The Virginia Resolves declared the principle of "no taxation without representation". The Stamp Act was passed by the British Parliament to help pay for the French and Indian War. American colonists were affected by these taxes as part of the British empire. In the Virginia Resolves, Virginians protested the Stamp Act, and argued that they should not have to pay taxes to the British government when they did not have representatives in Parliament to speak for them. Hence, the phrase "no taxation with representation" became a key principle in the colonists' struggle for independence.