User blog comment:D. Cello/Assassinews 03/05 -- ACWiki's Fan Section and AC3 first trailer/@comment-3338401-20120306162956/@comment-1888015-20120307185844

The British during that time were oppressing the Americans through taxes.

Also, whether Charles Lee is a Templar or not remains to be known, so the only way that it can be confirmed or denied is if Ubisoft tells or shows us so.