[Ads-l] "Taxation Without Representation" Not in OED

[Shapiro, Fred]

The phrase "taxation without representation" is not in OED, but perhaps should be.

John Adams said in 1818 that James Otis used "taxation without representation" in 1761, but there is no contemporaneous documentation of that Otis usage.

The two earliest citations I find are the following:

1768 Political Register, and Impartial Review of New Books 2: 157 (Google Books)  In England there can be no taxation without representation.

1770 Benjamin Franklin in _Public Advertiser_ 15 Jan. (Founders Online)  Supposing the Colonists ever so willing to submit to Taxation without Representation ... what should we gain by having a Pittance from them in the Shape of Taxes?

The quotation that Adams attributed to Otis and that later became famous was "Taxation without representation is tyranny."  The earliest citation that I find for this is the following:

1799 Bee (New London, Conn.) 21 Aug. 3 (America's Historical Newspapers)  During last war, the burden of the song was, that taxation without representation is tyranny. ... Examiner.

A similar quotation is much older:

1770 Benjamin Franklin in Public Advertiser 12 Feb. (Founders Online)  Every free-born Englishman ... ought to be ready to die in Defence of Lord Chatham's truly constitutional Doctrine, That taxation without Representation, is Slavery.

Fred Shapiro



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