The controversy between England and American colonies before the independence are often understood as about the parliamentary sovereignty and the rights of colonists. However, this paper shows how this dichotomy overlooks another important point on the controversy. It is about how both sides of the Atlantic tried to depict the legal history of the relationship between the metropole and the colonies. In order to clarify the historiography, it is important to focus especially on the following three politicians: Thomas Pownall, James Wilson and Alexander Hamilton. Pownall argued in the fourth edition of The Administration of the Colonies in 1768 that the colonial history regarding America could be divided into two stages. When they were established, they were regarded as “without the realm”. In the middle of 17th century, however, they have become “within the realm” and subject to the English parliament. It caused to two kinds of objections for refuting the idea that the parliament had the legislative power to tax. The first was the historiography by Wilson, which focused on how the people had been able to control the parliament. Another kind was by Hamilton, which tried to illustrate the nature of charters that the King relinquished all the power to the colonies. This debate contributes to understanding how American founders began to recognize themselves as “American” through the historiography on the relationship between England and America.
