1765 British statute which taxed its American colonies' use of printed materials
United Kingdom legislation
Stamp Act 1765
Act of Parliament
Parliament of Great Britain
Long title
An Act for granting and applying certain stamp duties, and other duties, in the British colonies and plantations in America, towards further defraying the expenses of defending, protecting, and securing the same; and for amending such parts of the several Acts of Parliament relating to the trade and revenues of the said colonies and plantations, as direct the manner of determining and recovering the penalties and forfeitures therein mentioned.
Citation
5 Geo. 3. c. 12
Introduced by
The Right Honourable George Grenville, MP Prime Minister, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Leader of the House of Commons (Commons)
Territorial extent
British America and the British West Indies
Dates
Royal assent
22 March 1765
Commencement
1 November 1765
Repealed
18 March 1766
Other legislation
Repealed by
Duties in American Colonies Act 1766
Relates to
Declaratory Act
Status: Repealed
The Stamp Act 1765, also known as the Duties in American Colonies Act 1765 (5 Geo. 3. c. 12), was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain which imposed a direct tax on the British colonies in America and required that many printed materials in the colonies be produced on stamped paper from London which included an embossed revenue stamp.[1][2] Printed materials included legal documents, magazines, playing cards, newspapers, and many other types of paper used throughout the colonies, and it had to be paid in British currency, not in colonial paper money.[3]
The purpose of the tax was to pay for British military troops stationed in the American colonies after the French and Indian War, but the colonists had never feared a French invasion to begin with, and they contended that they had already paid their share of the war expenses.[4] Colonists suggested that it was actually a matter of British patronage to surplus British officers and career soldiers who should be paid by London.
The Stamp Act was very unpopular among colonists. A majority considered it a violation of their rights as Englishmen to be taxed without their consent—consent that only the colonial legislatures could grant. Their slogan was "No taxation without representation". Colonial assemblies sent petitions and protests, and the Stamp Act Congress held in New York City was the first significant joint colonial response to any British measure when it petitioned Parliament and the King.
One member of the British Parliament argued that the American colonists were no different from the 90-percent of Great Britain who did not own property and thus could not vote, but who were nevertheless "virtually" represented by land-owning electors and representatives who had common interests with them.[5] Daniel Dulany, a Maryland attorney and politician, disputed this assertion in a widely read pamphlet, arguing that the relations between the Americans and the English electors were "a knot too infirm to be relied on" for proper representation, "virtual" or otherwise.[6] Local protest groups established Committees of Correspondence which created a loose coalition from New England to Maryland. Protests and demonstrations increased, often initiated by the Sons of Liberty and occasionally involving hanging of effigies. Very soon, all stamp tax distributors were intimidated into resigning their commissions, and the tax was never effectively collected.[7][8][9]
Opposition to the Stamp Act was not limited to the colonies. British merchants and manufacturers pressured Parliament because their exports to the colonies were threatened by boycotts. The Act was repealed on 18 March 1766 as a matter of expedience, but Parliament affirmed its power to legislate for the colonies "in all cases whatsoever" by also passing the Declaratory Act. A series of new taxes and regulations then ensued—likewise opposed by the Americans. The episode played a major role in defining the 27 colonial grievances that were clearly stated within the text of the Indictment of George III section of the United States Declaration of Independence, enabling the organized colonial resistance which led to the American Revolution in 1775.[10][11][12]
^Morgan & Morgan 1963, pp. 96–97.
^"The Stamp Act of 1765 – A Serendipitous Find" by Hermann Ivester in The Revenue Journal, The Revenue Society, Vol. XX, No. 3, December 2009, pp. 87–89.
^Wood, S.G. The American Revolution: A History. Modern Library. 2002, p. 24.
^Testimony of Doctor Benjamin Franklin, before an August Assembly of the British House of Commons, relating to the Repeal of the Stamp-Act, &c., 1766.
^Jenyns, Soame (1765). The Objections to the Taxation of Our American Colonies by the Legislature of Great Britain, Briefly Considered. London: J. Wilkie.
^Daniel Dulany, Considerations on the Propriety of Imposing Taxes in the British Colonies, for the Purpose of Raising a Revenue, by Act of Parliament (1765) (reprinted in The American Revolution, Interpreting Primary Documents 47–51 (Carey 2004)).
^Draper 1996, pp. 216–223.
^Nash 2006, pp. 44–56.
^Maier 1972, pp. 76–106.
^Middlekauff 2005, pp. 111–120.
^Miller 1943, pp. 149–153.
^Daniella Garran (19 July 2010). "Steps to the American Revolution". Lesson Planet. Archived from the original on 18 March 2021. Retrieved 21 July 2010.
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consignees to resign, in the same way that stamp distributors had been forced to resign in the 1765StampAct crisis. The protest movement that culminated...
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advantage. Parliament passed the StampAct1765 to raise money from the colonies. New York had previously passed its own stampact from 1756 to 1760 to raise...
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