Stamp+Act

=__The Stamp Act__= toc

The Stamp Act was passed by Parliament on March 22, 1765 in America. Parliament sent a request to Prime Minister Grenville to pass this act to raise money after the Sugar Act. The Stamp Act was a law that said that the colonists were taxed on any printed paper that they bought. These items included papers, documents, licenses, newspapers, playing cards, stationary paper, etc. Many colonists thought that this was unfair because from their point of view, they were being taxed to help the British. In reality, it was used to help defend the American Frontier located near the Appalachian Mountains. The colonists reacted with protest, like the Sons of Liberty who acted with violence, when others didn't mind helping out their mother country.

__The Reason for the Stamp Act__
Parliament passed this act to help fund the soldiers that protected the colonies from the Native Americans who would attack them. The colonists, however, saw this act as an opportunity for Britain to get extra money to help themselves and not the colonists. The colonists were required to pay the tax, though because if they didn't, then they were called to court and if found guilty, a punishment would be bestowed upon them. From Parliament's point of view, the tax would help out America's protection, but the colonists found it as a chance for Britain to take the colonist's money and use it for their own benefit. This brought much protest throughout the colonies in hope to abolish the Stamp Act; even if it was just a small extra fine, it made the colonists think that they should have a little more independence from England.

The Sons of Liberty[[image:1774_lynching.jpg width="238" height="193" align="right" caption="A stamp master being tar and feathered by the Sons of Liberty"]]
The Sons of Liberty were founded during the Stamp Act in Boston, MA. The Sons of Liberty (a.k.a. Liberty Boys) were protesters who believed that taxes weren't right, and would do anything, including violence, to stop the taxes. After 1765, there was a "brotherhood" (a group) of Sons of Liberty in every colony of America. These "brotherhoods" used violence against the people who were appointed to receive the stamps and sell them to the colonies. In one case, the Sons of Liberty in Boston the Sons of Liberty went through the house of a stamp master named Andrew Oliver and they took his valuables and broke his windows even before he had even gotten stamps to sell.

The Stamp Act Congress
The Stamp Act Congress was founded on October 7, 1765 in New York City, NY. The Stamp Act Congress was made of 9 different representatives from 9 different colonies who met in New York. Since in most of the colonies were using violence to handle the situation, the Stamp Act Congress protested by passing 14 resolutions that were polite, but serious. These resolutions said that the British shouldn't be able to tax the colonies, but instead, the colonies' own assemblies. In other words, it was "taxation without representation."

The Virginia Stamp Act Resolutions
A man named Patrick Henry, in May 1765, became a member of the House of Burgesses and decided to protest against Parliament's authority over the Stamp Act. He took charge of the House of Burgesses and made it into a committee of 39 members to make a radical move against Parliament. He made a series of 5 resolutions and of which 4 were easily passed, but the 5th one was debated for a long time. Then on May 30, 1765 all the resolutions were officially passed. The last one states that anyone who does tax or say can tax anyone and that person taxing is not in the General Assembly of this Colony, that they will be held as an enemy of "His Majesty's" Colony.

__The Ending of the Stamp Act__
Finally, the colonists were so mad about the taxes that they decided to boycott (to not import the British items.) The colonists decided not to buy any British items until the act was repealed. This worked very well because it badly hurt the business of British people who exported goods to America. This encouraged the British exporters to urge Parliament to get rid of the Stamp Act. Finally, on March 18, 1766, because the act was bringing absolutely no money to the treasury, Parliament finally repealed it.