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Primary Source of the Stamp Act

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watch this video to learn about the taxes imposed by the British that drove the colonists mad!!

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The Stamp Act of 1765 was the first internal tax levied directly on American colonists by the British government. The act, which imposed a tax on all paper documents in the colonies, came at a time when the British Empire was deep in debt from the Seven Years' War (1756-63) and looking to its North American colonies as a revenue source. Arguing that only their own representative assemblies could tax them, the colonists insisted that the act was unconstitutional, and they resorted to mob violence to intimidate stamp collectors into resigning. Parliament repealed the Stamp Act in 1766, but issued a Declaratory Act at the same time to reaffirm its authority to pass any colonial legislation it saw fit. The issues of taxation and representation raised by the Stamp Act strained relations with the colonies to the point that, 10 years later, the colonists rose in armed rebellion against the British.

Raising Revenue

The Seven Years' War (1756-63) ended the long rivalry between France and Britain for control of North America, leaving Britain in possession of Canada and France without a footing on the continent. Victory in the war, however, had saddled the British Empire with a tremendous debt. Since the war benefited the American colonists (who had suffered 80 years of intermittent warfare with their French neighbors) as much as anyone else in the British Empire, the British government decided that those colonists should shoulder part of the war's cost.

Britain had long regulated colonial trade through a system of restrictions and duties on imports and exports. In the first half of the 18th century, however, British enforcement of this system had been lax. Starting with the Sugar Act of 1764, which imposed new duties on sugar and other goods, the British government began to tighten its reins on the colonies. Shortly thereafter, George Grenville (1712-70), the British first lord of the treasury and prime minister, proposed the Stamp Act; Parliament passed the act without debate in 1765.

Did you know? Stamp Act opponent Patrick Henry is known for his "Give me liberty, or give me death!" speech, delivered before a meeting of Virginia's colonial leaders in 1775 in an effort to mobilize a militia against a possible attack by the British. He later served as Virginia's governor (1776-79, 1884-86).

Instead of levying a duty on trade goods, the Stamp Act imposed a direct tax on the colonists. Specifically, the act required that, starting in the fall of 1765, legal documents and printed materials must bear a tax stamp provided by commissioned distributors who would collect the tax in exchange for the stamp. The law applied to wills, deeds, newspapers, pamphlets and even playing cards and dice. Part of the revenue from the Stamp Act would be used to maintain several regiments of British soldiers in North America to maintain peace between Native Americans and the colonists. Moreover, since colonial juries had proven notoriously reluctant to find smugglers guilty of their crimes, violators of the Stamp Act could be tried and convicted without juries in the vice-admiralty courts.

The Roots of Colonial Resistance

Coming in the midst of economic hardship in the colonies, the Stamp Act aroused vehement resistance. Although most colonists continued to accept Parliament's authority to regulate their trade, they insisted that only their representative assemblies could levy direct, internal taxes, such as the one imposed by the Stamp Act. They rejected the British government's argument that all British subjects enjoyed virtual representation in Parliament, even if they could not vote for members of Parliament.

The colonists also took exception with the provision denying offenders trials by jury. A vocal minority hinted at dark designs behind the Stamp Act. These radical voices warned that the tax was part of a gradual plot to deprive the colonists of their freedoms and to enslave them beneath a tyrannical regime. Playing off traditional fears of peacetime armies, they wondered aloud why Parliament saw fit to garrison troops in North America only after the threat from the French had been removed. These concerns provided an ideological basis that intensified colonial resistance.

Uproar in the Colonies

Parliament pushed forward with the Stamp Act in spite of the colonists' objections. Colonial resistance to the act mounted slowly at first, but gained momentum as the planned date of its implementation drew near. In Virginia, Patrick Henry (1736-99), whose fiery orations against British tyranny would soon make him famous, submitted a series of resolutions to his colony's assembly, the House of Burgesses. These resolutions denied Parliament's right to tax the colonies and called on the colonists to resist the Stamp Act.

Newspapers throughout the colonies reprinted the resolutions, spreading their radical message to a broad audience. The resolutions provided the tenor for the proclamations of the Stamp Act Congress, an extralegal convention composed of delegates from nine colonies that met in October 1765. The Stamp Act Congress wrote petitions to the king affirming both their loyalty and the conviction that only the colonial assemblies had the constitutional authority to tax the colonists.

While the Congress and the colonial assemblies passed resolutions and issued petitions against the Stamp Act, the colonists took matters into their own hands. The most famous popular resistance took place in Boston, where opponents of the Stamp Act, calling themselves the Sons of Liberty, enlisted the rabble of Boston in opposition to the new law. This mob paraded through the streets with an effigy of Andrew Oliver, Boston's stamp distributor, which they hanged from the Liberty Tree and beheaded before ransacking Oliver's home. Oliver agreed to resign his commission as stamp distributor.

Similar events transpired in other colonial towns, as crowds mobbed the stamp distributors and threatened their physical well-being and their property. By the beginning of 1766, most of the stamp distributors had resigned their commissions, many of them under duress. Mobs in seaport towns turned away ships carrying the stamp papers from England without allowing them to discharge their cargoes. Determined colonial resistance made it impossible for the British government to bring the Stamp Act into effect. In 1766, Parliament repealed it.

