We can indeed always understand the point of view of Washington if we reverse the position and imagine what an Englishman would have thought of a claim by America to tax him.
An ancient and proud society is reluctant to change.

After a long and successful war England was prosperous.

To her now came riches from India and the ends of the earth.

In society there was such lavish expenditure that Horace Walpole declared an income of twenty thousand pounds a year was barely enough.

England had an aristocracy the proudest in the world, for it had not only rank but wealth.