A SENSE OF CRISIS: THE STAMP ACT

The act proposed by Grenville that created the greatest furor in the colonies was the Stamp Act. This act would require a purchased stamp on virtually all printed material purchased in the colonies: Newspapers, wills, dice, official documents, and countless other written documents would require this stamp. This was controversial in the colonics because this was the first time the Parliament would directly tax the colonics; before, this all taxation was self-imposed, Grenville’s purpose was twofold: The Stamp Act would raise needed revenue and would uphold “the Right of Parliament to lay an internal Tax upon the Colonies.”

For many colonists the final straw was the Quartering Act, which insisted that colonial governments provide food and accommodations for British troops stationed in the colonies.

In several colonies, such as Massachusetts, reaction against the Stamp Act was swift. During July of 1765 the Sons of Liberty was created in Boston, led by Samuel Adams. Demonstrations by this group forced the stamp agent in Massachusetts, Andrew Oliver, to resign. Similar outbursts in other colonies forced stamp agents to resign. Some politicians also began to speak in state assemblies against the act, Patrick Henry proclaimed in the Virginia Houses of Burgesses that the act demonstrated the tyranny of George III; several members of the assembly demanded that he be arrested for treason. James Otis from Massachusetts and Benjamin Franklin from Philadelphia both proposed that the colonists be directly represented in the British Parliament. In October of 1765, nine colonies met together at the Stamp Act Congress, where representatives reaffirmed the principal that taxation of the colonies be imposed only from within the colonies.

The Repeal of the Stamp Act

The uproar from the colonies may have helped the British Parliament to repeal the Stamp Act. However, the real pressure for repeal came from British merchants, who feared the act would destroy the profits they made by trading with the colonies. Economic boycotts were threatened in numerous colonies. Lord Rockingham, the new prime minister, urged repeal of the bill not for philosophical but for economic and political reasons. Celebration occurred in many colonies when news of the repeal came from Britain. These celebrations became muted when word arrived that the Parliament had also passed a Declaratory Act, which stated that Parliament had the right to tax and pass legislation regarding the colonies “in all cases whatsoever.”