranny, unfair justice, and to protect themselves from Great Britain. He disagreed with Charles Townsend when he spoke in favor of the Act and Mr. Greenville, when he urged the necessity of the Act and obviate all objections towards it. Instead, Ingersoll believed that the colonists were unfairly taxed. Power to tax is a necessary part of every Supreme Legislative Authority, and that if they have not that Power over America, they have none, and then America is at once a Kingdom of itself. Ingersoll disagreed with this statement, because they House of Commons called themselves a branch of the supreme legislative of the Nation.
