The central thesis of my paper is the Stamp Act and how it was brought about and what it meant to the American Colonies. As well as why it was necessary. February 6th, 1765 George Grenville came forth in Parliament to propose his Stamp Bill. Not knowing that it would forever be a significant part of history. The Act was a tax on every piece of printed paper the colony used. Including, legal documents, licenses, and even playing cards. The tax also had to be paid with British currency. Colonial paper money was not valid. This made it more difficult for the colonists to even pay the tax.
The actual cost of the Stamp Act was pretty small in fact. However it was the principle that upset the colonists. The way the British saw it was that it was essentially the colonists paying the British back for defending the American frontier near the Appalachian Mountains. Some would argue that the British National debt was already through the roof but the war against France and the Indians did not help the debt. Because of this the Stamp Act was created and passed.
Colonists believed that if they let the British tax them without putting up some kind of fight, that it would only open the door for the British to continue taxing them for the sake of raising money rather than to regulate commerce. Especially considering that the Sugar Act was passed just one year earlier. What is interesting is that English citizens were being taxed at an even greater rate than the colonists. The difference is that American colonists were not used to it so it came as a big deal to them. The colonists felt like they were barely involved in the British decision making about the Stamp Act. They barely considered themselves British subjects and now they have to pay tax...
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...ave taken over the world for all we know. Without the Stamp Act, the world would be a whole lot differently today.
Works Cited
Macmillan, Collier. The Stamp Act Crisis: Prologue to Revolution. 1974. Print.
Middlekauff, Robert. The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005. Print.
Wood, Gordon. The American Revolution. New York: Modern Library, 2002. Print.
Morgan, Edmund. The Stamp Act Crisis. North Carolina: Library of Congress, 1962. Print.
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When the British passed the Stamp Act, the colonists reacted in various ways. The Stamp Act, passed in 1765, put taxes on all printed goods in the colonies. Specifically, newspapers, legal documents, dice,
Portland: Frank Cass & Company Limited, 1996. Middle Kauff, Robert. A.S.A. The Glorious Cause. The American Revolution, 1763-1789. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1982.
(140) It was during this time period that “the government in London concerned itself with the colonies in unprecedented ways…to help raise funds to pay for the war and finance the empire.” (Forner 141) The British government was heavily in debt after fighting the Seven Years War on several fronts. The need to raise funds was paramount and the colonies were a ready source. The British government started imposing taxes on the colonies as a means of income. This was a change in the relationship between America and the mother country. Many Americans opposed these taxes. (Forner 142- 143) According to Forner, “Opposition to the Stamp Act was the first great Drama of the revolutionary era and the first major split between the colonist and Great Britain over the meaning of freedom.” (142) This act was eventually repealed by Parliament in 1766 after great opposition by Americans. (Forner 144) The Stamp Act was just the beginning of several events and taxes on the colonist leading up the Boston Tea
The Stamp Act was passed in 1765, and placed a tax on any papered goods that were going into the colonies from Britain. This included newspapers, pamphlets, and playing cards, just to name a few (Stamp Act).The colonists had been so accustomed to their freedom from the crown at this point, that they were enraged. The relationship between the Mother country and the colonies did not get much better with the instatement of the Townshend Acts of 1767. These acts passed taxes on every day goods that the colonists needed, such as lead, tea, glass and paint(Townshend Acts).
Gordon S. Wood. The Radicalism of the American Revolution. Vintage; Reprint edition. March 2, 1993
In the 1760s King George III enacted the Sugar Act and the Stamp act to gain extra revenue from his colonies. King George III decided to enact heavier taxes to put money back into the empire that had been lost after the French and Indian War. This act levied heavy taxes on sugar imported from the West Indies. The Stamp Act in 1765 required that many items have a stamp to prove that the owner had payed for the taxes on the item. The problem the colonists had with it was that it increased the presence of English troops in the Colonies and they felt it was unneeded and only meant to put more control into Great Britain's hands.
Without colonial consent, the British started their bid to raise revenue with the Sugar Act of 1764 which increased duties colonists would have to pay on imports into America. When the Sugar Act failed, the Stamp Act of 1765 which required a stamp to be purchased with colonial products was enacted. This act angered the colonists to no limit and with these acts, the British Empire poked at the up to now very civil colonists. The passing of the oppressive Intolerable Acts that took away the colonists’ right to elected officials and Townshend Acts which taxed imports and allowed British troops without warrants to search colonist ships received a more aggravated response from the colonist that would end in a Revolution.
