The Stamp Act of 1765

The Stamp Act of 1765 was imposed by the British government upon the New World colonists in another effort to repay debts that were incurred during the French and Indian War. This act placed a tax on any item marked with a stamp, usually consisting of deeds, papers, and various documents that could be stamped. The colonists saw this act as “unconstitutional,” as they were not being properly represented in the British Parliament and were being forced to pay an unjust levy.

This led to many altercations and unruly behavior, to say the least. Mobs of protesters, some belonging to the militant group the Sons of Liberty, would threaten Crown-appointed stamp collectors. The threatening behavior of these mobs soon turned to violence and looting. The homes of prominent British politicians such as Thomas Hutchinson, the vice-governor of Massachusetts, were being destroyed and burnt to the ground.

These tactics, however, were not how the colonial leaders wanted to send their message. Instead, a Congress of colonial representatives decided to send a proclamation of their rights and how the acts of Parliament were denying those very rights. In this proclamation, it is stated that the mother country was not extending the proper civil rights to its peripheral brethren and that the very acts that denied these rights were not to be adhered to by anyone in the colonies as a certain protests to Britain’s acts.