Speaking in a crowded classroom, Williamson discussed the Boston Tea Party not as a protest against taxes in the abstract but against the specific provisions of the Tea Act that created a special tax break for the East India Company, a move pre-Revolution colonists saw as building a monopoly tied to political power. Founded in 2023 with the support of the Hewlett Foundation, APEX studies American democratic capitalism — the analysis of the interplay of markets and government in the United States. Williamson offered theories on why taxation and democracy reinforce each other, tracing the concept back to the Magna Carta of 1215, in part requiring that the king of England obtain “the general consent of the realm” before imposing extraordinary taxes.
Author: news@yale.edu (Yale News)
Published at: 2026-02-16 21:25:44
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