Though baffled by the "levelling principles" of the colonial assemblies, the governors did not give up the case as hopeless. Instead they evolved a system of policy and action which they thought could bring the obstinate provincials to terms. That system, traceable in their letters to the government in London, consisted of three parts: (1) the royal officers in the colonies were to be made independent of the legislatures by taxes imposed by acts of Parliament; (2) a British standing army was to be maintained in America; (3) the remaining colonial charters were to be revoked and government by direct royal authority was to be enlarged.
Such a system seemed plausible enough to King George III and to many ministers of the crown in London. With governors, courts, and an army independent of the colonists, they imagined it would be easy to carry out both royal orders and acts of Parliament. This reasoning seemed both practical and logical. Nor was it founded on theory, for it came fresh from the governors themselves. It was wanting in one respect only. It failed to take account of the fact that the American people were growing strong in the practice of self-government and could dispense with the tutelage of the British ministry, no matter how excellent it might be or how benevolent its intentions.
References
A.M. Earle, Home Life in Colonial Days.
A.L. Cross, The Anglican Episcopate and the American Colonies (Harvard Studies).
E.G. Dexter, History of Education in the United States.
C.A. Duniway, Freedom of the Press in Massachusetts.
Benjamin Franklin, Autobiography.
E.B. Greene, The Provincial Governor (Harvard Studies).
A.E. McKinley, The Suffrage Franchise in the Thirteen English Colonies (Pennsylvania University Studies).