Unresolved Issues

The end of the Stamp Act did not end Parliament's conviction that it had the authority to impose taxes on the colonists. The British government coupled the repeal of the Stamp Act with the Declaratory Act, a reaffirmation of its power to pass any laws over the colonists that it saw fit. However, the colonists held firm to their view that Parliament could not tax them. The issues raised by the Stamp Act festered for 10 years before giving rise to the Revolutionary War and, ultimately, American independence.

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The Stamp Act of 1765 was the first internal tax levied directly on American colonists by the British government. The act, which imposed a tax on all paper documents in the colonies, came at a time when the British Empire was deep in debt from the Seven Years' War (1756-63) and looking to its North American colonies as a revenue source.

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Interesting facts about the American Revolution that you can only find here!

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Read about some myths about the quartering act and the 3rd amendment.

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Redcoats in the house? Some myths behind the Third Amendment

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Could British troops evict colonists from their homes, eat their food and use their facilities? That’s not exactly true, even though generations of students have heard that story in relation to the Third Amendment.

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Check this out for a Q & A on the Stamp Act!

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Learn about the The Stamp Act of 1765. A tax the Britain placed on the American colonies eventually leading the Revolutionary War.

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Watch an overview of the American Revolution and why taxes played an important role!

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In which John Green teaches you about the American Revolution and the American Revolutionary War, which it turns out were two different things. John goes over the issues and events that precipitated rebellion in Britain's American colonies, and he also explores the ideas that laid the groundwork for the new American democracy.

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Hey guys!
Check out this image of a real stamp placed on paper goods during the enforcement of the "Stamp Act." Look closely at the image to grow ideas about this act and how it may have affected daily lives!

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History of the Quartering Act

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The Quartering Acts refers to provisions passed by the British Parliament during the 18th century. Under these Acts, local colonial governments were forced to provide provisions and housing to British soldiers stationed in the American colonies. The two Quartering Acts were amendments to the Mutiny Act, which was reviewed and renewed each year by the British Parliament. The intent of the Acts was to alleviate problems experienced during the Seven Years' War, but in reality they increased tensions between the American colonies and the British government.

Prior to Passage

Before the first official Quartering Act, British troops were forcibly housed in seized private dwellings during the French and Indian War. During wartime, the colonies provided provisions to British troops. However, during peacetime, the requirement for housing and provisions proved to be a point of dissent between the colonies and the British government. Following the French defeat in the French and Indian War, colonists questioned the need for a standing army in peacetime. As a result of the colonial resistance, Lieutenant-General Thomas Gage sought support from the British Parliament. The resulting first Quartering Act went far beyond his original request.

Quartering Act of 1765

In response to Gage's request and in an attempt to regain control of the colonies, the British Parliament passed the Quartering Act of 1765. Given Royal Assent on March 24, 1765, this Act gave Great Britain the right to quarter troops in barracks and public houses in the colonies. This requirement followed the original Mutiny Act of 1765 but the overall Quartering Act went beyond the original Mutiny Act requirements. Under the new Act, if more British troops required housing than was available in barracks and public houses, the troops could be housed in a variety of additional locations such as inns, ale houses, private homes of those selling wine or alcohol and livery stables. Furthermore, if the number of troops exceeded the additional locations, provisions were included to house soldiers in any uninhabited homes or outbuildings such as barns or outhouses. Finally, the Act required colonial governments to absorb the costs associated with quartering British troops, including food and shelter.

Quartering Act of 1774

The second Quartering Act contained similar requirements as the first, but did not require the colonies to provide British troops with provisions. This second Act passed British Parliament in 1774 and expired in 1776. Colonists opposed the second Quartering Act even though the requirements were less burdensome.

Colonial Reactions

The first Quartering Act resulted in a minor skirmish in New York when the local government initially refused to quarter arriving British troops. In 1776, troops had to remain aboard their ships because the local government refused to provide housing. After a colonist was injured in skirmishes following the local government's refusal to provide billeting, the British Parliament suspended New York's local legislature. This suspension never took effect, however, since the local Assembly agreed to fund the billeting of troops. Other colonies avoided the Act by various methods until it expired in 1767.

Both Quartering Acts served to increase tensions between the American colonies and the British government. Requirements to house and provision troops, even during peacetime, proved to be a significant source of disagreement between the emerging colonial independence and the British government. This proved to be such a point of disagreement that the Third Amendment to the United States Constitution expressly forbids the forcible quartering of troops in private residences without consent.

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Quartering Acts of 1765 and 1774 Summary & Facts

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The Quartering Acts refers to provisions passed by the British Parliament during the 18th century. Under these Acts, local colonial governments were forced to provide provisions and housing to British soldiers stationed in the American colonies. The two Quartering Acts were amendments to the Mutiny Act, which was reviewed and renewed each year by the British Parliament.

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Article about the Quartering Act

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The Quartering Act | History of American Revolution

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The Quartering Act required that the soldiers from Great Britain be housed in American barracks and public houses.

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The Quartering Act