After the 7-year war with France in North America (which ended in 1763), Britain's debt was 137 million pounds. The government's annual revenue was 8 million pounds and the interest payment on this debt was 5 million pounds.
When Britain asked the US to pay more in taxes to help pay down this debt, the average person in London was paying 26 schillings a year in taxes while the average person in Massachusetts paid only 1.
Outraged at "taxation without representation," the American colonies revolted against Britain.
The American Revolution would have failed without help from France. France not only helped the Americans with arms and ships but money - running a huge deficit.
The American Revolution would have failed without help from France. France not only helped the Americans with arms and ships but money - running a huge deficit.
Given their accounting was so poor, it took France a couple of years to realize how deep in debt they were left as a consequence of the American Revolution. Proposed tax reforms to address this debt were one of the big reasons the French decided that - like the United States - it would revolt against its monarchy.
Establishing the American colonies cost Britain half of them (only 13 of the 26 British colonies in America revolted in 1776, as places like Newfoundland and Jamaica remained British colonies) and cost France its monarchy. French taxpayers beheaded Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette in 1793.
One curious consequence was that while the Americans did rid themselves of monarchy - replacing King George with President George - the portraits of the king and queen of France continued to hang in Congress in Philadelphia years after the French monarchs had been guillotined in France.
Mitch Hedberg has this brilliant line, "I find that ducks' opinion of me is greatly influenced by whether or not I have bread." Something similar seems true of Americans, whose opinions of monarchs is greatly influenced by whether they are asking for or offering money.
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