One of the issues surrounding the American Revolution was that the colonies had no representatives - and thus no say - in British Parliament. To add insult to injury, some parts of the United Kingdom that had no actual residents DID have seats in Parliament. This essentially meant landowners could give the cushy government appointments to whomever they wanted. These areas were known as "pocket boroughs" (because the landowner had them in his pocket) or "rotten boroughs" (a fun game is to guess why).