What happened in the stamp act
The Stamp Act was passed by the British Parliament in 1765 and it imposed a tax on all paper documents in the American colonies, including legal documents, newspapers, and even playing cards. The act required these documents to carry an official British stamp, purchased from British authorities.
The Stamp Act sparked outrage and protests in the colonies because it was seen as taxation without representation. The colonists believed that since they had no representation in the British Parliament, they should not be subjected to taxes imposed by the British government.
In response to the Stamp Act, colonial residents organized boycotts of British goods and businesses. Groups such as the Sons of Liberty formed to rally against the act through acts of protest, such as burning effigies and destroying the stamps themselves.
The Stamp Act Congress was convened in 1765, with representatives from nine out of the thirteen colonies, and they drafted a Declaration of Rights and Grievances. This document argued that only the colonial assemblies had the right to tax the colonists and that the Stamp Act was therefore unconstitutional.
Ultimately, the pressure and opposition from the colonies led the British government to repeal the Stamp Act in 1766. However, this did not resolve the underlying tensions between the American colonies and the British government, and it set the stage for future conflicts such as the American Revolution.