As Americans supported monarchism and embraced their British roots, they began to believe that their overseas government was trying to take away their freedom. The first American colonies were founded in a time when mercantilism was a popular theory. With mercantilism, colonies existed only to support the mother country. This occurred through monopolies, import/export bans, taxes, and limited wages. Colonies were also expected to export their natural resources and purchase finished products from the homeland. Mercantilism also focused on exporting rather than importing. The result of mercantilism was severely limited economic freedom in colonial America, which ultimately led to the American Revolution as colonists no longer believed they could remain in the British Empire and have their rights protected (Keene, Cornell, and O'Donnell) . Before the war, North American colonists barely paid taxes compared to other British territories. After the war, a new Prime Minister, George Grenville, was hired and ordered to investigate colonial revenues (Dockswell). After discovering that they were earning far less than they should, he initiated a new tax program and its enforcement; The Americans' and Britain's views on taxation and the "morality and legality of the new British policies put the two on a collision course" ((Keene, Cornell and O'Donnell). The first tax was the Revenue Act, known also as the Sugar Act In addition to lowering the tax on molasses, they increased the tax on sugar and other popular goods, as well as increasing penalties for smuggling resistance to the Sugar Act, they imposed an extremely unpopular tax called the Stamp Act, which affected