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The Stamp Act of 1765 was passed
by the British Parliament and was the first direct tax to be levied on the American colonies.
In the wake of the Seven Years war, the British Empire continued to maintain a large army to defend the colonies. To
defray the costs, Parliament decided to raise revenue and force all newspapers, pamphlets, legal documents, commercial bills,
advertisements, and other papers issued in the colonies to bear a stamp, which would be proof of paying the tax. Without a stamp, no document could be legally binding. The
tax was vehemently denounced by the colonists, as there was no direct representation for them in the Parliament. The Sons of Liberty were a protest movement, which secretly organized the opposition and included Samuel
Adams, Patrick Henry, and Paul Revere. They firmly believed that the power
to tax should remain in the colonial legislatures and that no legal power could supercede that right. Waves of protest organized by the Sons of Liberty swept across the colonies putting pressure on the stamp
agents of the British empire to resign. In addition, American merchants agreed
not to import British goods until the tax was withdrawn.
Heeding a call from several states’ legislatures, delegates from
New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Delaware, South Carolina, Maryland, and Connecticut met in
New York City from October 17-25, 1765. There they formally declared their resistance
and their opposition to the Stamp Act, adopting the Declaration of Rights and Grievances.
They proclaimed that freeborn Englishmen could not be taxed without their consent.
Furthermore, since the colonists were not represented in Parliament, taxes levied without the consent of their colonial
legislatures were unconstitutional. This appeal was made directly to the King as the seat of British authority and not to
the British Parliament.
Only five months later, after pressure from the King, the Parliament repealed the Stamp
Act. This was well received in America, and the early success of the protest movement breathed new life into the young freedom
movement. The bold declarations of the Stamp Act Congress helped to stimulate
conversations, provoke action and laid the framework for what later resurfaced as the fight between Britain and the colonies
evolved into a revolution over the freedom from taxation without representation.
See J. L. Bullion, A Great and Necessary Measure: George Grenville and the Genesis of the Stamp Act (1983); E. S. and H. M. Morgan,
The Stamp Act Crisis (rev. ed. 1983).
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