The correct answer is D) The colonies were unoficially allowed to govern themselves.
Before the French and Indian War, Great Britain followed a policy of salutary neglect. Salutary neglect refers to a system in which the British parliament rarely got involved with the political affairs of the colonies. As long as the colonies continued to provide a market where British merchants could sell their goods as well as providing natural resources, the British government would not interfer with the colonial legislatures.
This will all change after the French and Indian War when the British government accumulates massive debt and turn to the colonies to help them pay off this debt.
