A big part of it was also just being on the other end of imperialism to begin with. The colonies were, at the time, the source of most of the resource's fueling Britain's growing industry, and a sizeable percentage of the market for their manufactured goods. Lots of colonists (mostly the merchant class) felt it was unfair that Britain could take the resources that they felt belonged to them, ship them away to the Isles to be put through a machine, and sell the final product back at a higher price. Yes, this is exactly how a large-scale economy works, but at the time it was still a relatively new process, and - with Enlightenment Philosophy fresh in mind - you could see how mobs of people could jump on the "Mine, mine, mine" bandwagon.
This probably wouldn't have been such a big deal if Britain didn't attempt to outlaw the Colonists' trade with other nations, which only made their "exploitation" all the more transparent to them. And then, when the black market obviously began to flare up, the East India Company outright declared a monopoly on some of the Colonies' most profitable goods. So say you're a Gentleman farmer in charge of a tea plantation. If you have no say in where your product goes or how much it's sold for by decree of an unelected King, at a time John Locke is literally all the rage, you're going to be upset.
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@Nisse_Hult
A big part of it was also just being on the other end of imperialism to begin with. The colonies were, at the time, the source of most of the resource's fueling Britain's growing industry, and a sizeable percentage of the market for their manufactured goods. Lots of colonists (mostly the merchant class) felt it was unfair that Britain could take the resources that they felt belonged to them, ship them away to the Isles to be put through a machine, and sell the final product back at a higher price. Yes, this is exactly how a large-scale economy works, but at the time it was still a relatively new process, and - with Enlightenment Philosophy fresh in mind - you could see how mobs of people could jump on the "Mine, mine, mine" bandwagon.
This probably wouldn't have been such a big deal if Britain didn't attempt to outlaw the Colonists' trade with other nations, which only made their "exploitation" all the more transparent to them. And then, when the black market obviously began to flare up, the East India Company outright declared a monopoly on some of the Colonies' most profitable goods. So say you're a Gentleman farmer in charge of a tea plantation. If you have no say in where your product goes or how much it's sold for by decree of an unelected King, at a time John Locke is literally all the rage, you're going to be upset.