Essay Sample on The Stamp Act

During 1765, Great Britain placed many new laws and taxes on the American citizens. One of the acts referred to as the “Stamp Act” had one of the largest reactions of the Americans and eventually led to the American Revolution. 

The Stamp Act began with new taxes placed onto newspapers, almanacs, pamphlets, playing cards and legal documents. In addition to the newfound taxes, citizens were to now purchase their stamps from the government. To a member of the British government, this act seemed to be fair and just, as the law was created to “defend, protect and secure” the colonies, (Macmillan Textbook, pg 155). However, the change in the ordinances of supply to the colonists made quite the disagreement in America. 

As a result of the taxes placed by the Englishmen, patriotic societies were formed to resist the taxes while calling themselves the “Sons of Liberty.” Some colonists even went so far as to attack the stamp-tax collectors and drove them from their homes. To prove their frustration to the British, the American citizens vowed to boycott English products until the tax was repealed, which led to a major disruption of the British trade system and their economy. While the boycotting of English products was occurring, some British merchants were angered with their home country as their decision to place taxes were affecting their business directly. Not much longer after the riots and the disruption began, the Virginia House of Burgesses stated that it had the ability to tax the people of Virginia.

In the Fall of 1765, a declaration was created listing the colonists’ main arguments. The first being that the colonists’ were entitled to the “rights of Englishmen,” a reference to the bill of rights that the British created. The second argument stated that taxing the citizens without their consent was a violation of their rights stated in the previous argument. Their final point said that the colonists were not represented in Parliament, making it not possible for the British to impose taxes unto them. In addition to the last point listed, the colonists developed a new phrase to their argument which was “no taxation without representation,” meaning that if the British wanted to tax the colonists, then Parliament was to represent them as a colony. 

In 1766, Parliament finally repealed the tax, however they reinforced the idea that they are capable of taxing the colonies by the Declaratory Act. The Declaratory Act stated that Parliament had full power and authority over the colonies “in all cases whatsoever.” When all was said and done, the colonists looked forward to maintaining a “better relationship” with the British government, without realizing that the American Revolution was soon upon them, (Macmillan Textbook, pg 157).