After the fall of the Puritan regime in Massachusetts, Britain regained control of Massachusetts and expanded throughout North America, making it one of the largest empires in the world. In order to maintain their power in the colonies, they made rules and regulations regarding the goods traded. However, most settlers resorted to smuggling and boycotting the items. It was not until the French and Indian War that England began to strictly enforce these restrictions due to a large war debt. The Sugar Act was one of the first acts to start a domino effect that led to the American Revolution. The French-Indian War intensified when conflicts arose between the French and the British as English settlers began to settle in 1689 in New France, present-day Canada. This surge in colonization dramatically increased the population by 1750, from 250,000 to 1.25 million. Britain had demanded to collect from the colonists such goods as turpentine, copper, tar and hemp. In order to finance the war, England manufactured these products, then raised prices and resold them to the colonists under the Navigation Acts. The laws were used to prevent smuggling by allowing the colonies to trade only with England. However, Parliament did not strictly enforce them until 1750, allowing Britain to set tariffs on goods as it pleased. According to ushistory.com, “The colonies were entirely interested in defeating the French in North America and asked the king for permission to raise armies and funds to defend themselves. » They wanted protection for their motherland, which they had the right to do. Yet the king was unsure about granting them money for the war because he was afraid they would revolt against the Bri...... middle of paper ...... denied their natural rights “with taxation without representation”. Parliament had exercised “virtual representation” when it came to Americans. In Parliament, the colonies' problems were recognized, but no one was there to represent them. The two provisions of the Sugar Act aroused the greatest colonial opposition. In 1764, the Massachusetts House of Representatives decided that the colonists had not consented to these taxes. A year after the Sugar Act was passed, the Stamp Act was enacted, which started a trend of even more laws being created to tax the colonies over the next 10 years. In the summer of 1765, the Sons of Liberty, the driving force to free the colonies from ties to Great Britain, organized. The American colonies were now on the brink of war with Britain challenging the tyrannical rule of King George II..