Difference between revisions of "Stamp Act of 1765"
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Revision as of 05:28, September 20, 2009
The Stamp Act of 1765 was legislation passed by the British Parliament which required that all legal documents, permits, commercial contracts, newspapers, wills, pamphlets and playing cards in the American colonies be taxed. They were given a special tax stamp to show the tax was paid.[1] Parliament passed this act to help repay lenders from the expensive French and Indian War.
The Stamp Act outraged Americans because it asserted parliament’s right to tax Americans without their consent. That violated the rights of colonists as Englishmen, and they protested vigorously.
Opposition to the Stamp Act was fierce, and gave rise to the slogan "no taxation without representation." The American colonists threatened to tar and feather the tax collectors so few were willing to collect this tax. It was repealed on March 18th, 1765.[2]
Pennsylvania
In Pennsylvania the Proprietary Party, fearful of loss of charter rights, instigated riots to discredit Benjamin Franklin's Quaker Party, which favored the Crown's taking over the colony. The Proprietary Party specialized in libel; the Assembly Party, politics. In the election of October 1765, the loss of seats by the Proprietary Party demonstrated that the electorate favored moderate resistance to the Stamp Act enforcement. Joseph Galloway played a conciliatory role and did not let the conflict get out of hand..
