Colonial status created a constitutional ambiguity. A colony depended on the parent state for protection, support, banking, and much of its founding population, yet colonists had repeatedly been described as English. The phrase "English possessions" marked a subordinate relationship that their preferred reading of the constitution could overlook. Demands for representation in the Commons also arose in a Britain where the franchise excluded most people. The grievance was real, although eighteenth-century representation did not mean universal suffrage.
Notable Point · 58:50-1:00:58
Colonial status and the limits of representation
Colonists could understand themselves as English while remaining dependent possessions without direct representation in a narrowly elected Commons.