According to document 1, the stamp act was being destroyed would restore America's liberty. The stamp act was the first direct tax in colonial history, and was created to help pay for the British troops stationed in the colonies. The taxing made colonists angry because now
The French-Indian War set Britain back a large amount in debt. Although the war was fought to protect the colonists and it is only just that Britain is reimbursed, their methods of regaining money were not. Up until the Stamp Act, taxes were only needed to regulate trade. The only reason for the imposed taxes were for raising money, an action which they did not have the authority to perform.(Document 2) Putting a tax on almost all daily purchases caused horrible living conditions. This unconstitutional act is justification enough to revolt. Britain and its Parliament has no rationalization in taxing and controlling all of the colonists’
Cumming, William P., and Hugh Rankin. The Fate of a Nation: The American Revolution Through Contemporary Eyes. London: Phaidon Press Limited, 1995.
When the French and Indian War had started in 1763, it was assured that Great Britain was deeply in debt. During this battle, England had occupied much of Eastern American colonies. When the British had taken over the colonies it angered the workers, because many of them thought they had to leave their jobs and work for British side. In addition too, many colonists knew they were going to be taxed. This quote is directly from Benjamin Franklin’s Letter on the Stamp Act in July 01, 1765. “Idleness and pride tax with a heavier hand than kings and parliaments. If we can get rid of the former, we may easily bear the latter” (Franklin). If the colonists can get rid of the British Legislative branch, then they will have the freedom to sell, buy, and trade. However, many colonist believed they could do anything more, but not pay any taxes to the Parliament. Throughout the middle 1700s, many farmers faced this issue and were not able to ...
The war had been enormously expensive, and the British government’s attempts to impose taxes on colonists to help cover these expenses resulted in chaos. English leaders, were not satisfied with the financial and military help they had received from the colonists during the war. In a desperate attempt to gain control over the colonies as well as the additional revenue to pay off the war debt, Britain began to force taxes on the colonies. Which resulted in The Stamp Act, passed by parliament and signed by the king in March 1765. The Stamp Act created an excise tax on legal documents, custom papers, newspapers, almanacs, college diplomas, playing cards, and even dice. Obviously the colonist resented the Stamp Act and the assumption that parliament could tax them whenever and however they could without their direct representation in parliament. Most colonials believed that taxation without their consent was a violation of their constitutional rights as Englishmen. Which is where the slogan “No Taxation without Representation” comes
To gain a greater knowledge of The Stamp Act, you must first realize that there were similarities between Patriots and Loyalists. All people who lived in the colonies came from and were owned by Great Britain. The colonists were "Subject to British laws, economic systems such as mercantilism, and cultural influences such as fashion, language, and food” (Garcia 143-144). Despite their viewpoints on the revolution, Patriots and Loyalists both originated from the same mother country: England. Previous knowledge from this country and new knowledge from the colonies gave settlers 2 contrasting lives. For example, Loyalists liked the idea of new taxes because there were less of them, compared to the ones they had to pay in Britain. Since all of the
The problem for many American colonists was not that taxes were high (the taxes were actually quite low, particularly compared with those paid by ordinary citizens of Britain), but that the colonies were not consulted about the new taxes, as they had no representation in Parliament. The colonists did not have any voting rights with regards to the taxes and so in order to avoid having to pay the taxes imposed on them the colonist’s boycotted British goods. This eventually led to the Boston Tea Party and other boycotts.
Gordon S. Wood, in The Radicalism of the American Revolution, discusses what it means to be truly revolutionary. In this work, Wood shares his thoughts on the Revolutionary War and whether or not it was a movement radical enough to be considered an honest revolution. Wood discusses the reasoning behind the views of those in favor of the war being considered radical, as well as the views of those who believe the American Revolution to be unfortunately misnamed. He claims that “the Revolution was the most radical and most far- reaching event in American history.” Wood’s work is a valuable source for those studying the revolution because it redefines what it means to be radical, but the piece is also limited by the lack of primary information